Atlanta and "The Auction Kings"

March 17 and 18

We finally waved good byes to Florida. We had already visited the southern tip of Florida. There must be some things we missed but I sure don’t know what they are. Florida is a beautiful state! We had about a seven hour drive north to Stone Mountain just east of Atlanta, GA. The flowering trees are in bloom with white and pink blossoms. The dogwoods and azaleas are beautiful. The wisteria is growing wild along the freeway, sometimes twenty feet tall. The bad news is there is yellow pollen covering everything and my allergies are all riled up. We will be here for six nights before going south of Atlanta to Perry, GA for the Trail Manor Rally. We plan on going into Atlanta a couple of days and spending a day in Stone Mountain Park.

We had big plans for today. Chris and Norm love the TV show "Auction Kings" that airs on the Discovery channel and they have their auction house, Gallery 63, in Atlanta. They hold one auction a month and today was they day for March! We got there before they opened and found a line. They were already filming the crowd as we lined up. Paul, the big wig, welcomed us as we filed inside. We had two hours to get our seats and check out the merchandise before the auction started. It’s a good thing we found some seats in the bleachers right away. Lots of people had to stand in the isles by the time the auction started and some were still waiting outside when we left. There was lots of filming and activity going on before the show and it was nonstop once the auction started. It was a little rich for our blood so we left empty handed but had fun watching all the goings on. It is supposed to be over at 6:00 but I guess it can go on into the night. We were just “Lookie Lous” and only stayed about an hour.

Reading about The Varsity near Georgia Tech peeked our interest. It is the world’s largest drive-in starting in 1928 and a “must” experience! They can serve over 600 cars and 800 people inside. We did the whole deal with the tray on the window, hamburgers, fries, onion rings and malts! Amazingly, we didn’t even spill! They serve 5,000 homemade fried peach and apple pies each day. So, being in Georgia and at The Varsity, we thought we had better try a fried peach pie! I guess we won’t need dinner tonight.