Georgia on My Mind...

15 December 2009

Almost to the sea...we're crossing from Tennessee into Georgia, the first state with an Atlantic Coast, and back into the Eastern Time Zone. Down to Atlanta via the old Dixie Highway. This road was set up between circa 1915-1925  to make the most of newly mobile tourists looking to get from the midwest to the tropical semi-paradise of Florida, and runs roughly parallel to I-75. Thanks to the welcome center, we had a little brochure explaining the various attractions of towns along the way. Such as Dalton, Carpet Capital of the World. Did you know the chenille industry of the 1930s had it's start on the Dixie Highway? Now you do. We saw the first ever painted outdoor Coca-Cola sign on a pharmacy in Cartersville. Lunch at the Echota Smoke House, a very unreconstructed remnant of the Dixie's heyday, complete with melamine dishes, mustard yellow formica booths, and decent homemade soup and pulled pork.

The main goal here is, of course, Atlanta and thus the Coca-Cola Experience. Bliss! An entire tourist attraction dedicated to the pleasures of the world's greatest drink and best known brand. Spent almost 3 hours here, and I could have stayed another 5. If it's related to Coke, it's here. There's a polar bear mascot thing, so nearly appealing that I managed to overcome my innate revulsion for people in oversized animal outfits (did you know that the first polar bear used to sell Coke appeared in a French advert in 1922? Now you do.); there's a movie called 'Inside the Happiness Factory: A Documentary,' vintage ads starring Clark Gable and the 1960s Cleveland Browns (not together, sadly); quizzes; dioramas; a 4-D movie (in which David stayed in the non-moving row of seats because he a weak tummy, poor darling); old commercials; a mini-bottling plant; and Best.Of. All.—a tasting room!

You can taste 60 different Coke products from all around the world. There's five stations set up by region, each with loads of drinks in it. They have things like Tab and Mr Pibb, neither of which I've seen in about 20 years. I do not advise drinking the Italian 'Beverly'. But the 'Cherry Fresca'? Yum. And when you're leaving? They give you a free glass bottle of coke. Just in case you're still thirsty. I love coke. You may have noted this previously.

Next morning, post-caffeine induced crash, we went down to Lane Packing, home to a massive store selling pecans and peaches and everything one can produce from either. It is also home to a genuine Georgia Snowman amidst the orchards. Lunch supplied by the Piggly Wiggly, mainly because it makes me giggle to hear David say the name and I've wanted to go to one since I saw Driving Miss Daisy. We drove through the massive Fort Stewart with it's tank crossings and shooting ranges, and finally to Savannah.

And here we are, back at the Atlantic Ocean! We've come from London all the way back round to this bit of coast, in just about 8 months. We took ourselves to Tybee Island, a coastal strip separated from Savannah proper by acres of salt marsh and tidal rivers. Stuck my feet into the sea just because I could, and also because it was almost 80 degrees Fahrenheit and how often do you get to hang on the beach in flipflops a week before Christmas? Dinner at the Crab Shack, where they keep a pond full of alligators, two of whom appeared to be holding hands. Again, almost cute. Who doesn't love a cuddly reptile? Besides me. Lowcountry boil for supper—this is the local thing: shrimp, corn, potatoes and sausage all boiled and seasoned with some sort of rub or spice. This is the kind of place with big holes cut into the middle of the table, so one can toss one's peels as one goes. Cl-assy.