Gems, Sharks, and Primates - Oh My!

**snore** **snuffle** **snore**

Ah shoot. "David! The darn dog's been in the Bushmills again..."

Where did he leave off? Ah yes, mining for gemstones. Well, technically it was more like 'washing rocks' for gems. You sit at a flume (water running down a trough) and are provided with a bucket of native dirt that may or may not have rubies in it. You pop some dirt in a box with a screen bottom and you wash away all the soil and scrub the rocks clean so you can see if you have hit paydirt, so to speak. It takes a couple of hours to effectively go through a couple of gallons of dirt. Dave found a 'squeaker' - the Sheffield Mine term for his 17.5 carat ruby - and a 2.5 carat ruby. I came away with a handful of emeralds because, tired of not finding anything, I had Dave get me a 'salted' emerald bucket. Guaranteed to come away with something! It's a pleasant way to spend the day as long as you don't mind getting dirty.

Friday morning we drove into Atlanta, GA. On the agenda was a visit to the Aquarium, the New World of Coca-Cola, Zoo Atlanta and the Varsity - touted as the world's largest drive-in restaurant. Anything else we could squeeze into 2 days was a bonus.

My David is a bright boy but there are times when he astounds even me. He bought a City Pass booklet for the both of us. Let me tell you, it paid off - bigtime. Not only did it have an admission ticket for the aquarium, it allowed us to go in immediately. Why is this such a big deal? There are a massive amount of people visiting everyday so the aquarium times the entries. We arrived around 11 am. Tickets were being sold for the next available entry time - 3 pm. But because of our City Pass, we got to go right in. Awesome because, frankly, the visit wasn't worth a 4 hour wait. :( The huge whale sharks were amazing. You walk through the glass tunnel and see them swimming over you. The Belugas had a large picture window display that covered two levels. Not a problem seeing them. Everything else? So-so. The penguins had a very small area, as did the otters. Saddest of all was the loggerhead turtle who kept swimming into the glass and bonking his head.

The World of Coca-Cola was right next store so we headed over and redeemed our City Pass ticket for an admission ticket. Yep, we got to go right in. City Pass is offered for a few different places. It's worth looking into if you're going to be staying for at least a few days. Do you all remember seeing a Coke commercial where you follow the coin into the vending machine and you see the bottle of coke being prepared? Probably aired during Super Bowl. Anywho, they show you that animated film but they've added footage so its like a documentary - conversations with the factory workers. Ask Dave about the balloon blob with the nipple rings. The highlight is the tasting room where they've set up self-serving stations of products from around the world. If you get a chance try the stuff from South Africa with the pine nuts. Tastes like a piña colada. Don't try the Beverly from Italy- unless you like cough medicine.

Saturday we went to Zoo Atlanta to spend the day communing with the animals. The pandas were cute, the gorillas were napping, the orangutan was HUGE and the Tamarind monkeys were adorable. There are 3 giant tortoises and tigers that know how to deal with the heat of the day - sleep it off.

We had heard about the Varsity from the travel channel so we had to go there, right? The fries reminded us of In-n-Out, the chili burgers and dogs were okay but... I'll take Tommy's. I guess when you do that quantity you have to give on the quality.

Speaking of food... the best part of the trip? Jack-in-the-Box tacos! We happened upon another JIB on the way home so I was able to indulge in a few more tacos before returning to the barren (JIB wise) land of Virginia.

4th of July travels...

Well, sit down and have a pint with me and I'll tell you of how my partners'..ah I mean owners'... holiday went.

You see, Dave was working at the shipyard for over a month straight. Mostly 12 to 16 hour shifts with only the Sunday before the 4th off. Now he was thinking that a vacation was in order. Not to mention he's been eyeballing the following Saturday since early February. Something to do with being in front of a slot machine on the date 07/07/07. Hey, I'm just a Bulldog, I don't get it.

Dave was torn about where to go for the holiday and came up with a combination trip. Gem mining in North Carolina followed up with a jaunt into Atlanta, Georgia. This time he claims it won't be the airport ONLY. Boy were they in for a surprise!

