Japanfest 2014

Welcome to Japanfest
Welcome to Japanfest

One of my daughters is taking Japanese in middle school this year. Although we’d been before, she wanted to make the trek up to Gwinnett Center to attend this year’s Japanfest the weekend of September 20. This was made more appealing by the two free tickets her teacher gave us.

My favorite performance of the two-day event is Matsurizo Taiko, a professional ensemble of Japanese drummers that regularly perform at Epcot. As we made our way to the auditorium, the usher said,”I’m sorry. It’s too crowded for you to enter.” No, this can’t be happening, I thought to myself. We still had a few minutes before the show was to start. However as more people came behind us and expressed disapointment, he shrugged his shoulders and let everybody in. “You have to stand up and there’s no security,” he warned. Inside the dark auditorium, we could feel (before we could hear), the constant boom, boom.boom of the large drums. Despite not having seats, the performance was captivating as the 14 men and women kept us entertained. (more…)

Dragoncon Parade – Atlanta

Speed Racer
Speed Racer

Captain America.

Wonder Woman.

Batman.

Yep. You guessed it. It’s the annual Dragoncon Parade over Labor Day weekend in Atlanta.

I had no clue what to expect as I’m not a Sci-Fi buff at all. I remember watching Star Trek as a kid only because we didn’t have have cable and it was the only thing on TV. I didn’t like it. (more…)

Delta Flight Museum – Atlanta, GA

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Recently, we toured the newly renovated Delta Flight Museum located at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta.

I have to preface this by saying I’m a “Delta” girl.” In its early years, Delta was headquartered in Monroe, LA, just 80 miles west of my hometown of Shreveport. In fact, Delta’s first passenger route in 1929 went from Dallas, Shreveport, Monroe and Jackson, MS. Later that year, Birmingham, AL was added to the route as shown by the below Delta advertisement.

My hometown of Shreveport was part of Delta's first passenger route.
My hometown of Shreveport was part of Delta’s first passenger route.

The museum is housed in Hangar 1 & 2, which served as Delta’s original maintenance hangar in the early days. We had to go through a security checkpoint to get into the parking lot. Once we parked (almost in front of the museum on this Sunday afternoon) we entered the building. Our children were given brochures with a scavenger hunt. If they completed it, they could earn a small prize at the end. (more…)

Providence Canyon State Park in Lumpkin, Georgia

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Providence Canyon State Park

We took a trip to Providence Canyon State Park, near Lumpkin, Georgia a few weeks ago.  I had read about it in a GA state park brochure and was impressed by the pictures. Calling it the Little Grand Canyon I thought we needed to investigate this treasure in Georgia. According to MapQuest, the park is a good 2.5 hours away so we hadn’t made it down there. When we were at Callaway Gardens, it was only 1.5 hours away so we decided to go there.

Hiking down the quarter-mile descent, verdant shrubs bordered the path until we were greeted by rivers of red clay at the base of the canyon floor. We tiptoed around the rivulets toward Fingers 4 & 5, which according to the park ranger, were the most impressive. (more…)