Being Amber Rhea

Rusty and I spent the weekend in Milledgeville, which is about two hours south of Atlanta. (Don’t you love how it’s possible to measure distance in hours?) We went on some tours, took a bunch of photos, and spent a lot of time in the big comfy bed at the B&B where we stayed.

I love when we take these little weekend trips. Even though the inn had free wifi of which we partook a bit, it still felt like we were “off the grid” for the most part. And even though I don’t usually go for touristy stuff, I make exceptions when the touristy stuff involves history or other nerdy pursuits. We really enjoyed the tour of the Old Governor’s Mansion and the trolley tour of downtown.

One thing that stood out to me about Milledgeville was that everything is so old. I know there are plenty of old small towns in Georgia, but something about Milledgeville in particular… it seems older. I don’t think that’s just a random perception, either. First of all, it wasn’t burned by Sherman’s troops during the March to the Sea, so there are a lot of actual antebellum buildings. (Peeve: we stayed at a bed-and-breakfast called the Antebellum Inn, but it was built in 1890.) It also didn’t get hit with a bunch of “urban renewal” in the 1960s. (I overheard someone talking about that while we were on the trolley tour, and I gleaned that Milledgeville had an active historical society way before most other places.) It was the state capital from 1803-1868, and, as the tour guide was saying, when the capital moved to Atlanta, Milledgeville pretty much became a ghost town. Its heyday was in the early/mid 1800s.

Speaking of ghosts… yes, of course we went to Central State Hospital! We didn’t go inside any of the buildings, because we’re not down with the B&E; in fact, we didn’t even get out of the car. (We rolled down the windows to take photos.) The place had a very creepy vibe, and I just did not want to be walking around.

Nevertheless, I may have inadvertently photographed a ghost. Generally I think the talk of “orbs” as something paranormal is crap. It’s dust on the lens, people. But what showed up in my photo was much bigger than your typical orb/dust. And I see the vague shape of a face in it (you have to view the original size to be able to make that out). Who knows, it could be something else… but, well, judge for yourselves:

There will be a podcast about our Milledgevile trip soon. In the meantime, check out my photos on Flickr: Downtown Milledgeville and Central State Hospital. And don’t forget to listen to our podcast reviewing two Atlanta swinger’s clubs!

I can hardly believe that BlogHer (and our concurrent, general-purpose Chicago vacationing) is only five weeks away! I am really excited about BlogHer. It will be so cool to meet a bunch of bloggers from all over the country (and world), whose blogs I’ve been reading for months or years.

But, before the Chicago trip, there’s plenty of other stuff Rusty and I need to do, too! Sometimes trying to do a bunch of stuff can be draining for me, but I guess I’ve got the summertime itch, because I am ready to do as much fun, interesting stuff as is logistically possible between now and the end of July.

For one thing, I am so excited about going on a trip to Milledgeville. Why would I be excited about Milledgeville, you ask? Oh come on… what’s not to like? Central State Hospital (originally the Georgia Lunatic Asylum) and its museum of weird mental health torture treatment devices is reason enough to go. But there’s also the old state prison, which I hear is only slightly less creepy than Central State; and all the paraphernalia from when Milledgeville was the state capital. There’s other specifics, but I’m too tired to look ‘em up right now. Anyway, expect a podcast about Milledgeville, within the next few weeks.

I’m also excited about doing our “review of Atlanta sex clubs” podcast, as mentioned here. We’ll probably hit Trapeze again the Saturday after next; and then Club Venus at some point in the not too distant future. With this goal in mind, it doesn’t even matter if the hotness factor of the clubs is minimal.

Okay, I’m really tired now… just wanted to put up a rambling post about my summertime excitement.