Byron, GA to Columbia, SC – 2/19/2017

February 19, 2017 (Sunday)

Grey and overcast. The drive today was a little over 200 miles and should have taken 3 or 3-1/2 hours, but due to traffic it was more like five hours. The roads were mostly back roads and fun to drive.

Our place in Byron, GA.
I liked the credenza/chest of drawers.
Party drawers, part cubbies.
Standard bath.
Had really good internet speeds.
Comfortable room.
Edie especially liked the photo head board.
Most dangerous thing we do is drive.

I did, however, encounter a “situation” in Sparta, Georgia where I got stopped. I wasn’t quite sure what I had done (except a quick u-turn type thing), but when the police officer stopped to “talk” to me, he told me I was speeding. Apparently the speed for in town driving is 25 MPH. I thought it was 35 MPH so I was doing the Edie approved fool-proof police-proof 40 MPH. Glad he was nice and just warned me about the speed through town. Other than that, lovely town.

Made us think of “In The Heat of The Night” even though it was not about this place.
Doesn’t take himself too seriously.
The traffic got bad and stayed thick the whole way to the Capitol.
Google maps told us of the slow down.
Historic locomotive.

As we were driving, and nearing Augusta, Georgia, we saw a sign for the “Laurel and Hardy Museum.” Michael and I decided to go for it as we both liked Laurel and Hardy. As we got off the highway and started going that way, we googled it and saw that it was closed (plus it was another 20+ miles away). Bummer.

We got into Columbia, South Carolina and went directly to the Capitol. Lovely Capitol but it was CLOSED! Could not believe it. Also, because tomorrow is President’s Day, it will be closed so even if we wanted to we can’t see inside this Capitol. We peeked in all the windows we could get to and saw as much as we could. We also walked the grounds and enjoyed them immensely.

A large, mostly stone, functional Capitol.
Peace Officer Memorial at the Capitol.
Grand church across the street.
Our selfie.
Took just a second to realize what this represented.
How the bodies were chained in the boat hull.
This is a hard memorial to look upon.
The reliefs tell the story.

Rocks from the homeland.
Rough history.
Very nice detail on the outside.
Corinthian capitals, the most ornate.
The oak leaf pattern is beautiful.
Back that opens to Richardson Square.
Front and back, on a nice day, these well conditioned attractive women were using the stairs for exercise.
The woman on the steps on the right was fanatical in her exercise regime.
Another fox taking to the stairs.
I think the dome opening.
Nice detail.
We hate to do it but we have promised ourselves to come back on a day when they are open!
Looking out the front.
Confederate memorial.
Poignant.
1940’s statesman.

Memorial to the women.

Beautiful detail on the statue.
Really fine detail.
After reading his accomplishments, I see why such a prominent place in the square.

Lots of nice buildings in the complex.
Lots of lovely flowers.
1950 Bond drive.
Military success and failure, great wealth, built from owning over 3,000 slaves.
Ne evidence of being wounded and certainly not killed in war. The horse should therefore have all feet on the ground.
One foot up is supposed to mean wounded and two feet up mean death.
Pretty woman got back to the car first.

We left the Capitol and headed for our hotel home for the night, a short distance away. Before we got there we stopped to get something to eat to take to the room. We finally decided on Schlotzkey’s Deli. It was good food but the service was very slow.

On a side note – we have been monitoring and worrying about our place (and the kids) back in California. They are still getting slammed with weather and are on day 4 of no electricity. We have water only because of the tank (thank goodness – 4,999 gallons). Sure hope they get things up and running soon. Sounds horrible and more storms stacking up!

Standard bath.

The bed was oriented differently than any other room we have had. We liked it!
They had fast internet here. This would be easy to get used to.

That was our day. Hope yours was great!