Easley, SC & Atlanta, GA.

I have combined my two weekend trips to South Carolina and Georgia into one trip page. I visited my friends Fletch and Hester Barker June 28th - June 30th in Easley, SC which is located just outside Greenville, SC. Fletch is the former president of Carolina Border Collie Rescue.

The next weekend, July 7 & 8th I drove down to Atlanta to finally get a chance to meet Marcia Bilbrey  who is not only a good friend but also a fellow Netwidow and lives in California. She had a business meeting on Monday in Atlanta and had the opportunity to fly in on Saturday night which gave us a chance to spend all day Sunday together seeing the sites. Monday morning I dropped her off at her Atlanta office and I took off for home. You can read the full description of the weekend on my journal page for July 10, 2001.

Also, be sure to check out Marcia's meanderings page for more photos from her camera of the trip.

Atlanta, GA

I left on Saturday afternoon to drive down to Atlanta to meet Marcia at the airport. Her flight arrived at 10 pm. By the time we collected her luggage, drove to the hotel, checked in, and parked the car it was almost midnight. The next morning we took the MARTA back to downtown Atlanta to see the sights. The escalator from the subway to the street was virtually straight up and about five stories high. The picture marked new is the same escalator but looking up instead of down. Very intimidating if you are afraid of heights. And, Marcia and I were the only ones on the escalator at the time.

Once we emerged from the MARTA station we set off to find Olympic Park where the 1996 Summer Olympic Games were held. This is a picture of Marcia standing at the main gate. I bet she has one of me doing the same thing on her camera. 

The next three smaller pictures are all taken in the park. The first one on the left one of the torches.

              Marcia has pictures of me stuffing Major.

The first one was taken in the Underground at the cart where I purchased Major. The little bear on top of the cart is turning  a a crank. The stuffing is located in the clear tank which has a hose on the left side that forces the stuffing out as I pressed a pedal to fill the bear. That's major at home on the kitchen table sitting in his cradle like box showing off his birth certificate.  

Directly across from the hotel was this lovely park located outside a complex of businesses. A courtyard looked over the waterfall and garden in the first three pictures. The last one is just around the corner and down some steps in front of the entrance to another office building. I loved the fountain and the lovely flowers.

Easley, SC 

Hester and Fletch sitting on the deck. The backyard goes beyond the deck and is a large fenced in area for the dogs to roam around freely. Just behind Hester is another level where Fletch grilled steaks for dinner on Friday night with potatoes and salad. I am sitting on the deck across from Fletch holding their only non-Border Collie, Scooter. He loved to snuggle on your lap or chest.

Just to the left of Fletch are the sliding glass doors that go from the porch out to the deck. However, the dogs have their own door which Malcolm learned to use in less than two minutes. Malcolm is laying in front of another set of glass doors that goes from the porch into the house. This was his spot where he would go lay down and cool off when he got too hot outside. It took several shots but I finally got Malcolm at the various stages of coming out the dog door.

We took the dogs up to the school to run. Fletch is standing with Dixie, one of his dogs.

Updated Saturday, April 26, 2003