Georgia - Rome

Oh, how I wish it was Rome, Italy, I was writing about.

But it's not. It's Rome, Georgia, and I was pleasantly surprised at my little trip over there yesterday. I'm used to attending staff retreats at Berry College (located in Rome), so this time I went straight downtown because I've never been down there before and it was pretty darn nice. They're in full revitalization mode, so it looks pretty beautiful.

After walking around downtown and window shopping, I ate a late lunch at a local restaurant that made excellent homemade key lime pie with fresh whipped cream. It was very tasty. I purposefully bypassed any restaurant that promoted itself as a "country kitchen." Last year on a road trip with Nicholas, I had a gastrointestinal reaction to a country kitchen HE made us eat at, so I avoid them now. The restaurant name was spelled "kountry kitchen", which irked me to no end. I like to refer to that as "the road trip of a thousand emergency bathroom breaks."

Back to Rome... I didn't get nearly as many good pictures as I like, but it was a beautiful day to be outside, so no regrets! Here are the pictures:


I intentionally shot this picture to get a nice shot of downtown with the Coca-Cola logo on that brick building. Doesn't this picture just scream Americana? What I unintentionally got in the photo was the orange caution sign on the back of an SUV that reads: "Prison Work Detail." Although it totally ruins the idyllic image I was going for, it made me laugh pretty hard when I saw it!



This is the clock tower of City Hall. Just thought it was pretty because I have a soft spot for clock towers. Don't know why, just do.



Another unintentional shot. I wanted to take a picture of this storefront because it's the epitome of a downtown storefront to me. What I got was a self portrait I didn't see until I downloaded the pictures onto the computer. Ha! Can you find the photographer?



This one made me laugh out loud on the street all by myself. It was on a tattoo parlor storefront and, if you can't read it, the sign says, "%^& yeah it hurt." HA! This phrase would never come out of my tattoo-loving sister's mouth, but it definitely would come out of mine.

Pennsylvania & Delaware

Ah, the mid-Atlantic. My ticket out of the Georgia heat and humidity for four glorious days.

Home of the Steelers, Penn State, mushrooms (more on them later), and, most importantly, my friend Tiffany, her husband Mike, and their new puppy Milo. We didn't do anything tourist-y (only a real word if you really want it to be) this visit, but when you're with folks you like, it doesn't really matter what you do.

I learned quite a bit on this trip about the area, plus I got to take some fun pictures. Tiffany was an obliging driver and pulled off the road whenever I asked to get out and take a picture. I risked my life and hers on those backroads for some of these pictures....

Tiffany lives in Pennsylvania near the Delaware border, so there was quite a bit of crossing state lines. I frequently asked, "What state are we in?" Delaware has high property taxes, but no sales tax, so the Pennsylvania folks just drive over to Delaware to do their shopping. Pretty smart, eh?


So these were two of my favorite road signs near Tiffany's house. For someone with acute motion sickness, these are signs to be feared.














But all of the crazy roads were totally worth the amazing views of the landscape. This is what Tiffany gets to drive through on her daily commute!!!



This is one of my favorite pictures. It's a red covered bridge. Just a cool shot with all of the trees overhead.


Mushrooms. Do you like them? You should go to Pennsylvania. Specifically, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. It's the Mushroom Capitol of the World. Occasionally, as you're driving on the aforementioned crazy roads looking at the beautiful views, you will smell a strong unpleasant odor. To give you a reference point, it's like leaving a dirty diaper out on a hot day. For a couple of days in a row. And then poking it. It's not pleasant. This smell is from all of the mushroom farms in the area. Tiffany said that when you're buying a house (which they just did), you have to take into consideration the proximity of your new home to a mushroom farm. Smart move.



So this is a fun story. Apparently, folks in Delaware are just super-proud of being from Delaware. (Who knew?) Tiffany told me that this pride even extends to their license plates. (Seriously?) So the "PC" you see stands for Personal Car. These are some super-duper difficult to get license plates. The lower the number, the cooler you are. They are passed down from generation to generation. I was so intrigued by this, that I did some research. When the #6 plate went up for auction in 2008, a guy from Delaware bought it for $675,000. Yes, you are reading that correctly. Again, I ask - seriously? This car was the lowest number I saw, so of course, I took a picture. Tiffany knows the guy who has #3. Try to contain your excitement.



The coolest gas station/market in the country resides in the mid-Atlantic. It's the Wawa. I didn't believe the hype either, but this coffee bar and the in-house deli sold me. Here's a picture of the coffee bar:


Last, but not least, here are my two hosts, Tiffany & Mike Brown. All-around great people and owners of the world's comfiest guest bed. This is outside the restaurant "Twelve" they took me to on Friday night. Absolutely excellent food. All in all, a truly great visit!