In Search of

Elvis Etcetera: Day 1

August 17, 2012

Savannah to Anniston, AL

360 miles

We are overdue for another road trip, yesterday was the 35^th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death, and we haven’t seen Graceland yet.  It must be time to head for Memphis.  So, here we go, with our music loving travel companions, Joyce and Fred.  

We stop for lunch in Forsyth, Georgia, where an impressive county courthouse dominates the town square. After lunch at Jonah’s on Johnston, as bistro and bakery in the shadow of the courthouse, we introduce Joyce and Fred to geocaching, locating a cache near the Civil War hero statue on courthouse lawn, then we are on our way to Anniston, Alabama. 

We are staying at the Victoria Inn, a gracious 1888 Queen Anne home with an annex of Southern style rooms, terraces and gardens out back around the pool.   

Across the parking lot, in the Victoria’s Carriage House is Larry K. Martin’s Wren’s Nest Gallery, where we peruse Larry’s famous wildlife art for quite a while.  Larry’s art is in the collections of George Bush Sr., Dick Cheney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Colin Powell and Norman Schwarzkopf, so we can pretty much assume that we are not on the same wavelength politically.  But, the guys all hit it off artistically--Joyce and I excuse ourselves to enjoy a glass of wine in the poolside gazebo, while Larry takes Fred and Dick to his inner sanctum studio, where they talk about technical art production stuff, and the small group African safaris Larry leads yearly.  Is a safari with Larry on our travel horizon?  

The Anniston Firehouse is just a five minute walk from our hotel, and there is a “Dalmatian Station” geocache nearby, so we hand the I-pad over to our fire fighter friend Fred to lead the way, and he is a geocaching natural, walking right to the cache, which is filled with fire safety stickers, coloring books, and little toys.  Of course, we end up meeting some of the local firemen, and they give Fred the insider’s tour of their fancy equipment, including two brand new high tech engines just being put into service this week.  

We enjoy a gourmet dinner at the Inn, surely the finest restaurant in town, even though we and one other couple have the elegant dining room to ourselves this evening. 

Then it’s time to turn in early--tomorrow promises to be an action-packed day in Birmingham.

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