Lucca and I went to Downtown Newnan for Market Day on the Square. It was really nice. I think I may have even enjoyed it more than I enjoyed the Powers Crossroads Festival because it was downtown, easy to get around, free, there were local places making and selling food, and it just seemed less stressful. It was also Pickin’ on the Square day, so we stopped to listen to a great group of musicians in front of the Alamo. Everything was acoustic. No embarrasing covers with horrible singers. (That’s also the great thing about bluegrass; you don’t have to be a great singer to be a great singer). Lucca also liked seeing all the doggies and the other babies around the square.

I didn’t buy anything this time around, although I did walk around three or four times coveting a few things. Mostly things for Lucca and Christmas presents. I plan on going to the November Market Day on the Square, which is the 5th of November, in the short window of when I am in Georgia that week.

We made the mistake of going to the Zoo on a Saturday, which was also Educator Appreciation Day, so the place was a little crowded, but we still had a great time. Admission was nearly $21 an adult, so with tax, we paid about $45 to get in, but we spent a huge part of the day there, and could’ve spent longer there if it wasn’t so crowded. When we left, we actually paid the difference to get a membership for a year. It was only $40 more, so if we go to the zoo one more time, it pays for itself. Plus, we get discounts on concessions, gift shops, and guest admissions, etc.

One of my only complaints is that many of the viewing areas for the animals are small and framed with trees. I know this is important because it gives the animals a little more natural looking habitat, but it does make getting in there to see them a little difficult on busy days when you have a stroller. Between I think the Sun Bear and Tiger and the Panda, things also got a little crowded because the sidewalks were narrower and they had exhibits and viewing areas right off the sidewalk. In some places, because of the crowds, it was essentially one lane for strollers, so it backed up a little.

The aviary was neat, but also a little scary. I think birds are a little creepy, but Lucca seemed to enjoy it. She also liked the warthog and the giraffe. The naked mole rat exhibit was kinda neat. It was too crowded to actually see the naked mole rats, but Lucca got to crawl through the tube and pretend to be one. She also liked the reptile house, especially when I taught her to say “Rawr!” at the Komodo dragon. She likes saying “Rawr!” We saw the Panda, of course, and afterwards we bought Lucca a stuffed panda. That thing has become her favorite stuffed animal, and she likes saying “panda bear!” sort of.

The best part for Lucca was probably the petting zoo. Those goats were so chill about letting kids pet them, and the staff were on the spot with cleaning up messes and supervising. It was really REALLY crowded in there, though, so we couldn’t spend too long. Lucca also really enjoyed washing her hands afterward at the hand washing station.

Concessions were decent, I suppose, but expensive. We bought popcorn and cotton candy at one place, and then when we reached the big patio area at the back of the Zoo, we had lunch, but it was a little expensive. After we ate there, we found a Nathan’s hot dog stand nearby with cheaper food, so we might go there next time. There was also someone selling beer! I didn’t partake, but I thought about it.

That pretty much sums up our first trip to the Zoo. Also, and I don’t know if this is a southern thing or not, they had “Cooling Stations” all around the Zoo. This was the first time I had seen one, and unfortunately, I neglected to take a picture. They look like big boxes, maybe a little shorter than 5 feet tall, and when you put money in it, it blows cool air on you. No lie. And that’s all it does.

So until next time! I think we are going to try to go to Zoo at the Boo at the end of the month before I head to Michigan. Just one more excuse to wear a costume!

We got to the fair at about 6 pm, and from the highway, you couldn’t really tell that there was anything going on at the Fairgrounds, but we followed the line of cars in anyway. Parking was pretty easy and convenient. Unfortunately, as soon as we parked, we realized that we had left Lucca’s stroller at home, so we had to take turns carrying her around for the night. It would have been really convenient if the fair people would have had a couple of strollers or wagons available to rent. It also would have been a nice source of revenue for them, but no biggie. Concessions were nice, and there were a lot to choose from. We went with hot dogs and fries from one of the local organizations, but they also had Sprayberry’s BBQ there. I told my husband that if I would have known that I could’ve gotten BBQ, I would’ve tried it, because potentially getting crappy BBQ at a fair is a lot less disappointing than getting crappy BBQ at a restaurant. I haven’t ever had Sprayberry’s BBQ, I’m just saying.

The Kiwanis guys at the Strength Meter thing were funny. “Swing the hammer, get a Blow Pop. Make it a Blow Pop night. Give that man a Blow Pop!” will be in my head for a long time. There were plenty of rides, but a lot of them were actually doubles. There were three traditional “Ferris Wheels,” two big slides (three, if you could the inflateable pirate ship slide, two nearly identical fun houses, and two Himalayas rides, that were for some reason BLARING club music. To be honest, the rides really didn’t matter to us, because I wasn’t going on a ride alone, and we couldn’t take Lucca on a ride. I almost took Lucca on a kiddie ride, but it would have cost us nearly $5 because I would have had to go with her.

