Dixieland Part 11...

Our last day in Atlanta dawned and we realised it was also our last day in America!    We were due to fly home in the evening but had a busy day ahead of us before we actually left.

Before embarking on our first excursion for the day we took at photograph of a house quite near to our hotel.

Margaret Mitchell's house.   Of course you know that Margaret Mitchell wrote 'Gone With The Wind' and this tied in nicely with our trip which was to take the 'Road To Tara', in Jonesboro, Georgia, home of the fictional Tara Plantation from her classic novel.

Arriving at the Road to Tara Museum we met up with a local costume historian who guided us through the  museum  and joined us on the coach as we toured the area, entertaining us with both historical and hysterical information about this deep southern town.  The museum contains many exhibits such as detailed and accurate reproductions of the costumes worn by Vivien Leigh (Scarlett O'Hara) and other stars from the film, as well as Margaret Mitchell's china, and an authentic 'Sherman's necktie' (a section of rail twisted into a loop so as to be useless to a railroad company) from the Civil War.   It was an entertaining and informative tour and one I would certainly recommend to anyone visiting the area.

Our next stop was a tour of the World of Coca Cola.  A unique experience that includes interactive exhibits, historical memorabilia, a sensory 4D film, a functioning bottling line, and the chance to sample over 60 different refreshing flavours from around the world.  There is so much to see and it's very informative, a delight for children and we didn't realise there were so many different flavours of Coca Cola!

After our tour of the World Coca Cola we went in here,

where we enjoyed a burger and a milk shake,

whilst reflecting on all the wonderful things and places we had seen on our 12 day trip to the U.S.A.    Then, all too soon, it was time to head back to the hotel to meet Alice (our tour director) and Jerome (our coach driver) who were waiting to take us to the airport to catch our flight home.

We had a wonderful time and the places and things we saw and the people we met will provide some wonderful memories.   We cannot praise Alice and Jerome enough, they really made the whole tour a delight, Jetsave should be very proud of them.   Alice was a fountain of knowledge about every place we stopped, we never had to find a bank to change travellers cheques we just signed them and Alice handed over the money, if we wanted a postcard sending we just wrote it out and gave it to Alice with $1 and she posted it and we never had to queue to check into a hotel because Alice was in there first booking us all in and then gave us our room keys.   Jerome made sure our luggage was on the coach every time we moved to a different location, his careful driving (over 2200 miles from end to end) made all the journeys we took comfortable and we always felt safe, so I'd just like to say a big THANKYOU to them both for making our holiday such a pleasurable one.

I hope you've enjoyed our Dixieland Tour as much as we did.   We're now planning our next trip to the States with the same tour company (Jetsave) for August 2012 taking in Los Angeles,Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Fresno, Sonora, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, Lompoc and back to Los Angeles - we can't wait!

Read Dixieland Part 1 here
Read Dixieland Part 2 here
Read Dixieland Part 3 here
Read Dixieland Part 4 here
Read Dixieland Part 5 here
Read Dixieland Part 6 here
Read Dixieland Part 7 here
Read Dixieland Part 8 here
Read Dixieland Part 9 here
Read Dixieland Part 10 here

Succinctly Yours - A Microfiction Meme #23

Grandma at Grandma's Goulash provides a picture and a word prompt for this Microfiction Meme and the rules are use the photo as inspiration for a story of 140 characters OR 140 words.

Want more challenge? Use the word of the week in your story. This part is optional.

This week's word is PRACTICE here's the picture and my offering using the picture and word of the week  in 140 characters, including spaces and punctuation.

As a new GP John was looking forward to starting his new practice in the quaint little town,

but that was before he saw the surgery building.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #175 Demolition...

Harry removed the doors and windows of the conservatory and smiled as he wielded the sledgehammer, demolishing the walls.

Arriving home from work Janice watched open mouthed.

"What do you think you're doing?" screamed Janice.

Harry carried on.

"Stop, stop now please!" pleaded Janice.

"Too late" said Harry grinning smugly,

"you should've paid the bill!"

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

Little girl on a plane......

An atheist was seated next to a little girl on an airplane and
he turned to her and said, "Do you want to talk?  Flights go quicker
if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger."

The little girl, who had just started to read her book,
replied to the total stranger, "What would you want to talk about?"

"Oh, I don't know," said the atheist. "How about why there is
no GOD or no Heaven or Hell or no life after death?" as he smiled
smugly.

"OK," she said. "Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first.  A horse, a cow and a deer all eat the same stuff -   grass.    Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty but a horse produces clumps.  Why do you suppose that is?"

The atheist, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks about it and says, "Hmmm, I have no idea."

To which the little girl replied, "Do you really feel qualified to discuss why there is no GOD or no Heaven or Hell or no life after death, when you don't know shit?"

And then she went back to reading her book.Imagine the expression on his face and tell me you didn't laugh.  

Remembering......

A much loved grandson

Reece

Born 30th August 1990 

Died 6th August 1996

on what would have been your 21st birthday

Cherished forever

Forgotten never

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #174 Raid..

Cindy woke with a start.

Crash, thundering footsteps up the stairs.

The bedroom door flew open, armed police surrounded her.

"What the.....?

"Where is he, where's Jack?" they roared.

"Jack who?" she screamed.

"Jack Smart, you know who, come on where is he?" they demanded.

"Next door I imagine, in his house!"

Oops, wrong house!

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

Dixieland Part 10.....

