Full House 2?
This one had much in common with Full House, from the similar lodging high on a mountaintop to the attendance -- everyone was there.
The setting was a cabin owned by Mark's dad's cousin near Blue Ridge, Ga. The accomodations were excellent, and the view was stunning. (I didn't have my camera, so I'm waiting for others to post pictures.)
Joe R arrived first, early on Wednesday afternoon, and spent some time getting to know the rules of the cabin, as well as which cabinets would fall apart at the slightest touch.
Mark and Amorak met up Wednesday morning for breakfast at a Cracker Barrel outside Gadsden, Ala., and drove to Douglasville to pick up Joe A. After lunch at the slowest-ass Wendy's east of the Mississippi, we played nine holes of golf at a lovely little course in Waleska, Ga., on our way to the site. Christopher came in that night, Dan came around lunchtime the next day, bringing his lovely dog Grace with him, and Scott came in Thursday evening.
Most everyone seemed to agree the highlight of the weekend was a whitewater rafting trip on the Ocoee on Friday morning, followed by a nice lunch at a place called The Gondolier on the way back.
A Wii made its first appearance at a GW and provided entertainment for all. Christopher also brought this ESPN football game that was kind of like one of those old-school handheld games, only much bigger and it involved lots of footstomping. We hit a local park for tennis, home run derby (Scott won, as always) and some tossing around of Dan's Frisbee(TM). There was beer drinking and hot tub soaking on the back deck, there was game playing (Flux and that game with the weird food cards I don't remember the name of) on the picnic table in the screened-in portion of said deck. There was some tasty barbecue brought by Mr. R, and bratwursts and burgers grilled on site.
Of course, we played poker. Christopher and Mark could do no wrong, it seemed, and each wound up substantially up for the weekend. I don't think there's anyone else who can say that.
As for me, I got a call on my cell phone on Friday evening that changed my life: a job offer from Grand Valley State University. Since GW, I have accepted the offer, and I begin my new career as a visiting professor a few short weeks. Worth remembering that the call said it was from "Dan Cell," and my first thought was why is Dan calling me when he's napping in the next room?
Those are just some highlights. Hope others post their particular memories, and of course photos. I'll post anything else I happen to think of.
3 comments:
A couple of my memories:
--I remember being very paranoid about Grace's presence (of course), since we were specifically told not to let the dog in the house. I believe Grace was there for all of 3 minutes before she successfully darted between legs and outstretched arms through the front door and into the living room! We quickly herded her back to the front porch where she was allowed to stay. My paranoia was countered by my fear that Grace would succumb to the heat of the day while we went rafting.
--This GW was preceded the weekend before by the Hewitt-Trussville High School Class of 1988 20-yr Reunion. Scott, Joe A, and I attended. I was able to locate some old photos from the period (and before), and I brought them with me. We took a break from poker one evening and looked over the photos, laughing at younger versions of ourselves.
--Joe A playing his guitar and singing various tunes with Dan, while the rest of us played Hold 'Em and listened to our ipods. It was a little weird, as we played with little interaction. But I do remember laughing to myself, wondering what Scott, Christopher, and Joe R. must have thought about Joe A's atonal warbling of Neutral Milk Hotel at the top of his lungs. Actually, wasn't that far off from the original.
--The rafting trip was lots of fun! Dan, Amorak, Joe A and I were in one raft with some young couple and a guide who seemed to like to do his own thing. He made fun of the other rafting company outfits, told dirty jokes, and generally made us feel like we got the coolest guide. Of course, this is probably the schtick that all of the guides have, but we fell for it.
--I have no idea what this one will be subtitled. Don't recall any suggestions made onsite.
OK, just saw the beginning of Amorak's post again...so there was at least one suggestion.
Our rafting guide's name was Huey, and he looked like the dude Ronnie from that commercial where the guy misses a phone call about Motorhead tickets with because his service sucks, and he calls himself a dillweed.
The commercial can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTx59cvMFMM
"Ronnie" gave us a lot of crap about being from Alabama.
I don't know anything about the guide from the other raft.
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