I was a little disappointed with the “Petting Zoo.” I had assumed, and that’s my own fault, that the Petting Zoo was through maybe the 4-H or another local agricultural organization, but it was actually part of the Carnival aspect of the Fair. In order to get into the Petting Zoo, you had to pay I think $5 a person, which would have been $15 for all three of us, including Lucca. Besides that, the animals in the pen did not exactly look like they had the ”petting zoo” personalities. So we passed. Lucca did win a small stuffed duck on her own when she played the ducky game, so that was cute. The circus dog act was cute for a minute, until the act, which was supposed to be funny, ended up making us feel bad for the dogs. My husband had a funnel cake, which was huge, but I think they are gross, so I didn’t partake.

I also had hoped that there would be more stuff to buy. Maybe a Coweta County Fair shirt or something? I didn’t see any. But a DID see a dingy $5 thong with the Confederate flag on it. It was really hard to pass those up. And also a binky that flashes crazy lights. Every other booth seemed to be doing hair feathers and body art. There was one caricature artist, and we wanted to have Lucca done, but there was a line, and we just couldn’t wait.

Seeing the animals in the 4-H section was neat. There were a lot of interesting breeds, and Lucca particularly liked the miniature horse and the Holstein cow (because it actually looked like a cow to her).

All in all, we did have a good time. Like I said, we ended up walking around for about two hours, and that was while holding a squirmy toddler. We are just both used to bigger county fairs, I guess. The Genesee County Fair always had tractor pulls or demolition derbys, and I guess the Calhoun County Fair had a lot more animals than this one. I hope it doesn’t seem like I’m negative about the Coweta County Fair, though. It was really nice and we are glad we went.

During our August trip home to Michigan, Lucca and I took my sister and nephew out to Day Out With Thomas at Crossroads Village. Our kids are a little too young to really enjoy everything offered at the park, but we still had a great time in the short time we were there. The photo above is Lucca and I posing with Percy. It was far too busy to have our picture taken with the T-man himself, but next year, we will definitely plan better. We also wanted to have our pictures taken with Bob the Builder or Sir Topham Hatt, but we got to the Village during their long break, and the kids were getting fussy before they came out again. Lucca and Avery liked the bubble machine, though. I think the kids will really get a kick out of the Halloween program, since it is a little more organized, cooler, and up their alley.

*To be fair, we didn’t actually make it to Underground Atlanta. We ended up leaving.

I had wanted to go to Underground Atlanta for a while now, but for some reason, we never made it there. So after we finished at the Georgia Aquarium, I thought we would check it out. I really couldn’t get a bead on what it really was. One website touted it as a historic site. Another said it was essentially an underground mall. A few consumer reviews said it was pretty much in “the ghetto.” But the website for the aquarium said that Underground Atlanta offered unique shopping, dining, and entertainment.

When we left the parking garage, the place didn’t look very “touristy.” Normally, that wouldn’t bother me, but this place sort of seemed that it would be a tourist place, so that is what I was expecting. We also knew we had to go down, since it was Underground, but we couldn’t find any way to do that. Just steps all over the place. And some panhandlers. We found a map/directory with a list of stores, but the stores didn’t seem like “unique” shopping that I was expecting. Most of the clothing stores were for “urban clothing” or menswear. That’s fine if that is what you are looking for, but not me. There were also a few shoe stores, a store that sold flags, some jewelry stores, etc. Here is a list of the shops from the Underground Atlanta site. I would have liked to visit the Atlanta souvenier store, but wasn’t going to go through all that trouble to get there. http://www.underground-atlanta.com/shopping/shops.html

So we decided to leave. If we didn’t have Lucca, maybe we would’ve had strolled through to see what it was about, but it was harder than heck to get around with a stroller, and there was some event going on that added to the confusion. Considering that parking still cost us $6, and our first impression wasn’t very good, we probably won’t go back. But maybe I am completely wrong and it is a really cool place. Let me know if I am. The website makes it look really neat, but I just didn’t see the same thing when I was there.

On Thursday, we all went to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta with Mike’s mom. It was Lucca’s first time at an aquarium, and we weren’t sure how she would like it. Finding the place was very easy, and parking was also not a problem. We parked at a nearby lot for $7 instead of the “official” aquarium parking. I couldn’t find any information online about how much that parking was, so I am going to assume that it is more expensive. To be honest, just getting into the aquarium was expensive. Tickets for adults cost roughly $25, and that doesn’t include the dolphin show or any other special shows the place offers. Lucca was free, so that was nice, but still. Just to be sure, I looked up general admission to Shedd’s Aquarium in Chicago, and that was $8, and you at least got to see the dolphins.