The 4th came and they were eventually ready to travel. Sanya helped Dave decide to take his car for the trip - by opting not to take their pool cues. Did I mention that he drives a Mazda?RX-8? Really small car? Naturally Dave got lost, it wouldn't be a trip without it he claims. Plus, it helps Sanya with her map reading. Eventually they arrived in Franklin, North Carolina. 200 hundred miles extra than required, over 20 speed traps and a stop at Jack in the Box. Sanya just loves their tacos and they can't get 'em up in Virginia.

After getting settled in at the Comfort Inn, they meandered down to the Macon County Recreational Area where the day's festivities had started. Nice thing about an RX-8, Dave claims, is that it can park in some pretty small spots. Which was needed that day. They strolled about the area, taking in all the sights of a small town celebration. Everything was there from blow up play houses and food vendors to city council booths and the like. Have you ever had the feeling of being a stranger in a strange land? Yup that was them. They only knew each other and that was evident to the most casual observer. Luckily there was none there! After an hour or so they were thinking maybe they should go and Dave was thinking that Cherokee casino was only an hour away. Surely they'd have fireworks, right? Not to mention a practice run for Saturday!

That's when the cloggers came out on the stage. Ok, so Dave had never seen live clogging. The only other time he saw it was on Deal or No Deal. It got bizarre when they clogged to a hip-hop version of Sweet Home Alabama. When they finished the MC of the event got on the microphone. He started thanking the cloggers that came from Asheville. Then he mentioned something that piqued even my interest. The Plunger Toss was still going on. The winner to get 50 bucks. I might be a Bulldog but, I do understand cash money. Dave went off to find the Plunger Toss area. All he had to do was turn around. There was the line of fellas throwing plungers at toilets! The object? Get the plunger to stay in the toilet of course! Easy, huh? Not from 50 to 75 feet away. Dave gave it a good try. He almost made it on his first toss! But this was Plunger Toss not horseshoes (that was down the way a bit). Together they sat and watched the people tossing plungers at the toilets. A few of the fellas were spending a LOT of money to finally make it in the toilet.

As the twilight started the nights headliner took to the stage, Ms. Kat Williams. A Jazz and R&B singer from Asheville. Do you see a pattern here? Ms. Williams had a great voice and put on a great show. Dave and Sanya did laugh though when she told the crowd the next song was by Mr. Al Green and asked somebody in the front if they Knew who Al Green was. Ah, yeah... Dave was almost positive that most of the people there didn't and found it very funny.

Finally dark descended on the crowd (which had swelled as they whiled away the hours watching the Plunger Toss, the Bolo Toss and the Golf Ball drop - hundreds of balls dropped about 150 feet from a fire engine's bucket onto a chalk drawn bulls-eye. They didn't win the $1000.) Mr. MC got back on the microphone and told the crowd how there was an 'Unscheduled, Unadvertised' event to happen prior to the fireworks. "This better be good" Dave was thinking. The Councilman of Franklin (or was it Macon County?), took to the stage to welcome everyone and thank them for coming out. Then he got on his soap box! There was a 15 minute speech on how the 4th of July was not a celebration of the birth of our country. Of the derring-do and bravery of our forefathers. No, it was a celebration for the veteran. Now Dave has nothing against the Veterans. Heck, he's a member of them. Which he felt gave him the right to comment that they had a holiday already, called Veteran's Day. Dave started to wonder how much had he been working anyways? He has over 700 hours of over time already for this year. Maybe it Was Veteran's Day and he just didn't know it. Nope, no such luck. The Councilman declared this year from the 4th of July, 2007 to the 4th of July, 2008 the year of the Veteran. And declared that the Macon County Rec area was to be renamed the Macon County Veterans Rec area. About this time is when Sanya was elbowing Dave and telling him to use his 'inside' voice.

At Last the fireworks came! They lit up the night sky with wondrous colors and shapes. Some of the 'low' level ones were a bit too low. Something landed on Dave's foot while they were watching the show. Sanya was happy she remembered her ear plugs for this show. With a huge aerial display and a sparkling Old Glory Flag, the fireworks came to a finale. The air was chock full of smoke and the smell of spent gunpowder. Ah, I love that smell, Dave commented.

They hustled off and were thankful for the small car of Dave's. He was able to get to the traffic congested highway in an rather unremarkable time. Eventually with a bit of patience and tunes from the MP3 player they made it back to the hotel. They fell asleep in each others arms and dreamt of the possible gem stones they might find the next day.

Oh my... I let your glass get empty. Here let me getcha a refill and we'll continue on with the tale.