Georgia: This way to fun

I took a short trip to South Georgia over the holiday weekend, and boy is it ever fun:


I was lucky enough to be able to stay in a farmhouse built in the mid-1800's that's been owned and lived in by the same family since it was built. I was really impressed, seeing as how my record in one house is something like two years:


All of the people I encountered were really friendly, but that doesn't seem to be the case in every town. Take this town where you'd be wise to stay on the good side of the neighborhood watch:


Rural Georgia sure is different from Oakland. I stopped by a fruit stand that had pamphlets describing "Why Homosexuality is the Wrong Choice" on a shelf next to some Plough Boy brand Barbecue Sauce. I'd sort of thought some areas might be unfriendly towards homosexuality, so I was surprised to see this church sign:

Which clearly shows that Rainbow Pride is alive and well so soon on the heels of Gay Pride month. They even have a special town:

That was nice to see.

There are other ways that Georgia is different. Oakland has plenty of deer, and yet I've never seen one of these:


They've also got sweet little fruit stands selling peaches:


And smokes that are cheaper than a gallon of gas:


There are also a number of interesting retail combinations. Trailers and fireworks all in one convenient location:


The classic Military supply/Tattoo combo:


And finally, a Gas Log and Grill combo. Whatever a Gas Log is.

Is "Grills" someone's name? What's a Grills Fireplace Shop? The mysteries of Georgia continue to elude me.

There are signs ranging from the the overly clear:


To the unclear:

I mean, why would the sandwiches do that? And how much does it cost to watch?

And the completely unsubtle:


Then you have the incredibly unappealing:


And the referential:

This sign is great for a few reasons:
1) If you are into the commandments, don't you already kind of know them, or have access to a book that lists them?
2) If you are interested in the commandments and don't already know them, can you really absorb all of that while stopped at the stoplight where I got this shot?
3)"ADULTRY"
4) Either the painter ran out of space toward the bottom, or used some creative license as to the importance of each commandment: bearing false witness against your neighbor really has nothing on making any GRAVEN IMAGE UNTO THEE.
5) Last but not least: The feed and seed bench conveniently placed for meditations on ADULTRY and GRAVEN IMAGES.

We made our way over to a Providence Canyon, also known as Georgia's "Little Grand" Canyon.

When they say little, they really mean it. We learned at the "Information and Interpretation Center" at the park that the canyon is "up to 150 feet deep in places." Not exactly second to the real Grand Canyon, but pretty nonetheless.



The other difference between the Little Grand Canyon and the real one is that the real Grand Canyon was created by a miracle of nature or God, and the Little Grand was created by human error. In the 19th century, this area had all been fertile Georgia farmland. It was over farmed and left without ground cover, leading to erosion... a whole lot of erosion. Georgia State Parks have farmers to thank for this lovely unnatural wonder. The funny part is that driving to and from the park you pass a lot of farmland- and some of it is big empty fields of rich Georgia red dirt without ground cover. Some have ponds in the middle, the drainage is so poor. Maybe the lesson wasn't learned; or maybe some forward-thinking landowners are looking to create their own Little Grand Canyon.

There's a stream at the bottom of the Canyon.


The sand is soft and warm, and there are lumps of soft colored clay at the bottom.

The clay is beautiful and brightly colored in white, pink, red, orange, brown, and even purple.

I recommend running barefoot through the stream with red clay on your feet:

Lots of the other hikers who wore boots got stuck in the mud.

There are some helpful signs along the canyon floor:

I am sure if there were a danger of rising mud swallowing something up, they'd let us know with a sign.


Yes, that's a tiny hiker on that sign. There are a lot of them pointing the way to the hiking trail. The rest of them were a few feet taller. It's sad to me that we finally have the Pedestrian Xing guy on a sign where he's not facing inevitable and painful doom only to have the sign face inevitable doom. Look at him on there. He's just trying to take a nice hike.

"Warning! Beware! Sign thieves abound!"


Georgia Law is very strict on certain points:

I think they are concerned that climbing or hiking might, you know, ERODE the lovely landscape.

Not everyone obeys:

I promise that none of that was me, I'm just in the shot for perspective. The only thing I'll admit to is that I may have taken a teensy bit of clay to put on my face.

On the drive back home to Florida we saw this sign which renewed my faith in humanity:

This must be were people from Meansville dream of retiring to someday. It sounds pretty good to me.