Life on the Road - What About our Mail?

In case you were wondering...

Our mail goes into our house through a mail slot. 

We also get a daily email from the post office of the day's mail.
It is headlined - COMING TO YOUR MAILBOX SOON (their caps not mine)

Every time I read it, I hear (deep announcer voice) AND NOW, COMING TO A MAILBOX NEAR YOU ...  like we are getting Academy Award winning mail.

Instead, the scanned images of our daily mail just confirm what we already suspected - that all we get is junk mail.

             

              

Monday Nov 18th - Providence Canyon State Park , GA

This entire canyon has formed in only a little over the past 200 years! It is a cautionary tale about poor farming practices and soil erosion. 

We hike down to the canyon floor.  

  

 

Looking up, it is easy to see the undercutting at the top of the bluffs. One or two more storms, and these trees will end up at the bottom of the canyon. 

The colors are amazing 

My bad influence is rubbing off on Bob 

 Historic junk  

Instead of hauling it away, or saying, "We don't want to spend the money to get rid of this eyesore", read this sign:

 View from on top 

  

 I find some flowers, yay!

Huge numbers of Turkey Vultures were circling overhead and nesting in this tree. A little disturbing. 

 

Nice end to the day with sunset at the campground.

Friday Nov 15th- Sunday Nov 17th - Shabbos in Atlanta

What a wonderful Jewish community there is in Atlanta! 

Thank you so much to Congregation Beth Jacob for your hospitality and warm welcome and for allowing us to camp out in your parking lot. Thank you Rabbi Tendler! Getting to minyan has never been so convenient (for Bob)!   

Best Camping Spot Ever!

The hospitality committee arranged shabbos meals for us. Thank you Judith, Barbara and Mark, Rabbi Menashe and Randee! I have never had so many people come over to me in shul to introduce themselves, and there was a great motzei shabbos benefit concert for the Moshav Mevo Modiim Fire Relief Fund. So nice of them to arrange it for when we were there! 

Huge Kroeger, and this wasn't even the biggest one, the one that has the kosher section

The 3 Solomon brothers from Moshav Mevo Modiim and a local drummer 

 

Barbara and Mark, our Friday night hosts, came to visit us in Our V after the concert. 

Barbara is an extremely talented artist. You may have seen some of her work - her ultrasuede torah mantles are in shuls all over the country.  She also does ultrasuede art. The following is her Jacob's Ladder in Congregation Beth Jacob. This picture doesn't do it justice.

You can see more of Barbara's art at  bfisherjudaica.com and her jewelry designs at sukersa.com 

Thurs Nov 14th - We Get Rained on, Snowed on, Bubbled on

Fun Fact 1: The Georgia Aquarium is the only aquarium in the US that has a mezuzah on the front door. A $250 million donation from Bernard Marcus, co-founder of Atlanta based The Home Depot, provided the bulk of the funding needed to build and stock the new facility. Bernard Marcus did this to give Hakarat HaTov (show his gratitude) to his community. We give Hakarat HaTov to Bernard Marcus for this amazing aquarium!

Fun Fact 2: A native of Newark, New Jersey, Bernard  Marcus received his B.S. degree in Pharmacy from Rutgers University.

The Penguin Waddle

The most over the top dolphin show I have ever seen. If Vegas had a dolphin show, it would look like this. Choreographed to music, audio visual display, spotlights, multiple acrobatic trainers in the pool with the dolphins, We saw it twice and it was somewhat different each time, both amazing. No photos allowed once it started.  

Whale Sharks are the largest fish. Would you like to go swimming with them? No worries, they are plankton eaters only. 

Belugas

Jellies 

Fish Ballet. For sense of scale, these fish were about a foot long.

The feeding of the piranha was very disappointing. Apparently, they were not hungry. I personally thought the dead fish they were being fed looked incredibly unappetizing, but I'm not sure if that was the problem.  

On the other hand, the archer fish feeding was awesome. They are called archer fish because they feed on insects in the air by shooting them down with water, ie, knocking them into the water by spitting at them. And the archer fish were hungry. 

Make sure to watch this to the end! 


As far as getting rained on, snowed on, and bubbled on...  Apparently, the 4th dimension consists of the above. 
We saw "Happy Feet" and "Sharks!" in the 4D theater. 

Wed Nov 13th - Piedmont Park, Atlanta Beltline Eastside, and Atlanta Botanical Gardens

The plan for the day is the Atlanta Zoo. When we get there, we are informed that the animals don't come out unless the temperature is above 45. Given that it is not going above 40 degrees today we scrap that plan. 

The front brakes on Bob's bike are broken. We google for a bike shop. Not only do we get the brakes fixed, but we get a great suggestion for a nearby bike trail. Thanks Chris!

Great view of the Atlanta skyline from Piedmont Park. It has the feel of biking in Central Park. And no wonder, an informational display explains the park was designed by Fredrick Law Olmstead. 

We continue on to the Atlanta Beltline Eastside. Extremely cool. Reminds us of the Highline, but at street level. Lots of art, trendy shops. Hipsters jogging, biking, walking dogs, and riding electric scooters .  

I already knew Bob was cool! 

Dancing Dogs Yoga, etc.

The Krog Tunnel   

Next on the agenda is the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. 
We take the elevator up to the 5th floor. 

Atlanta Botanical Gardens 

Photobomb!

Plants didn't do so well with the freezing temps

Edible Garden 

This gorgeous Dawn Redwood towered over everything

Most beautiful greenhouse orchid display ever

Gearing up for the holidays

Talking to Dragons

There we three of these. Totally over the top!

And end the day at Fuego Mundo. Highly recommended!