6-16-18 over to Macon again

Our nearest "big" city is Macon.  With a population of about 154,000, it's only about half the size of St. Louis.  It doesn't sprawl out like St. Louis county, either.  St. Louis county has over 1,000,000 people.  Perry only has about 16.000 people in it.  I really do feel like we're in the country now!  So when we want to see the big city, we go to Macon.

The ride to Macon is about 30 minutes, about the time it takes to drive from our suburb city of Florissant (56,000 people) to downtown St. Louis.  But we sure don't have views like this on our drive in St. Louis!  Most of the way to Macon is along farmlands.  But today the clouds were the attraction.

 Downtown Macon is much quieter than St. Louis, too. 

 It's more of an artsie town.

 We headed to Ocmulgee Brewery for lunch again.

 It was as good as the last time.

Interesting set up with all the picnic tables inside.

 heading back out.

 love the tree lined streets of Macon.

 Lots of history here.  Glad to see they aren't defacing and tearing down the statues and the history of Macon like what's happening in so many other cities now.

 While we were in town, we hit up an estate sale.  Interesting ride through the neighborhoods, but the sale was pretty much a dud.

 One final stop---at Bass Pro shop for some father's day shopping.

 Then back on the highway to head home to Perry.

Certainly is a lot different than where we lived the last 2 years!!!!!  Even 40 miles north of the city of Atlanta we were in horrific traffic.  I do miss the preserve by our apartment and the shops I could walk to---as well as the easy access to the mountains and lake Lanier, but I don't miss the constant traffic.

6-9-18  Josh's 44th birthday!

Celebration time again.  This time it's Josh's birthday.  I was thinking about that the other day and realized he'll be my age when Layla graduates from high school!  I can't imagine having a teenager now!  But I can't imagine not having any kids, either!
For his birthday lunch, he wanted to go to The Rookery in Macon.   Sounded good to me!  I've only been to Macon once and it seems like a pretty neat "city".
Love the small town feel of the old downtown area.

 Lots of landscaping.

 and lots of green space.

 as well as lots of historic old buildings.

 even the alleyways are interesting in their own bazaar way.

 Love the visitors' center building.  Macon is the home of many musicians---including The Allman Brothers and one of the kids' favorites-Otis Redding.

 The kids are huge music fans.  So whenever they get the chance, they like to pop into record stores.  Funny that vinyl is in again!  Actually Josh lost quite a collection in their house fire back in 2008.  Even Tim and Faith are into the vinyls now.  I believe Angie and Josh added about $75 worth of records from this store to their new collection.

 From there we walked to the Rookery.  It's a very walkable city.

 with interesting sights along the way.

 like these poodle signs everywhere!

 Heading into the Rookery.

  They definately have an interesting menu here!  I thought about getting a salad, then decided I had to get one of their famous menu items.  I forget the name of it, but it was a burger with peanut butter and bacon on it.  Sounded odd, but was really quite good!

 Even Layla liked the place.

 All that was missing was Ken (and Carol).  Unfortunately Carol couldn't make it down from St. Louis and Ken's foot was causing him problems.

Angie pointed out this bike stand to me.

 another of the dog signs.

 and another.

Then we rode over to Vineville to show Josh's Dad, Darrel, where they originally thought about buying a house.

 In fact, this was the one they were looking at.  Looks like it has sold.

 more of the incredible houses here!

 the church was pretty interesting, too.

 This house was for sale.  Looked like it had potential.

 I love this house.

 This one, too. 

 Back at the house, we hung out in the pool for awhile.

 Layla seemed a little apprehensive the first time in the pool, but this time she seemed to be having a ball.

 so did Grandma.

 she's hamming it up for the cameras already!

 She had to take a break from all the smiling and chew on a couple fingers for awhile.

 happy baby

 I'm alwasy trying to take these kinds of photos when I'm snorkeling, but never get it.

 Layla even did well laying on her back.

Later that evening, Angie made her famous home made pizza and we played some Mexican Train dominoes.  Layla watched on with a new solid food---a teething cracker. 

 She actually seemed to eat some of it, made a big mess with the rest of it.

I hope Josh enjoyed his birthday as much as I did.  Too bad Ken didn't feel like joining us.  While we were in Edisto last weekend, his bum ankle collapsed and left him hardly able to walk.  And when he does walk, it's on the side of his foot.  Monday he has a Dr. appointment to go get it looked at.
But Josh's dad made it here from Florida.  It was nice visiting with him, too.