Peachy Days

Last week two of my best friends, Laine and Jess whom I met while studying abroad in Spain came down to visit me. Laine is from Ohio and is an upcoming senior at Miami University in Ohio and Jessica is from New Jersey and is an upcoming senior at the University of Virginia. The three of us all studied abroad in Valencia, Spain through the University of Virginia. We became great friends and travel throughout Europe together. We haven't seen each other since December soon after we landed in the USA so it was great to have a little reunion.

Neither Jess nor Laine had really been to the true south so we did all kinds of fun stuff. Sunday after church I picked them up from the Atlanta airport and held an obnoxious sign just to annoy them. It said "Repeat of Spain in the GA... Are you ready Laine and Jess?" and it also had lots of balloons attached. After our exciting reunion in the Hartsfield-Jackson we headed to the big city of Macon, Georgia. This Sunday happened to be when Spain played in the world cup championship. None of us really care much about soccer, but we did live in Spain for 4 months where fútbol as they call it is not a sport, it is more like a religion, so we watched the ending of the game. It also happens to be that 4 of the players played for Valencia (the team we liked) and we actually got to meet them when we met the Valencian team, so that was exciting! And in the last few minutes Spain pulled it off... way to go Spain, we knew you wouldn't have let us down! After the exciting finish of the game I drove them all around Macon... we saw my old high school, downtown, etc. After driving around and blaring our Spain favorites on our iPods in the car we headed to the good ole country club, Idle Hour, for dinner. And it was tasty... we happen to run into Macon's wonderful Mayor Reichert who happens to be a good family friend of ours. Laine and Jess of course thought that it was so great to meet him... it was kinda funny! That's why we have so much fun with each other, it doesn't take much to make us happy.

Laine, Jess, Mayor Reichert and Me

Prom Pose

Monday we woke up, had breakfast and headed out with a destination of Dicky Farms... a peach farm. Jess and Laine were dying for me to take them to a peach farm and ironically another one of our family friends, the Dickeys, own one of the largest peach farms and packaging plant in GA. Dicky Farms is located in Musella, GA which is about 30 minutes from Macon so we took a morning road trip to see and learn all about peaches. When we got there we were greeted by my mom's friend and she insisted that one of the workers Jake give us a tour of the plant. This was interesting and I felt special because I had never had a tour... we learned all about the peaches, the packaging and the assembly line of the packaging plant. We even got to walk in a huge refrigerator that stores the boxed peaches before they are shipped to grocery stores. After out in depth tour we had to try the home made peach ice cream.... and take lots of pictures. Here are just a few... Oh and we found a sign that said "Cotton Gin"... although it wasn't the sighting of an actual cotton gin, it was successful enough for a picture.

"Have a Peachy Day!"
Laine enjoying her Peach Ice Cream
Packaging Plant
Jess and Laine with our tour guide Jake
Georgia Peaches

Jess and Laine in front of the Cotton Gin

After visiting the peach farm and taking lots of pictures we headed back to Macon. Laine and Jess wanted some true southern "soul food" so mom suggested that we venture downtown to H and H Cafeteria. H and H is very famous because it is where the Allman Brothers used to have lunch. It is nothing more than a whole in the wall, and I had never been there, but they wanted the true southern experience so we went. For $10 you get a meat, three vegetables, a dessert, corn bread and a drink. Wow... it wasn't my fav, but they seemed to like the fried chicken... it was true southern soul food though... no doubt about it. After lunch we ventured to the cannon ball house, yet another Macon landmark that I have not visited. Another item on their list was to see a true antebellum home so we toured the cannon ball house. It was actually really neat and interesting. After touring downtown Macon all afternoon we came home and rested. We made Sangria and Lasagna for dinner and stayed in and watched the Bachelorette since all of us are addicted. It was yet again, another fun night.

Me and Jess with our Lasagna and Sangria

Tuesday we woke up, ate some breakfast and packed our bags. This time the destination was the big ATL, Atlanta that is for not only the day, but also the night too. We got to the big city around lunchtime and headed straight to the World of Coca-Cola. I was excited about going too because I had not been since I was little and I didn't remember anything about the Coke museum. We had looked forward to this little adventure the whole time and yes it lived up to expectations. Not only did we learn some interesting facts, see a movie in 3D, see all the coke memorabilia we could want to, take lots of ridiculous pics, but we also got to taste Coke products from all over the World... highlight of the trip.

Lots of Coke

A sad attempt to get a picture in front of the Coke bottle in the tasting room

Laine and Jess in front of the Coke truck

After the Coke museum we were hungry and I quickly decided that we had to make a trip to the Varsity... yes it is a MUST if you are a newcomer to Atlanta so we just had to go. I can't tell you the last time I ate there either... I mean it is a heart attack waiting to happen. I will admit it was a little intimidating to order, but we managed to order anyway. I would say that lunch was a success yet again...

We would make great advertisements for the Varsity

Laine liked it

And Jess liked it... Success!

After our little trip to the varsity we checked into our nice hotel and headed to Lenox to do some shopping. After shopping we came back to the hotel, changed and headed out to dinner again. We decided to go to Houston's... another Atlanta must and better yet, the hotel had a free shuttle to and from the restaurant. Score! After dinner we came back to the hotel for a few and I taught them the Jai Ho dance. After learning Jai Ho we headed out to a few bars next to the hotel for a little while and then came back to our comfy beds.

Before Dinner

Dinner at Houston's

Laine and Jess getting rowdy...

Sadly Laine and Jess left Wednesday. We slept in and then packed up again. Ate some brunch and drove around Atlanta until it was time for them to go to the airport... Sad day! I know we will get together again soon though! We had such a blast hanging out and the best part about it was we got to speak in ENGLISH! Oh how I am thankful for the USA! That's all for now!

-Mo