Georgia Part 3

Let's talk about pride.

I am a native Nevadan. I know everything there is to know about this wonderful state of mine, right down to the state song. ("Home Means Nevada" for those who've forgotten) I am proud that I paid attention enough during elementary school to remember the random Nevada facts that I know today, BUT even I don't have anything on the people I met in the state of Georgia.

On Saturday night, we watched the Georgia/Clemson college football game, and it was an experience unlike any other! I am typing this post, and still laughing out loud! Every play, every mistake, every touchdown was treated like the biggest moment of the game. I have never heard such hootin' and hollerin' about anything here in Nevada. (Not Ne-vah-duh by the way Georgia peeps!) But seriously, the people I watched that game with were amazing. They knew every player. They were rattling off stats about past seasons like it was nothing, and I just sat there in awe. Honestly, I spent a good chunk of the time laughing, because I had never seen such passion being put into a sporting even, but as the night wore on, I was more and more impressed. You could feel the love for the bulldogs in the room!

The next day, I was taken around town and down to the River Walk by two native Georgians, and was filled in on some Georgia history. War history, the who's who of everyone who's from there, and even the history of the major floods! Ha! It was awesome! How many people in Nevada really know anything like that about Nevada?? I do, but I think I'm the odd gal out in that! Can you, dear reader, tell me when Nevada became a state without googling it? Probably not. (October 31st, 1864 in case you'd like to know!)

The entire weekend was amazing, and I wouldn't have changed anything about it. But what impressed me the most was the sincerity of the love the people who live there have for the state they live in and the team they root for!

Keep checking back! Part 4 should go up tomorrow or Tuesday!

Go dawgs!

Georgia Part 2!!

The people in Georgia are extremely different than the people in Nevada. 

When I got to the Augusta airport, the baggage handler and the enterprise guy and the crossing guard were all sincerely sweet. 

I don't use that much. That word... Sincerely. I feel like people, in general, are not overly sincere. But the people I encountered this weekend were just... different. 

My friend that I went to see is one of the funniest people I know. He's an outgoing and borderline cocky person, but he is a GOOD friend. I know that I can tell him anything and he will not judge me. He may not tell me what I want to hear some times, but he's there when I need him.

This weekend I got the chance to meet his closest group of friends, and though I only got to spend maybe ten hours with them, I KNOW that they are the same type of person as my friend. I KNOW that they are funny. I KNOW that they are good people and I KNOW that if someone needed them that they would step up. 

Where I live, I don't come across people like this very often at all. I'm not trying to knock Nevada. I'm from here. I'd never do that. BUT. I can honestly say that I only have a couple of people in my life that aren't overly judgmental. I only have  a couple of people in my life that I feel like I can say anything to. And there are only a couple of people that I KNOW will step up of something major should happen. 

 

Just another reason I fell in love with Georgia. 

Georgia Part 1

I can't seem to put into words my feelings about my trip this weekend. I've tried to type the blog out 3 or 4 times now, and I can't seem to do it. I don't seem to be able to articulate what I saw on my adventures in Georgia or the way I felt about everything...

But I'm going to try.

When I first stepped off the plane in Augusta, I was tired. I had worked the entire day before, and took a red-eye that night to be Augusta in time for the Bulldogs' game. I walked down the walkway from the plane and came to a window. The other 50 or so people from my plane just hurried on by, off to whatever adventure they had planned for the long weekend. But I just stood there. I looked out this window for probably 10 solid minutes in just...awe. There was the runway, of course, but beyond the runway were trees. Thick, beautifully green trees that stretched as far as I could see. I've seen trees before, but not trees like this. They towered over everything, and looked as though they had weathered the test of time, and had won the battle. They were just... magnificent.

As I drove my rental car to my hotel, I took all of these backroads (thanks iPhone maps for the adventure), and just couldn't believe my eyes. Everything was just amazing. The people waved as they drove. The scenery was an obvious statement of God's awesome glory. And the accents of the DJ on the car radio made me smile.

I did a lot of things over the coarse of three days. I enjoyed my first college football game with people who actually cared. (I'll have a separate blog about that adventure haha) I got a tour and history lesson from two native Georgians all about Augusta and the neat things it had to offer. I looked through countless photo albums at hundreds of pictures, and enjoyed stories of one of my best friends. I tried Zaxby's, which beats Raising Canes, hands down. I went to a drive in, and saw more stars than I've ever seen in my entire life. And I flew home. 

I came back to Las Vegas on Monday afternoon, and again, I can't describe the way I felt. Depression? Sadness? I don't know how to say how I felt without sounding melodramatic. I know that when people come back from a vacation they enjoy, they're usually in a vacation funk. I get it. But that's not how I feel. I stepped off the plane at the D-Gates at McCarran, walked through the baggage claim, and froze. I literally stopped in the middle of the walkway and just froze. Usually when I come home from trips, or when I pick up someone from the airport, I revel in the sounds of slot machines. It's the first sounds of me being HOME. Well, this time, I walked next to my beloved slot machines, and just...stopped. I wasn't happy to hear the familiar dinging. I wasn't excited about getting back into my life. 

I don't want to make this a SUPER long blog post. I know you, sweet reader, have other things to go and do, BUT check back. I have lots more to say about Georgia. I've decided to make this a mini-series of 5 or 6 posts. 

But for now, just know... I left my heart in Georgia.