22 March “09
Sunday
Last Saturday, as you know, we didn’t get a chance to finish our bus tour around Macon, so Sunday morning we quickly make it back to town central and caught the bus to finish up. Saturday on our way into Macon, we drove by some really outstanding homes, and Sunday we wanted to see some of those “up close and personal” and that we did.
Sunday
Last Saturday, as you know, we didn’t get a chance to finish our bus tour around Macon, so Sunday morning we quickly make it back to town central and caught the bus to finish up. Saturday on our way into Macon, we drove by some really outstanding homes, and Sunday we wanted to see some of those “up close and personal” and that we did.
There are about a dozen homes that the driver will point out, but there are another hundred or so that is absolutely beautiful and are just a part of Macon’s historical beauty. We did see some of the past that we’re not too proud of… One of the beautiful buildings, that also has a tremendous amount of history to it, is the Macon Train Station.
At one end of the station you find this portal:
Below it is this bronze plaque:
It is a part of our past and the present that we can’t shove under the rug. Following the bus tour, we headed over to the Ocmulgee National Monument. Archaeological excavations at Ocmulgee indicated that the early Indian tribes settled here in the Macon area about 12,000 years ago... Thousands of years later, Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto recorded the first Christian baptism on the new continent in 1540 when priests in his expedition baptized two Indians from the nearby mounds in a ceremony on the banks of the Ocmulgee River. What they left behind for us to see and question, are the personal and community artifacts, and the “mounds”. The mounds were used for great ceremonials and earth lodges. We were able to reach the top of the largest mound
and enter into one of the earthen ceremonial lodges. After leaving the visitor center at the Ocmulgee National Monument, we hiked about ½ mile to the lodge. The ceremonial lodge is like a large mound of dirt that forms a peak at the top. At one end there is a small narrow tunnel that leads towards the center of the lodge. I was bent in half trying to get to the end of the tunnel,
but once there it was all worth the effort. What we saw today isn’t exactly what the archeologist saw in 1927 when they excavated. Over the years they have brought back the original look of the lodge, except they have closed off the center hole that was used to exhaust the smoke from the fire pit.
Next we were off to the largest mound to climb to the top of the plateau and see just what was there to see. You couldn’t be up there without trying to imagine what it was like 12,000 years ago…what were they looking at, what were they looking for, and what….? Leaving Ocmulgee behind, we headed for the park were the Cherry Blossom Festival was being held. We had heard that there was lots of opportunity for us to get something to eat and we were sure hungry. Unfortunately it wasn’t that good and the heavy metal music that was blaring was enough to chase us out. On the way back to the car, we came upon a demonstration that stopped us in our tracks. We’ve all seen it on TV, but seeing it in person is even better… We were watching a dog trainer/owner doing some unbelievable tricks with her/his dog and a large quantity of Frisbees’.
Those dogs are truly amazing and they totally enjoy getting out there and entertaining all of us with their antics. In town, they were just getting ready for a couple of races. Prior to the parade, they took two long blocks and laid them out with hay bales to make the race course a little safer for the racers. The first was the "Bed Race".
They had 8 beds with 6 runners on each and at least one "sleeping person" in each bed. The next challenge was the "Lawn Mower" race.
Now these lawn mowers are not the home models...these are really souped up and go like hell.