For those of you who don't know, Sunday marked the beginning of vacation for this Gray family. And when I say 'vacation', I am putting a huge emphasis on the 'vacate' part of the word. We left Sunday on an 18 day, across more than half the country, road trip. Three big destinations, a Wedding in Austin, TX, a three day stay at the Shortage (Short family cottage) in Westcliffe, Colorado, and then Hesston, KS for the every other year Stone Family reunion.
After worship on Sunday, we headed straight for Atlanta. We made fairly decent time, only a few stops along the way. That night's dinner was really good and a great way to start our vacation. Fox Bros. BBQ in Atlanta did not disappoint. Pulled pork, brisket, slaw and tots. Yessir to all of it. And we even saw some of the cast of The Walking Dead, which is filmed in Atlanta. Thanks Steve-O for picking the spot and meeting up with us!
After a refreshing night of sleep at Abby Lou's (thanks sis), we were ready for our big adventures. We were told, 'don't leave between 7:30am and 9am' because of traffic. Of course, when the kids woke at 6:30 and by the time we could get packed up, it was 7:30. Lucky for us, traffic wasn't bad at all, especially b/c of the HOV lane.
Once we downloaded the Roadside America app and purchased a new US Atlas, we began to do what we do, which is find the craziest, coolest stuff our country has in store. This began at Bud Jones Taxidermy in Tallapoosa, Ga. That's right, a taxidermy place. Hopefully we'll post pictures at some point. This place was cool. Hundreds of animals, many exotic ones, in this place. He had filled many a museums, including several animals at our very own in Columbia, SC. This visit also included the line, "Oh, I'm sorry, just try to ignore that coyote, we just pulled him out of the freezer so we can skin him tomorrow." Bud Jones and his wife were really sweet and very hospitable. The kids left with a piece of skin of a zebra, wild boar, and white-tail deer.
Mrs. Jones also told us about two other places, the Tallapoosa Museum and the Natural History Museum in Anniston, AL, both of which Mr. Bud had provided some of his work. As we got to the museum back in town, which was just down the road from the Jones' place, we were greeted by a lady who told us that Mrs. Jones had already called to make sure we had made it. (Thank God we decided to take her advice and go, or she might have sent a search party after us.) The museum was nice, sort of what you would expect from a small town museum, except this one had dinosaurs, about 15 in all, pretty good size ones, all coming from the hands and work of Bud Jones.
The Natural History Museum in Anniston was an unexpected surprise. Having just been to Smithsonian Natural History Museum a little less than three months ago, the only difference is the Smithsonian is free. The Anniston Museum was so well done and the displays were so expansive and thorough, it really was a great find. Full size replicas of an elephant, giraffe, lions, and even a cheetah (Gray kids' favorite).
After a full morning, we set our sites on trying to get to Jackson, MS. Driving by to see Talladega Superspeedway and Hoover Met Stadium (SEC baseball tourney site), we plowed through some very boring stretch of road.
Jackson was our destination for one reason and one reason alone: Big Apple Inn. I saw this local dive on the Travel channel several times and was looking forward to eating my first 'pig-ear' sandwich. In spite of never seeing otherwise, the disappointment was tremendous when I found that it wasn't open on Mondays. Seriously, better websites people! Or maybe I should have called ahead, my bad. So here we were, in Jackson, MS for no real reason at all. Oh well. After dinner of pizza, breadstick, tamales, and chips and salsa and a quick dip in the pool, we were done for the night and day 2 of our Epic Family Road Trip was in the books. More tomorrow!
Bud Jones Taxidermy
Anniston Natural History Museum
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