The Ray Adventures: Concord, NC, Stone Mountain, GA & Hollywood, SC

South Carolina was the last eastern state to put on the US map we have on our slider wall along with the NFL helmets representing all the stadiums we have visited. It is hard to choose a "favorite" area but Georgia is in the top 5 places we've been.

Friday, September 11, We all remember where we were when we heard about the terrorists attack in our country, let us never forget. This should be the last day of hot weather, Monday was overcast but it warmed up. They are forecasting mid 70's for the next several days. We drove into Charlotte, a population of over 730,000, only about 20 miles, to see another NFL stadium, Bank of America, home of the Carolina Panthers. Our tour guide, Jeff, was very energetic and knowledgeable, took us through the stadium, visiting locker rooms, suites. the press room.   We didn't get to go on the field, they were mowing. The stadium has been enlarged and reconfigured a few times since it was built in 1996, it now will seat 75,000, they too are hoping to land a Super Bowl game. At each of the four gates 2 panther sculptures sit atop platforms. The sculptures were made in San Diego, each in 67 pieces then re-assembled right down to the whiskers. After the tour we picked up a few geo caches, one on a wall outside the Charlotte Chronicle newspaper office, on the wall were blow-ups framed of historical events. To name a few, Kennedy assassination, Elvis dying, D-Day and the Twin Towers on fire. The cache was in a magnetic tube attached to the D-Day paper frame. The stadium is located near downtown, we had lunch at the Mellow Mushroom, not a single burger on the menu. Delish! The park in the center of downtown had had a memorial ceremony on the lawn earlier, all the flags were still in the grass. What a great area, funky restaurants, skyscrapers and the park. On the way back to the coach in Concord Gary got his flu shot. He didn't even cry.

Saturday, September 12, Moving day, a long drive of over 250 miles to Stone Mountain Campground near Atlanta. What a beautiful campground located in Stone Mountain State Park, over 450 roomy campsites, a pool, lake and right next door to quite a to a tourist area and of course the mountain. We couldn't get satellite TV reception and our antenna reception was "spotty" of all weekends, college and NFL games. As it turned out, Oregon, Oregon State and the Seahawks all lost so just as well I didn't have to suffer the anguish of watching them lose. We were on a quest to pick up a geo cache on the other side of the lake when I ran into a large dead snake. I even scream at the dead ones.

Sunday, September 13, We drove into Atlanta to see the Georgia Dome, home of the Atlanta Falcons, no tours were available but we were able to walk around, they are building a new stadium right next door due to be finished for the 2017 season. Atlanta has a population of over 400,000 plus the suburbs, we'd heard the traffic is miserable (could it be worse than Boston?), we figured Sunday would be a great day to visit. We met 2 couples in the parking lot, the older couple of the two was showing the other couple where their seats will be in the new stadium. Very friendly people, the older man is one of those people that doesn't know a stranger, we had fun talking to them. We went in search of lunch before going to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, you'd think that would be easy, but no, between restaurants being closed on Sunday and no parking available, time was running short so we grabbed a quick bite at Blimpies. We weren't to impressed with Jimmy's library at first, the signage to the library was poor, we weren't the only ones driving around with a quizzical look on our faces. The outside looked appeared to be in the need of a good cleaning and sprucing up of the landscaping, then the lady that sold tickets would not win a Miss Congeniality award. BUT! The library itself was outstanding, containing interactive exhibits that chronicle his life from birth to Navy, politics, the events of his administration and his life as a volunteer after losing his reelection bid to Regan. All the Presidential Libraries showcase gifts received during their administration, one gift was an embroidery of a white kitty on a sheer fabric, chiffon like, both sides had the kitty facing different directions. The picture doesn't do it justice. Question, why do I always like a president after he is out of office?

Monday, September 14, After doing a few errands we drove into the 3,200 acre Stone Mountain State Park. The centerpiece of the park is the mountain, elevation 1,686, a quartz dome with a bas-relief carving on the face of Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis is 400 ft by 190 ft. The sculpture was started by Gutzon Borlum who later sculpted Mt. Rushmore. The base is more than 5 miles around, you can take a tram ride to the top or you can hike up the trail on the west side. Our luck held out, the tram closed Sunday night for 2 weeks maintenance. Dang, we have the worst timing. All the attractions and restaurants were closed, we visited the museum then drove to see the Antebellum plantation and farm, composing of 19 historic buildings built between 1790 and 1875 - all have been moved there and re-erected and period furnishings. We hiked out to the  granite quarry, grist mill and covered bridge. Along the trail to the bridge we saw a 4 inch snake, I didn't scream, amazing. A lovely well kept park.

Tuesday, September 15 Moving day again, we are on track to get to Tampa by the 29th. We had another long drive, 275 hard miles to Hollywood, SC. We are staying at Lake Aire Campground in Hollywood, a short drive from Charleston. We were both whipped, decided to have dinner in Historic Charleston, the city has a population of 120,000 most of them must have been out for dinner. It was late (for us)we had a hard time finding a place to park. We chose Southend Brew and Grill, I had crab soup and a salad, Gary ordered meatloaf. He always asks if there are any green peppers in the dish, our waiter assured him it did not. Well it did, he managed to pick most of them out, green peppers do not agree with him. As it turns out we didn't have to pay for his dinner and he didn't have any "issues". We walked around a bit, it was dark and the cobblestone streets were tricky to maneuver. I'm glad I wasn't wearing heels. We drove around a bit, the only skyscrapers in the area are church steeples.

Wednesday, September 16 I'm the one who woke up with a bad tummy ache, not sure if it was what I ate or a bug. I "sucked" it up, we had plans to tour Fort Sumpter. We took Luci to Doggie Daze day care. Fort Sumpter is a brick fortification on a manmade island in Charleston Harbor built in 1829, finished in 1860, accessible only by boat. We bought our tour boat tickets at the Fort Sumpter National Monument for a noon departure. The first shots of the Civil War were fired by the Confederacy at the fort occupied by Union forces. After a 34 hour siege the Union surrendered and the   Confederacy took over the fort. A park ranger gave us a 15 minute history lesson of the fort before Gary walked around, while I sat on a bench nursing my tummy ache. We had a hour at the fort before our boat departed for the dock. We stopped at historic Magnolia Cemetery, established 1849, many ornate graves, soldiers from Gettysburg and the Hunley that had been sunk in Charleston Harbor. Before picking up Luci Gary picked up a few things at Costco, I stayed in the car. He fixed some chicken noodle soup for me and a grilled cheese sandwich for him.

That's it for this week. Enjoy the pic's.

TTFN

Gary and Pam