Cost aside, the aquarium was a lot of fun, probably more so because we had a toddler to entertain. We went on a Thursday morning, and it was not too crowded. If we would have arrived when the place opened at 10am, it would have been even less crowded. We did encounter a few tourists from out of the country that were a little annoying – I mean, they had to have their picture taken with every animal, taking forever doing so, and they always seemed to push there way up to the front and be “better doors than windows.” They also seemed to want to do a lot of things that seemed to be reserved for kids, but Lucca really didn’t care much either way.

Lucca did have fun. She especially liked the tropical fish, the Amazon River fish, the African penguins, and the sea otters. She really didn’t pay attention much to the Beluga whales, though. By the time we got to the end where the touchy feely shark and cownose rays were, she was a little sleepy. We did have a great time and it would be someplace I wouldn’t mind going again, if it weren’t so darn expensive!

After I found Thomas Powers Road on my GPS, I found the festival and parked. My next mistake was not taking a map. Oops. Lucca and I walked around a bit, but were hungry, so I decided to look for some easy food. I didn’t realize just how many options that there were, and I stopped at the first place that had hot dogs. A single hotdog was $4!!! And it wasn’t that good. AND they only had tea to drink. So I found another place that just sold lemonade. For $5!! So I had a hotdog and lemonade for $9. But that was my own fault, because there were plenty of other places that had cheaper food and drink. I mean, I could have bought a can of Coke from the boy scouts for $1.25, and some good southern food but I didn’t see it until later.

The fair had a lot of wonderful vendors. Lucca and I especially liked:

• the Newnan-Coweta County Historical Society – we bought a Billy Yank cap and a coloring book and porcelain doll
• There was a place I think called the “Children’s Armory.” We didn’t buy anything, but the place sold wooden swords, crossboards, shields, etc. I even saw a kid get knighted
• We bought a crocheted ladybug at a place with lots of lovely crocheted dolls and fingerpuppets. The owner even added a string so that I could tie it to the stroller and not lose it.
• There was a man who made things out of recycled tires. The best things I saw were “redneck” child swings and even a horse swing made from tires. I sort of wish I would have bought the “tire swing” but it was $45 and I didn’t have that much cash on me, or a way to carry it.
• There was a lot of jewelry places, and to be honest, the style of a lot of the jewelry that people were selling, I am not that into. But there was a place that had some nice simple bracelets and necklaces for affordable prices. I almost bought a bracelet for a friend for Christmas, but decided to look around more, and never got a chance to go back.

There were lots of  other wonderful vendors, but it was a little difficult to get the stroller in there because of steps, narrow aisles, crowds, etc.

In short, even though I did not find a lot of things for myself, I will definitely be going back next year, assuming we are still living here next year. Hopefully, I have my husband with me, or someone is visiting, because it would definitely be easier with a second pair of hands.

Most of the swings had been baking in the sun, but the toddler swing was ok. We didn’t spend too much time with it, though, because Lucca hasn’t quite grasped the idea of hanging on yet. Lucca also had fun going down the slide with Daddy and playing with the letter blocks. She also flew a plane and swung on the big swings with Mommy. But the most interesting thing at the big kid playground for Lucca was the wood chips.

After playing on the playground for a while, we all started to get a little overheated, so we took Lucca over to the fountain. It took us a minute to figure out, but eventually we found the button that made the water turn on. It only took Lucca about five minutes to really get into running through the water. She played for about 20 minutes before she started to get bored and would wander off into the grass. We were surprised that there weren’t more kids playing at the park, since it was late afternoon and particularly warm. We wouldn’t have minded the company, but it was nice to have the place essentially to ourselves. I was also smart enough to pack a towel and a change of clothes, so we ended our day with a trip to the Dairy Queen in downtown Newnan.

We will definitely be going back to Carl Miller Park, especially for the fountain as long as the weather stays hot. The playground is nice, too, but for our purposes, I think we can find one a little closer for Lucca.

This is “Steve’s Pharmacy” in downtown Sharpsburg. The store doesn’t actually exist. It is a filming location for the show “The Walking Dead.” I hadn’t seen the show yet when I took this picture, but now that I’ve watched the first season, I am VERY excited to see the second season and this location.

When I first saw “The Cake Opera House,” I thought that it looked like a really different kind of place for a music venue. Now I know that it is, in fact, a sweet shop. Looks like I will have to go back to Sharpsburg and scope it out!