georgia weekend

Since it was a 3-day weekend and because my window of opportunity for taking this trip was rapidly narrowing, I drove down to Georgia this past weekend to visit my older brother, who is stationed at Ft. Gordon for the time being. He's been there since February, I think, and I just have not made it down there. There are only 2 to 3 more weeks to go before he gets shipped out to some other base somewhere else in the world, so I knew that this may be my one chance to see him. Once he gets shipped out it could be 6 months to a year (or more) before I see him again.

So I drove the 7+ hour drive to Augusta... there on Saturday, back on Monday. It was a really short trip, but it was totally worth it :)

Weekend Highlights:
* I added 3 states to the list of states I've been to: North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

* I bought Georgia peaches from a little old man who was selling peaches out of the back of his pickup truck at a rest area. Mmm...

* We went to Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Fabulous. Go see it. Now. I feel like the ending was a bit unresolved, which makes me think they might have a fourth Pirate's movie in the works...

* I got to explore the army base. It was much larger than I thought it would be although Derek said that it's actually small for a base. When you enter the base, you have to zig-zag through a series of gates. I wish I had thought to take a picture of it. The turns were so tight that 5 miles per hour may have been too fast a speed to make it through. To enter you must be with a person who has a military ID, and they perform check 100% ID checks for all persons entering the base, and they are serious about that 100%. On base, it felt something like a cross between a college campus and a campground, which makes sense considering the classes taught and training offered on the base. I also got to see the barracks. They were, um, stark... depressing... lacking imagination... worse than dorm rooms, but livable.

* We explored the Augusta Riverwalk. It's a park that runs through downtown Augusta along the Savannah River. It was great way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.


* Best of all I got to spend a couple days with my older brother :)