Two weekends ago, Hil and I flew down to visit her father's three siblings, all of whom live on the shores of Lake Lanier. The lake is a reservoir, created in the 1950s to hydrate Atlanta. The water level rose to fill what had been ravines and mountain streams, so the lake has a very convoluted edge, giving it hordes of shoreline.

At any rate, Hil and I took a Delta flight down on Friday, and rented a car to drive north from the airport. We arrived at about four PM, which generally is before rush hour, traffic was pretty good for Atlanta, which is to say badly congested for just about anywhere else. (Rush hour is Southern California is as bad as it is in Atlanta, but for non-peak traffic Atlanta is worse than anywhere I've been.)

We stayed until Monday, visiting Hil's aunts and uncles. Our presence provided a convenient excuse for a party, so a bunch of cousins showed up too. The aunts and uncles all built houses along the same street, so one could either walk between houses or ride in a Gator, which is like an all-terrain golf cart. We used Gators all the time in Afghanistan, so it was fun to see one again.

In addition to visiting people, we went boating, toured houses, saw the lot (and dock)* that Hil's parents own, and took a side trip to Dahlonega, GA. That town is proud to be the site of the first gold rush in the USA. Sadly for the town fathers, after a few good years a better strike turned up in California and just about all the miners packed up and became '49ers.

Monday, we flew back. Both ways were Delta, which isn't my favorite airline. But the good thing about flying into a major hub, is no layovers. Amusingly, for both flights Hil and I sat separately. One ticket had been bought and the other was from frequent-flier miles, and the seating computer would not link them together. Ah well, each way was just a bit over an hour in the air. Which seemed short, as I thought Buffalo and Atlanta were further apart than that. (The internet says they are 700 miles apart. Hmmm. Wikipedia lists the typical cruise speed of an MD-11 as 544 mph. I cannot explain the discrepancy.)

*: the Army Corp of Engineers controls the shoreline of Lake Lanier, and a few years ago they declared a moratorium on docks. Before the ban went into effect, there was a rush to build them. So Hil's father owns a plot of land with no buildings except a dock.

Posted by: Boviate at 06:35 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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