A-Town

Caroline, Mom, and I took a girl's trip to Athens last week and had the best time. I wish I had taken my camera as we walked around downtown and campus, but I left it in the car... grrr... I missed so many great pictures. Oh well, I can "paint a picture with words" as I used to implore my high schoolers to do when they wrote.

We started off downtown with lunch at The Grill. It has been so long since I had eaten there, but it is still exactly the same! We all enjoyed our lunches and then took off to go explore some more of downtown and reminisce through campus. Caroline especially loved the Who Let the Dawgs Out public art installation. We crossed the street to The Arch, and, in true Caroline fashion, she decided that she might as well already have her UGA degree and walked right underneath - instead of around - The Arch. As we strolled across North Campus, we passed the UGA Chapel where Travis and I got married eight years ago. Caroline was enthralled by seeing the church where we "kissed." On the way home that evening, she detailed her own wedding to Coan (she is planning to invite Judy Garland herself to sing "Over the Rainbow" at her ceremony!). We even snuck around back to the Chapel bell and let Caroline ring it a little bit! Here's hoping for some home victories this year?? As we continued our stroll, we explained to Caroline that this is where Mama and Daddy went to school and we showed her Sanford Hall and Brooks Hall where Trav studied Marketing, Business, and Finance. Then we walked down the hill and took her inside Park Hall where I spent maaaannnnnnyyyyy days with my nose in a book and my attention focused on some of the brightest, most well-read, and articulate professors. While we were there, we decided, on a lark, to see if my favorite professor, Dr. Charles Doyle, happened to be in his office that day. I've kept in touch with Charlie through the years since I graduated, and so we were thrilled that he was in! We had a great time visiting and catching up. Charlie even gave Caroline a very nice, hardbound book of Maurice Sendak's art (of Where the Wild Things Are fame). It was so nice to stroll Park Hall - everything was the same - even the smell of old walls, old books, and chalk. It was wonderful.

After we left campus, we took Caroline to Sandy Creek Park where we changed into our swimsuits and enjoyed the beach at the lake there. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day!!!

"And thy daughters proudly join thee,

Take their rightful place,

Side by side into the future,

Equal dreams embrace."

~ Excerpted from the University of Georgia Alma Mater