My "Exciting" Weekend

This weekend was so exciting that I didn’t know what to do with myself! I went to the most interesting place on planet Earth!

Okay, so all that was a lie. I didn’t have a very exciting weekend nor did I go anywhere extremely interesting. But I did have a nice surprise, a mildly interesting trip (if you can call it that), and an overall good weekend.

The surprise
Best Friend, the flight attendant, called me on Friday and told me that she was in Atlanta and was flying back and forth from Atlanta to Florida and was to spend the night in Destin, Fl. On Saturday morning she was going to fly back to Atlanta and then in to Macon, Ga., where she would spend the night. Why Macon? Well, of course, if she is anywhere in Georgia, I would go and see her. Too bad that it was in Macon (nearly two hours away) as opposed to Atlanta (fifteen miles away to downtown.)

The mildly interesting trip
I had never really been to Macon before, except to the Macon Coliseum for a couple of events. I had never taken the time or interest to really check the town out. For me, Macon was always the Crap! I’ve still got a little over two hours before I get to Savannah point. Though, in the past, I had found the cemetery that I could see along the river from the interstate amusing and had thought about stopping by once before.

So on Saturday afternoon I began my southward journey on I-75 to Macon. Not knowing the first thing Macon and having no idea where her hotel was located. I decided to take the Riverside Drive exit because it seemed to follow closely along the interstate, yet accessible to all the main streets of town. It was a good guess because I found her hotel rather easily. It was the tallest building in little Macon, so not too difficult.

After picking up Best Friend from the hotel, she and I started out in search of good eats. We became sidetracked by the previously-mentioned cemetery, which turned out to be two really huge cemeteries…Riverside and Rose Hill Cemeteries. We took a quick drive thru of the Riverside Cemetery, but Rose Hill was most interesting. It was well-kept, yet overgrown with wildflowers. It was very hilly and actually a really scenic place along the Ocmulgee River. (Though I am sure that when we had the floods of 1994 and the Ocmulgee rose so high that it washed some of the graves away, it wasn’t such the serene, pretty place. Eww!) Rose Hill Cemetery is the resting place of several important or well-known people. A couple of the most well-known are Duane Allman and Berry Oakley of the Allman Brothers Band. We didn’t find any Allman Brothers, but we did see the grave of the designer of the General Steam Engine in that was used in the Great Locomotive Chase.

After dinner, we decided to actually drive around in the town. I found that Macon is a nice, historic town, with red brick roads in places, old Victorian buildings, and antebellum mansions. We came across the birthplace of Sydney Lanier, who was a poet that wrote lines about Georgia’s beauty. One poem is The Marshes of Glynn (describing the notable marshes of the Georgia Golden Isles) and Song of the Chattahoochee (written about the river that was later dammed up into the nasty lake that now bears his name). I also saw the most beautiful church that I think I have ever seen in my life. The architecture, the detailing, the stained glass, the rich red bricks...it was so beautiful that I wanted to live in it. haha. (Well, maybe not live there. It might crumble. haha)

I actually wished that I had brought my camera to take some pics.! Oh well, guess I’ll have to stop by there again for pics. on one of my trips to Savannah. I can always complain about the Crap! I’ve still got a little over two hours before Savannah after I have snapped a few shots.

An overall good weekend
Not only was the trip to Macon nice for the sightseeing, but because Best Friend and I made more of our summer plans. This is going to be the greatest summer of my life! I am not sure if two months will be enough to do all that we have planned! On second thought, if anyone can get the most adventure out of their little time, it’s Best Friend and me!

Then on Sunday, I went over my folks’ house and we grilled out the trout that Dad, Brother, and I caught last weekend. It was really yummy. The warm high 80s temps and the bright sunshine during our cookout this weekend has really set me in a summery mood.

I say, let the summer games begin!