Magical History Tour: Part 1

Last Thursday I left North Carolina for a tour of Georgia, Florida and Alabama with my sister and my parents.  In three days (Friday through Sunday) we visited sites in three states; Mom and Dad’s childhood homes and what felt like a hundred graveyards.  It was a magical history tour.  My folks are in their mid-80s, I think it was important to them to show us our roots and it was a very special trip for me and Dana, too.  We covered a LOT of ground, so I’ll share several short stories in the coming weeks.  We learned so much about our family history and heard several funny stories and a few sad tales.

We laughed a lot, ate too much, saw some family and old friends.  Did I mention that we ate way too much.  It was border line gross.  We stopped at a gas station that sold pickled pigs feet, pickled eggs, and five (I repeat FIVE) varieties of Vienna Sausages.  We did not partake, but the Vienna Sausages were a tremendous temptation.  We consumed the following items in the car, not necessarily in this order:

• What we call circus peanuts – those orange, marshmallow-y peanut shaped things from childhood
• Cheez-Its
• Pretzel chips
• Chewing gum
• Rolos
• Deep fried peanuts
• Vinegar and salt pork rinds
• M&Ms
• Those old-fashioned peanut butter bars with the stripes
• Seriously spicy boiled peanuts

This does not include two stops at Cracker Barrel.  No wonder I came home sluggish.  I have to go eat a salad now, will write more later.