Day 28: Rocky Shoals and Atlanta

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Alice's birthday! Rob cooked us grits for breakfast (yaaaay - hear the sarcasm) and we lit a birthday dragon (had a candle coming out of it's mouth - quite a good idea except it dripped everywhere). Rowan also made Alice a v cute card, although the spelling was a little erratic.

We then went on a hike to Rocky Shoals. These are in a very geologically ancient area where all the stone has worn down to the granite bedrock. It creates weird rocky clearings which are a haven for a bizarre ecosystem: juniper trees, rattlesnakes and rare lichens. It was sooooo hot and there wasn't much cover so we all sweated hideous amounts and had to leave quite quickly.

We then went back home to try and contact our hosts in Atlanta, because we'd messed up our dates and they had no idea we were coming. Luckily for us, they were very understanding, so after a lunch of amazing homemade pizza (probably the best I've ever tasted) we piled all our junk back in the car and looked for signs to the state capital.

Here are guests as Tom and Alex Pearson, who have two daughters our age who aren't at home. Tom is a transpant surgeon and works at Emory, specialising in kidney and pancreas. We hadn't given them enough warning to prepare a supper so we all went over to their local 'farmers' market'. In reality, this is a big warehouse selling a huge range of international (and, more rarely, local) food - we'd never heard of most of the vegetables. The cafeteria cooks a very good buffet of some of the food they sell, so we ate our fill of yummy veggies. After doing the family food shop we headed back to the house and watched some TV, although I have to admit I don'd really find the comedy shows funny.

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Photos

Dead tree
This is what I felt like - it was soooo hot

Birthday princess
When the Pearson's daughter heard over the phone it was Alice's birthday, she insisted Alice wore the family birthday crown