A Beautiful Saturday in Athens

I woke up early this morning (9 am) and headed to the Athens Farmers Market...and it was FREEZING! I didn't buy anything because I could get peppers and collards and Wal-Mart for half the price, but it was a nice outing and I got a warm cup of coffee and an apricot bran muffin there.

When I left the market, I headed a couple of miles north to Sandy Creek Nature Center. This park is part of the Athens-Clarke County system, and it has a nice eco-friendly (this is Athens, of course) learning building with some aquariums, etc. I browsed around until a birthday party group of 8 year olds came through, and then headed outside. From here, I went on a run/walk down the North Oconee River Greenway. This paved trail follows the North Oconee River from the nature center to a park in the center of the downtown-campus area 3.5 miles south. It was a beatiful day to be out, and lots of families were bike riding, tri-cycling, etc. The trail runs through fields and forests and I saw a rabbit, squirrels, chipmunks (they are common here, but I still get excited to see them), and a raccoon. The raccoon sighting was a bit disconcerting since I just read some info on raccoons and rabies yesterday....maybe I'll be seeing him in the necropsy room later this week? Below are some pictures from the greenway:
Nature Center building
The Contour hanging in there for the trip in the Sandy Creek parking lot

The beginning of the trail

The trail as it runs through town along the river- there are bike lanes all over Athens; it is a very cyclist and pedestrian friendly town


I drove by a couple of legendary Athens locations on my way to campus:
The Foundry Inn and Spa and the Melting Point- this is the old foundry building where a lot of the old iron on campus was produced. The area has now been turned into a nice hotel and spa, as well as the Melting Point music venue, which is where Patrick's band will be playing this week!

If you know of the band R.E.M., the words on this sign may ring a bell. Weaver D's Fine Foods Automatic For the People. This is very much a soul food restaurant, and R.E.M. (from Athens) named an album after it. Weaver D., the proprieter, sounds like a character. His real name is Dexter Weaver, but when he was in the service, they wrote his last name first as "Weaver, D." so he has gone by that name since. I definately want to check this small restaurant out while I'm here!


After I walked back to the car at the nature center (the walk back was much less pleasant than the run south, as the elevation wasn't quite in my favor), I parked on Broad Street and studied for awhile on campus near "The Arch." From my location, I could see the folks downtown (the streets cleared at the 3:30 pm kickoff) and smell the tea olive I took a picture of earlier. From here, I walked to the campus bookstore and realized that I probably shouldn't have worn an orange shirt on the day UGA plays Florida- oh well, everyone was still nice to me, though there weren't many people around for sure! A LOT of students go to the FL game every year, and campus was dead today...I keep seeing signs that label this weekend as fall break, though I don't think the students get any days off- my assumption is that it is an excuse for non-essential campus personnel to be able to attend, or at least watch, the game. Below are some pictures from my walk through campus:
The view to Broad St. from my study spot on the grass
A view of the stadium from the bridge behind the end zone