Who comes to a beach town in late fall/early winter? Not too many people, as it turns out, but if your mission is not social but more romantic or introspective, I’d highly recommend the trip. The lake itself is at ground level, of course, and there were still several sailboats and other daring creatures out in the chilly water, but the little town on the hill above provided an extra adventure.
Assisi: Not just for Catholics!
The stillness and serenity of this walk set the scene for conversation, contemplation, or a transformative epiphany. Perhaps it’s not a surprise that here, away from the memorials and dried flowers and amidst the lowing cows and endless greenery, one feels closest to the ideals that Francis represents. Sometimes you have to strip the gilding away to find the real value of a place.
Walking amongst the people at the Dragon*Con parade
For the uninitiated, Dragon*Con is not a celebration of all things dragon, but rather it is a massive annual convention that takes over Atlanta every Labor Day weekend. The parade is pretty much a smaller version of NYC’s Halloween parade with more nerds and less skin (probably a wise combination). Oddly, there were more evangelical wackadoodles protesting the Dragon*Con parade than one sees at the skinfests in New York, but people down here do seem to have a serious lack of constructive hobbies, and there are a lot of frustrated cheerleaders.