Some Alabama / Georgia snaps.
1-2: struck gold at a ‘Bama gas station in the form of boiled peanuts (a Southern delicacy where raw peanuts are easily acquired) + sweet tea.
3-6: Stone Mountain. I wrote a fuming post about this earlier and deleted it. Stone Mountain commemorates the Confederacy, its soldiers and their cause. I had strong words about this brazen memorial which also features a theme park at the foot of the giant rock mountain. I felt it was brazen, arrogant and ignorant; a giant middle finger to equality and the preservation of the Union. But realized that for someone who comes from a completely different culture and part of the country to express such disgust after just a few minutes, without first stopping to consider the great loss suffered by these people, and what must have felt like an unmitigated punishment from a distant federal government– my quick conclusion was also brazen, arrogant and ignorant.
To Southerners (as Otis pointed out) it seems that the fact that they seceded is a point of pride. An arc of their culture that says “we didn’t like what was going on and LEFT.”
And ultimately, the war was lost, and solace is solace, and history is commemorated at this place – a version of history, at least. And I don’t understand, but I also don’t need to. We didn’t stay long.
7-8: Oysters. And my first time shucking them. Very unsuccessfully.