Ruined

 The first of many: expect a deluge of posts about bella Italia.  

First up, the ruins of Italy.  

Le amiche delle cose antiche, (the friends of the old stuff, as we fondly called ourselves) visited dozens of historical sites, and among them were ancient ruins.

Growing up in America, I had little grasp of the concept of true antiquity--but in Italy I was able to encounter it.
I could touch, smell and clamber on top of gorgeous ruins.  

Our itinerary included stops at Pompeii, Herculaneum, Ostia Antica, The Roman Forum, the Colosseum and many more.  

Italy was practically preening for pictures, the weather was beautifully overcast the first two days and then dazzlingly bright the remainder of our stay.

Dirt Collection

I have decided to start a dirt collection from my world travels (I hope travels plural).

My Aunt Marion brought my dad back dirt from Greece and I've decided to bring back samples from famous historical sites: The Collosseum, Herculanaeum, Pompeii, etc. 

I hope I make it through customs.

Ace Gang Explores Deserted Hilton Head--A Trip in Pictures

I thought I'd do a string of related posts, but I decided to cram everything into one long photo extravaganza.  

The Ace Gang went on another adventure--taking one retirement community at a time.  Our Senior trip was to Amelia Island, and the scenery at Hilton Head was eerily similar.  I said that these retirement communities must come from a kit: winding trails, palm trees, moss, boats, horses and bicycles.  

It was a perfect, restful trip spent with the oldest and best of friends, a nice break before Amy leaves for Spain and the rest of us return to classes.  

We really did feel like a bunch of old ladies--our first night we were all asleep by 11:15, a feat I haven't managed since before entering college.  

Before setting out we watched five episodes of Pretty Little Liars back to back, which made for a great  running joke about us wandering this empty town pursued by A.  

Chelsey snuck into the bathroom and wrote this on the mirror in lipstick.  

(We purchased a pound and a half of fudge.)

 It was very beautiful, and very cold.

 

 

 The Chocolate Canopy is a must-visit.  The gentleman who owns the shop was incredibly sweet, offered us tons of samples and told all about the making of chocolate. 

 As it turns out, most commercial chocolates contain paraffin wax to keep them from melting in transit or in store rooms.  His chocolate does not, and it was delicious. My favorites were the French chocolate shells and the non-parriels.  

We joked that the whole island felt like a doll house: most places were closed for the season and we felt like the only tourists on the island. 

It leant a giddy, nervous feeling to our nature trail--a fun game.  

I was so excited when we stopped by a little country gas station and I found Cheerwine and Sixlets! 

 We could not believe this guy!  That boat was hardly hooked on!

 Our entire trip was truly centered around food, which suited us perfectly.  

Trip Advisor was incredibly handy, and recommended fantastic local eats.  

 We made a pit stop in Athens to (of course) grab some food, and after stuffing ourselves, we thought, of course we must have cake! 

 We headed over to The Last Resort and together consumed nearly $50 worth of cake.  

I'm proud to list myself among the modest one-slicers, but those who had two helpings felt no shame.  

I can't express what a luxurious, slow and delightful trip it was...proof that we can enjoy time spent together wherever we go: locked in the car from the cold watching the sunset, eating disturbing amounts of tollhouse, playing count the graveyard or attempting to complete a game of spanish scrabble without cheating in our hotel room.

Tallulah Point

In between morning and evening sessions, I would drive just down the road to Tallulah Point, a general store with "The Best View of Tallulah Gorge" that I stumbled across my first day.  I returned each day following for the company of the sweet owners, boiled peanut seller David, and Peach NEHI.  I was told "You can taste the fuzz on the peach." 

It's true.  New favorite drink.  

Mr. David would walk around offering tourists samples of "bawled p-nuts."  

It was my first one ever, which is crazy since I'm a Georgia native.  

They used an antique fire extinguisher to prop open the door.  

Beautiful.

Thirty three cent miniature elephants. 

I bought two, so they could be friends.

Hard candy!  Lemon and butterscotch are my favorites.

They collect the glass bottles to make jewelry and wind chimes.

The view was five times more expansive than this, even bigger than the one I got from within the state park.

The Great Wallenda was a 65 year tight rope walker who crossed the quarter mile expanse of the gorge and completed to head stands back in 1970.  

They had beautiful old-fashioned tin toys.

Above the store was a bbq/antique shop. Crazy combo.

I brought different friends each day.  We also hit up the local thrift store.  So fun!

Cam and Charlie were planning on going to Tallulah Gorge to rock hop and finally picked this past Saturday.  

The gorge is five minutes from my camp so we all got to meet up. 

Passes to the bottom of the gorge ran out, but fortunately, I had made friends at Tallulah Point and was able to ask for their advice.  

Mr. David drew us out a map for a very sketchy path to Panther Creek. 

 It involved us making a few turns in our car, and then getting out when we found a white door lying in the woods.  

Then we got out and looked for the trail, left the trail when we heard the river, crossed it and then followed more trails.  

We hopped rocks, trying to balance on logs spanning the width of the river and other silly challenges we made up.  

Cam stumbled across a yellow jacket nest and got stung half a dozen times and had to leap into the river, and brought them to us and I managed to get stung!  

I watched us closely for allergic reactions.  

After lots of hopping, climbing and rambling we came to the falls.  

And then the bottom fell out and we made our way back to the car in the downpour.  

We got lost and I fell down a lot because I couldn't wear my glasses without them fogging up.

Sounds crazy, but it was a ton of fun, and best of all was the quarter bottle of Peach NEHI waiting for me in the car.