Our final full day in the Deep South found us heading back to Atlanta stopping at Lynchburg on the way,

where we looked round the town square

enjoying the quaint shops

and lovely buildings

even managing to pose on the veranda before heading off to the place we stopped in Lynchburg to see

 The Jack Daniels Distillery -the oldest registered distillery in the U.S.

It's where Jack first crafted the recipe for Old No.7.  It's where the pure, iron-free cave spring water flows.

Jack's statue outside the entrance to the spring

Inside the cave

It's where every drop of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Sipin' Whiskey is still made today.

The tour of the distillery was really interesting and the smell of the whiskey was very inviting.  Unfortunately, all you are allowed to do is SMELL the whiskey because Lynchburg is located in Moore County, Tennessee which is officially a 'dry county', that means no alcoholic beverages may be sold within Moore County and we weren't allowed even a taste!    The distillery is permitted to sell special collector bottles of whiskey only to tourists from outside the county but they were really expensive and as we're not collectors and just wanted to drink it we didn't bother buying any.

Continuing our journey our next stop was Chattanooga to see this..

The first Chattanooga Choo Choo Train was Cincinnati Southern Railroad's small wood burning steam locomotive that started its journey through history from Cincinnati, Ohio on March 5, 1880.   Nearly all trains travelling to the South passed through Chattanooga.  the wood burning "Choo Choo was the first to provide none-stop service.

A news paper reporter dubbed the huffing and puffing little steam locomotive the Chattanooga Choo Choo.  Although the Chattanooga's Terminal Station was significant in its role of the train era with it's 'Track 29', little was known about the first Chattanooga Choo Choo.   Only after Glen Miller's orchestra made the catchy song popular in the later 1940's did the name become world famous.

The train resides at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel, which was the terminal station in downtown Chattanooga.

On December 1st 1909 the first train pulled into the station and the depot grew to serve nearly 50 passenger trains a day.   Over the years the bustling terminal greeted Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt.   Passenger train traffic slowed to a halt in the 1960's with the dominance of auto and air travel and railway activity was replaced by these faster modes of transportation.   Almost 61 years after the opening, the grand old building was closed to the public when the last train stopped on August 11th 1970.   The Terminal Station seemed destined for the similar fate of Union Station but it was saved by a group of local businessmen who were inspired by the theme of the "Chattanooga Choo Choo" investing $4million, and the beautiful Terminal Station once again opened its doors to welcome visitors to Chattanooga on April 11th 1973 as a unique vacation complex.   The Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Leaving Chattanooga behind we headed towards Atlanta, where our tour of the South started, to spend our last night staying at the Hotel Midtown Atlanta again.   We were sad that our wonderful holiday was coming to an end but looking forward to what our final day had to offer - a tour of the World of Coca Cola and the 'Road To Tara'.   I hope you'll join me for my final post about our tour of the South Dixieland Part 11.


Read Dixieland Part 1 here
Read Dixieland Part 2 here
Read Dixieland Part 3 here
Read Dixieland Part 4 here
Read Dixieland Part 5 here
Read Dixieland Part 6 here
Read Dixieland Part 7 here
Read Dixieland Part 8 here
Read Dixieland Part 9 here

Succinctly Yours - A Microfiction Meme #22

Grandma at Grandma's Goulash provides a picture and a word prompt for this Microfiction Meme and the rules are use the photo as inspiration for a story of 140 characters OR 140 words.

Want more challenge? Use the word of the week in your story. This part is optional.

This week's word is TEPID here's the picture and my offering using the picture and word of the week  in 140 characters, including spaces and punctuation.

Amy opened her eyes, relieved to see the tepid sunshine seeping through the tiny window, 

it meant she had survived another day in captivity.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #173 Message....

She kept picking her cell phone up fiddling with it.

“Are you expecting a message?” he asked.

“No, no, just trying the apps on my new phone”.

“You seem to be getting a lot of alerts” he said.

“I’m on Twitter” she said, “it’s great!”

He wished he’d never bought her the damn smart phone!

Not exactly fiction as I think this is how MWM probably feels this week. LOL

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

The Correct Insurance......

Are you insured for sex?   Make sure you get the correct insurance for the sex you are having. 
Here is a list of companies catering for most tastes.

• Sex with your wife/husband: Legal & General
  
• Sex on the telephone: Direct Line
  
• Sex with your partner: Standard Life.
  
• Sex with someone different: Go Compare
  
• Sex with a fat guy/bird: More Than
  
• Sex on the back seat of a car: Sheila's Wheels
  
• Sex with some posh guy/bird: Privileged.
  
• Sex with a transvestite: Confused.com

Succinctly Yours - A Microfiction Meme #21

Grandma at Grandma's Goulash provides a picture and a word prompt for this Microfiction Meme and the rules are use the photo as inspiration for a story of 140 characters OR 140 words.

Want more challenge? Use the word of the week in your story. This part is optional.

This week's word is FRANTIC here's the picture and my offering using the picture and word of the week  in 140 characters, including spaces and punctuation.

Frantic, breathless and exhausted after being chased for two hours Mr Beech collapsed in his chair, 

thankful he’d escaped the woodworm army.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #172 Great Job...

It's a great job reading for a living.

I get to read all sorts - fact, fiction, maps, you name it I've probably read it.

I love smooth white paper, coloured paper is harder to read.

There's not usually any problems, but if I get stuck

they just call the photocopier engineer out to fix me.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.