In scrolling through pictures, trying to figure out where we left off as far as far as restaurant recaps, I have a couple of out-of-town experiences that are worth mentioning. Hopefully you’ll agree with me!

Old South Days, Ochlockonee, Georgia

Ochlockonee is a little (and I mean little–less than 1,000 people) town just north of us, and every November they host Old South Days–a festival of the usual small-town type celebrating, among other things, their status as one of the largest cane syrup producers in the nation (or they used to be, at least). I was hoping for the small-town festivals I remembered from back home in Louisiana. It wasn’t, but it was cute in its own way.

We did eat some fair food, though, in the form of fried gator tail on a stick. And while I couldn’t tell you the name of the stand we bought it from, I can tell you it was some of the best gator tail I’ve had in my life. And if you’ve ever heard “it tastes like chicken” well, no, it tastes like gator. And sometimes it’s good, and sometimes it’s not, just like anything else from the water.

I thought I took more pictures this day, but apparently my phone flaked on me. But I do have some snaps from what we did with the rest of our day.

Relics and Town and Country Antiques, Thomasville, Georgia

Since Old South Days didn’t take up nearly as much time as we expected, we decided to take advantage of not having things we needed to do and checked out some of the antique shops downtown.

Relics is a vintage and salvage shop that I could happily plunder for days. Huge pieces of furniture, a haven for chippy painted metal, all sorts of curiosities. I did more wishing than anything in this store, but if I were to have a sudden windfall, I could see Relics getting a chunk of it.

At Town and Country (a “proper” antique store with lots and lots of pretty things), though, we found a few things that just had to come home with us.

A chandelier to replace the broken one in the front hall (just so happens to match the one in the dining room, except this one had been painted black), a bamboo screen that needs some repair (the owner threw it in free) but with some touch-ups and a red lacquered finish will point our guest room in the direction of chinoiserie, and the biggest find: a round flip-top table that is just what I was wanting for the library.

The top shows a fair amount of wear around the edges, which the shop owner said she’d have to refinish or replace before putting it on the floor (we found this pawing around her back room), so we got it for an amazing price. Meanwhile, the wear is perfect for our cobbled-together library–anything too new would look just wrong!

But let’s get back to food!

Bleu Pub, Valdosta, Georgia

Still in November (apparently it was a busy month for us, starting with our anniversary dinner and I have two more after this one, too, for the next update) we headed out to The Bleu Pub in Valdosta to meetup with the Geek Society. Even though we still love our TNG group in Tallahassee and travel down there for meetups, we were hoping to meet some locals. Unfortunately, Thomasville to Valdosta is the same distance as Thomasville to Tallahassee, so not much of an improvement on the local front, but we’re working on it. Anyway, TGS meets up every Wednesday at the Bleu Pub for trivia, and we decided to give it a try.

I ordered a Dirty Bird (bunless–yay, burger “salad”) with fries and Todd ordered the Cledus and a side of Pub Mac & Cheese. Todd wasn’t all that enamored of the mac and cheese, but both of our burgers were really good.

It was the first time I’d done pub trivia, too, but since it was a Wednesday night and an hour’s drive home, we only made it through the first round before we had to leave. It was fun, though! If I found out a local spot was hosting pub trivia