Slide Show

I'm finally posting some more photos from the 4th of July weekend, which is already a couple of weeks passed. I almost feel as though I'm presenting a SLIDE SHOW of vacation photos long after the fact, and in a way, I guess it is. If anything, it serves as a reminder to me of a project that I've long been wanting to start. I've had in mind to start a "FIELD TRIP CLUB" of sorts, an idea which germinated a long time ago when I still lived in California. The idea was to explore local and regional tourist traps, museums, monuments, and other places of historical interest and to document the experience so that others might be inspired to do the same - either to visit the same places we visited, or to be a tourist in their own backyards, wherever they may be. Living in California, I was always surprised whenever I ran into someone else who had lived there who had never been to say, Disneyland, or even the beach. That had always served as a reminder to not take for granted the many curious things that are around us and...why not check them out? But I digress...more on the field trip club thing later. They day after the Fourth we (me, Missy, and her parents) headed out to a car lot in Conyers to look at a used YARIS that Missy was interested in, then headed out to MADISON to look through the ANTIQUE SHOPS there....we spent quite a bit of time browsing through one of our favorite ones. Missy had fun posing with some of the TAXIDERMY ANIMALS we saw there...



The antique shop was a veritable hodgepodge of gauche knick knacks and various estate sale cast offs to honest to goodness historical artifacts and treasures from antiquity...







We liked the way they displayed their collection of anonymous old PHOTOS, and their ingenious marketing:



Missy tried her hand at the ONE ARMED BANDITS, which really pays out if you're lucky enough (one pull, per customer, per visit, though). I think she won 75 cents:







There was some old tapestries (bed sheets, maybe?) dating back to the CIVIL WAR, which had drawings commemorating different CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS:



I really wanted this vintage TOY GUITAR, but it was out of my price range:













After window shopping and some lunch, we decided to go for the gusto and head over to STONE MOUNTAIN, the world's biggest hunk of granite. Stone Mountain is also known for it's immense stone-carved relief of the confederate triumvirate - STONEWALL JACKSON, ROBERT E. LEE, and JEFFERSON DAVIS - the world's largest bas relief carving. Basically, the "MOUNT RUSHMORE OF THE SOUTH". This was my first time here, so I was a bit excited, while Missy and her parents had already been a couple of times. The automated storyteller informed us that a six-foot tall man can fit inside the mouth of the horse farthest to the left of the sculpture:



Below, picnickers gather on the "LASER LAWN" and wait for the nighttime LAZER LIGHT SHOW which will bring the carving to life (I KID YOU NOT) and tell the tale of the "Blue And The Gray". Needless to say, we didn't stay long enough to witness that spectacle:







Of course, Missy and I were instantly drawn to the PENNY SMASHING MACHINE and PHOTO BOOTH, surefire signs that you are indeed at a tourist trap:







We passed on the tram ride up to the top of Stone Mountain, convinced that the gift shop at the top would be pretty much the same as the one on the bottom. Plus, it was kinda pricey, and we were all feeling kinda cheapy. Instead, we took a train ride around the base of the mountain...it took thirty minutes to travel the five mile circuit, but only a couple of seconds to get annoyed at the REALLY BAD CONTEMPORARY COUNTRY MUSIC being blasted out the speakers in order to "enhance" the experience...



a























After the train ride, we visited even more gift shops before finally calling it a night:







Missy and her mom cold reppin' TOFU BABY with their matching tote bags: