Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Just bumming around

Rain overnight, and a cloudy morning left me reluctant to venture out this morning.  This being a bum for three months can grow on a person.

Eventually, Emma and I headed out to find the Corps of Engineer Visitor’s Center a ways over on another side of Allatoona Lake.  I had a map of the lake, but no address for the VC.  I did, however, take my GPS with me just in case I needed to find my way home.  That was a good decision.

As we wandered some of the back roads, we came upon several COE day use areas and visited each one. 

_MG_8423

                                                At one such stop we came upon an historic iron works.

IMG_8425Most of it was destroyed by Sherman during the Civil War as he made his march south.  This is what’s left.  I can’t imagine all the work it was to fit all of those large stones together just right to make the iron works.

As Emma and I decided to take a walk on a nearby nature trail, about 30 seven year old kids came bubbling off of the trail.  They all had to say “Hello doggie!”  Emma nearly wagged her tail right off of her body, but the adults wisely hurried the kids back to the parking lot.  I’m sure in her usual exuberance, Emma would have scratched them. 

IMG_8424

We walked down the trail a ways, and enjoyed all the birds sounds we heard.  At least I did.  Emma was so interested in the smells along the way that her nose was foaming!  As we got back to the car, I asked the adults in the kids’ group if they knew how to get to the Visitor’s Center.  It turned out you could walk there about a mile and a half along the trail we had been on.  They said it was quite an uphill walk.  (We are in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains after all)  I asked about driving there and received convoluted directions that required quite a few miles of driving.  I decided to give it a try, and that’s when I ended up lost on a road that said it was the Dixie Highway. 

Eventually, I just pulled over and plugged in Jack-in-the-Box.  After about 45 minutes, we made it home and spent the rest of the afternoon just veg'ing out.  On the way back, I stopped at Red Top Mountain State Park and got some information about some excursions I’ll be making tomorrow and Saturday.  I hope they’re as interesting as the pamphlets describe.  I also found out the location of the nearest Walmart so I can get a bag of dog food tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy