Toccoa Falls 9-17-17

Ahhh, football season in the South. The most wonderful time of the year. It's also the best time of the year for hiking. While I really do enjoy watching college football, I feel guilty wasting weekends when the leaves are changing colors and the weather is usually quite nice. So I make up for it by trying to hike on Sundays, when pro football is on. Just don't really have any interest in the Falcons or any other pro team, except for sporadic moments when former UGA players are doing well on whatever team they happen to be playing on at the moment. This is a win/win because James loves pro ball and tries to avoid hiking whenever possible hah. 

So the week of September 11 we had, well, an issue with a tropical storm (Irma- die b*tch) and it rained for several days. We lost power. Lots of trees down. Overall a bad week. By the weekend, I was completely stressed from work and really wanted to get outside. Learning opportunity- I was so wrapped up in my own world, I didn't realize how extensive the storm damage was in the mountains and I didn't think to check. I planned to hike the section of the Appalachian Trail that crosses Blue Mountain and drove up there and started hiking only to find huge sections of the trail were completely blocked by trees and washed out. I don't hike by myself very often and while I am not afraid to, I am clumsy. I started climbing over trees and roots and fell, so I decided to turn back. I drove around aimlessly for a while enjoying the scenery but ultimately wanted to do something. So I took quite a detour and went to Toccoa Falls. 

There's really no hiking required to see Toccoa Falls, just a nice stroll down a gravel path. Park near the bookstore and pay admission (I think it was $5) at the bookstore cashier. Dogs are allowed but I left mine at home. Even though it was a beautiful afternoon, there were only a handful of people there. It was very peaceful and pretty. We don't live very far away so I'm ashamed we haven't been here before. So even though my initial plan to hike a 4000+ mountain off my list didn't happen, I had an enjoyable afternoon sitting next to a pretty waterfall. 

California Wrap Up

Well, it's been a decent 2+ months since our trip to California and I still haven't finished writing about it. Maybe I'm a procrastinator or maybe I just really have spent the last two months reflecting and trying to figure out what to say. Maybe I subconsciously didn't want to write because I wanted to pretend the trip never ended. 

As for what we did at the end of our trip, we went to the wedding we initially traveled to CA for and went to the beach and we went to a house party and tried to re-live college days. That was about it. Nothing earth shattering. The wedding was lovely and we saw some friends we hadn't seen in a very long time. The beach was lovely too. We had great weather the last few days we were there. Perfect low humidity, sunny San Diego weather. 

But really, the last few days of the trip just felt like normal life (I mean, normal life if we didn't have jobs hahaha). We started to be able to drive/walk from place to place without relying so much on Google Maps. We finally adjusted to the time zone difference. James finally got over his initial culture shock and admitted he really likes San Diego. Dare I say, we felt...at home...

The last time I felt this way after a trip was when I traveled to Athens, GA in 2007 for a long weekend with my ex-boyfriend who had friends at UGA. I decided right then and there, with almost no thought process whatsoever that I would go to UGA for grad school. I immediately loved Athens and felt at home more than I did in my actual hometown. So I'm not saying we're going to drop everything and move to California but I will say my snap decision to up and move to Athens did turn out to be a good thing. Maybe I should trust my instincts more than my logical, cold, little brain. 

The good news is, we're definitely in the midst of planning another trip to California. It will be after the winter holidays when everyone is in the doldrums of January in Georgia. Stay tuned...

Last dance

https://www.jonellejones.com/#/watercolor-wildflowers-hand-lettering/

So I have not finished my series of posts about the California trip, but I really feel compelled to write about Tom Petty instead. As fate would have it, I will be traveling to Florida later this week for my cousin's wedding so I was already feeling a twinge of homesickness when the news of Tom Petty's death broke. Tom Petty is someone who did Florida proud. As a child born and raised in Florida in the 80s/90s, there was not always a lot to celebrate in the way of music and culture (or anything really) from Florida. I think most people associate Florida music with bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jimmy Buffet, Creed (God help us all) and of course, the Backstreet Boys and Nsync.

Well, life in east central Florida in a swampy, lower middle class town was much more Tom Petty than Jimmy Buffett. It's much more cinder block ranch house than Disney World castle. It's much more trade school than Florida Gator. It's much more skin cancer than Coppertone girl. Sure, there were good times and it is my home, but I always felt out of place and disconnected. Despite that, I connect Tom Petty lyrics to Florida in a way that makes me happy. 

I remember when I was a kid my mom telling me about friends of hers who cried when Elvis got married and cried even more when he died and I always thought that sounded crazy, but now I understand.  Tom Petty is, by far, my favorite musician of what is currently considered the classic rock era (although I realize even bands like Nirvana are played on the classic rock station now). I am pretty sure I was born listening to Tom Petty, given my age and my parents' ages and the fact that he has been making incredibly popular music my entire life. 
I feel fortunate to have been born when I was and hear his music for so long- but not long enough. Every song, every lyric just feels like home in a way I can't explain. 

This article expresses a lot of what I feel and I particularly love the quote "between Petty and the Gators, I prefer Petty". 

RIP

Sidenote: this isn't really a comprehensive post about music in Florida but I will acknowledge the uptick in indie, punk, and metal bands in the late 90s and while this was awesome, being pale and wearing long, dark clothing never really jived with the image of "SUNNY FLORIDA" that of course perpetually ruled my teenage life.