First Week of July

Last weekend, I visited Cordele, Georgia, and other parts of south-west and south-central Georgia.

My main goal was to attend the annual Watermelon Days festival in Cordele, which calls itself the Watermelon Capital of the World. I attended the parade early on Saturday morning.

Little Miss Melon, one of several watermelon queens of various ages.

One of the watermelon-themed floats.

The local tractor club was well-represented; this is only one.

Another watermelon float.

That's the local high school band coming up behind me.

Then explored the historic downtown of Cordele (every town in the area is "historic", apparently).

Cordele boasts an actual Titan I missile. It's in a gas station parking lot, just off I-75. 

Some of downtown isn't doing very well. There were many empty buildings and some vacant lots.

This impressive church building caught my eye.

The beautiful historic post office building.

The beautiful historic Carnegie library building.

A very pleasant park where one can watch the frequent freight trains pass.

Next I visited Georgia Veterans State Park, a few miles west of town, to see the military veterans museum and attend the festival proper.

There were lots of local artisans and businesses with booths. There was a classic car show at one end of the field. Local musicians provided some entertainment. 

Free watermelon slices, sponsored by the local 4-H club. They also had a watermelon-eating contest and a seed-spitting contest.

After my BBQ food truck lunch, I had peach ice cream.

I enjoyed the festival! My only complaint is that the locals did not commit more to the watermelon theme. There could have been watermelon ice cream, other watermelon foods and beverages, watermelons for sale, maybe even a u-pick watermelon field. People and pets in watermelon costumes. Come on, Crisp County!

While I was at the state park, I toured the museum at the visitors center, which was about military history in Georgia. There were some exhibits indoors, featuring the names of local veterans, and outdoors a small collection of airplanes, tanks, and artillery.

In the evening, I had a ride on the SAM Shortline excursion train, which calls itself Georgia's Rolling State Park. From the station at Georgia Veterans State Park, the train went to Plains in about two hours. It was very comfortable, there was a host on each car that talked about the history of the train, the areas we passed, and local flavor. There was a concessions car too. In Plains, we had a couple of hours to look around, eat peanut butter ice cream, and watch the fireworks show before the train returned to Georgia Veterans.

Ready to board the train!

The next day, I toured more of Crisp and Sumter counties. I went back to Plains to see the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site, which includes the high school, train depot, and boyhood farm. Billy Carter's gas station is another attraction.

Farmhouse where the Carters lived, a few miles southwest of Plains. No running water or electricity until the late 1930's.

Billy Carter's gas station, now a museum.

Plains Depot, which was used for Carter's campaigns.

Plains business district. There are about six shops, including the Plain Peanut which sells the ice cream as well as everything else you can make with peanuts. There's an election history shop that sells authentic buttons, bumper stickers, and other memorabilia from every US Presidential election. There's an antique shop and a little cafe, too.

Plains High School, now the main visitor center and Jimmy Carter museum.

Lastly I drove to Andersonville to see the historic prison site and cemetery. The National Prisoner of War Museum is also at the park.

National cemetery. This view shows one of the Civil War sections where almost 13,000 prisoners were buried in trenches (that's why the stones are so close together). The Confederacy kept excellent records, though, so after the war nearly all the graves were identified and these stones installed. 

A view of the prison site. The reconstructed North Gate is in the upper left, Providence Spring is located in the stone structure in the center, and the original creek runs across the field in from left to right below.

A reconstructed section of the stockade, "dead line" fencing, and prisoner shelters. 

Entrance to the visitor center and National POW Museum. Built to look like a POW prison.

I did stop to visit the World's Largest Peanut in Ashburn, just off I-75.

On the way home Monday, I stopped to see High Falls State Park and hike the Falls Trail.

The wooded side of the trail. It was shady, but not much cooler than elsewhere.

The main waterfall. 

The dam above the falls which holds back the Towaliga River to create High Falls Lake, which is used for recreation. 

Tuesday through Thursday was more normal as I worked in the lab with my research student, worked in the office on some projects, and had some work-related meetings. I played badly at cribbage Tuesday evening, I played board games at Red's on Wednesday evening, and I went to book club to discuss Frankenstein Thursday evening. Friday was Independence Day, so no work. I decided to pick blueberries instead. Even with a late start, I collected 3 pounds in about 90 minutes.

My blueberries.

A blueberry bush.

So far, I've made a blueberry buckle and blueberry muffins. I have about two cups left and might freeze those for later. 

Friday evening I played board games and had dinner by Zoom with friends J & J. There had not been any early fireworks in my neighborhood this week, but as soon as the sun set there was almost constant fireworks noise until midnight. I took the trash out around 10 pm, and although I didn't see anything, I could hear the sounds all around.

Saturday evening I went to the Gwinnett Stripers baseball game with friends. The visiting team was the St. Paul Saints, who eventually won the game 3-1. Our seats were terrific and the park was very nice. It's small, surrounded by apartment buildings, and not far from my house (30 minutes' drive).

The giveaway today was this Jimmy Carter bobblehead. I like the Georgia-shaped base, and the levitating baseball especially.

One of the entertainments between innings was a mascot race. After the race the worm, hook, and bobber came up to the seats with Chopper the beaver.

 

Great view from our seats.

Traditional hot dog for dinner.