Well, okay, it was only one margarita, but it was a big ‘un!

Is it bad that the above could describe more than one weekend in recent history? Or that I can’t decide which one I should apply it to?

Anyway, I owe you the ‘rest of the story’ from the Dahlonega trip, don’t I, so I’ll do that one first.

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When we left our intrepid travellers they had just finished up at the Gold Mine of unintentional comedy. We headed back to berylq’s home to drop off our purchases and continue the day on foot. First we went up to the observation floor of the building across from her house to see the view. We were a little early for sunset, but it was still very cool. Then down the hill to site-see. Only hunger won out and instead we stopped at one of many Mexican restaurant’s in town.

Now, you have to understand, as palmie and I drove through Georgia we saw several signs with long words beginning in ‘M’ that looked like Margarita(ville). They were not, of course (except the one adv. for a restaurant), and one was even a church (which we decided we’d definitely be willing to join under that name!), but we still had Margaritas on the brain. Finally, Saturday evening, Margarita-time had come!

Waitress: What can I get you ladies to drink?
Me: Margarita.
Waitress: What kind?
Me: o_O
Waitress: We have regular and Texas margaritas?
Me: Regular.
Waitress: What size?
Me: Big.
Waitress: But what size?
Me: Okay, here’s what I want: Regular Margarita, on the rocks, with salt.
Waitress: Size?
Me: Big.

Palmie and berylq ordered the same, with much less conversation. In our defense we had just sat down when she came by and hadn’t even looked at the menu enough to find the beverage section (on the back I think) much less notice the 4 different sizes available. Four sizes, people! So when it came, we were trying to figure out if it was the 24, 32, or 45 oz. version (it obviously wasn’t the 16). Turns out, Big = 32oz, but it wasn’t bad for the price (8.75 I think) and it was a /good/ margarita. The food was good, too, but the margarita rocked.

Afterwards we wandered around the dispersing Bear in the Square festival. A festival you say? Why yes! Turns out, back a decade or more ago, a baby black bear wandered into the town square and climbed a tree. Some local folk musicians decided this was a perfectly reasonable reason to start a folk music festival and now you have Bear in the Square. (I kid you not…) When I heard about all this I promptly informed berylq that she had moved to Stars Hollow (the little Connecticut town of Gilmore Girls).

So what did the margarita actually make me do? Well, nothing scandalous I assure you, it just made me sleepy (actually, it was more the exertion of the day and the lack of sleep the previous night PLUS the margarita that made me crash on the sofa when we eventually wandered back to berylqs). Luckily berylq and palmie are not the type to take issue with this and are rational adults capable of carrying on their evening while I snoozed.

Sunday morning meant packing up the car and heading to breakfast at the Wagon Wheel again and then on to IKEA. Y’all, IKEA rocks but make sure you get the bag cart deal when you first get up to the second floor. Your shoulders will thank me, I promise! I think we spent about 4 hours in shopping heaven, wandering through the displays upstairs (2 hours-ish) followed by a surprisingly yummy and rather inexpensive lunch in the cafeteria, then back downstairs to the real shopping areas to get all the pretties we looked at upstairs (well, not all, not nearly all, there will be more trips, and catalog orders) and then to flat-pack-heaven (Self-Service furniture) where we picked up a dolly for the big items berylq and I were purchasing.

End result? I think our combined total was just over $520, but considering I bought a table, 4 chairs, and 2 nightstands (along with a bunch bedding and other stuff) that’s not a bad receipt at all! And it all fit in the car! Elektra was filled to the gills (well, the headrests in the back seat) but it wasn’t a squeeze or anything. Palmie and I said our good-byes to berylq and headed separate directions to home.

The trip home was’t nearly as grueling as such things usually are. We seemed to even be making better time for some reason (jokes about my purse being the Tardis for hiding my sunglasses and us making better time because we were heading ‘downhill’ were definitely made) but a dinner stop put us back home around 8ish.

But there was one more stop on the way that I really should include here. On the way through Georgia we also saw a very distinctive sign that advertised a Playboy Outlet somewhere just off the highway. Owing to my recent infatuation with the Girls Next Door show, it was given that the possibility of a Playboy outlet would thrill me to no end. Not that we were going to stop on the way: it was already going to be o-dark-thirty when we got to Dahlonega. But on the way home…

So about halfway home we started looking for a similar sign on our side of the highway. We’d gone so long without seeing one that we’d thought, for a moment, that we’d missed it (oh well, we said, there’s always the Dragon*Con trip) then there it was, in the middle of nowhere on exit 97 (we agreed to never forget that one). It was… disappointing. I was really hoping for more variety but honestly? It was all scary leather ‘clothing’ with the bunny head in contrasting leather colors. And the shoes… oh, my, nothing like the playboy brand shoes you find in the local stores, no, these were jelly heels. Heels, y’all. Jelly. Heels. Oy to the vey. But I did pick up a pair of pink and silver bunny post earrings. Of course, because of the big biker party that weekend the cash register wasn’t hooked back up yet so I had to go to the adult store next door to pay for them.

So that’s the rest of the Dahlonega trip!

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And in other news, RA #2 is up!