Kidnapped to Anderson, SC

Greetings from The Hill,

My Sweetie works hard for a living.  So this weekend I decided to do something out of the ordinary for him.  Thursday I told him to pack an overnight bag because we were leaving for an adventure on Saturday and I didn't tell him anything about the plans. In the meantime I went to work laying out my plans for the weekend.

I found a place to stay.  I chose a place to have lunch and dinner.  I learned there were lots of antique stores on main street and then found out there was a large flea market nearby.  Plans done.  But we all know what happens to the best laid plans....

We left Saturday morning right on time and had a lovely drive up.  Fortunately Mother Nature decided to bless us with a sunny, warm weekend.  We arrived in downtown right at lunchtime and found the restaurant I had chosen only to learn that they don't serve lunch on Saturday.  WHAT !??!!?!!!  Disappointment No. 1.  OK plan B - we walked up the street to a restaurant called J Peters Grill and Bar.

While this wasn't a fine dining experience turns out the food was very good.  And the best part were the honey butter croissants.  I have never bitten into any food that literally made me close my eyes and sink into the experience.  It was pure heaven.  I ate mine, half of Ran's and asked our server if she could bring me one more before we left.  As good as all the other food was, the croissants were the most satisfying.  LOVED IT!  Disappointment averted.


After we ate we decided to do a little shopping up and down main street to walk off our lunch.   As it turns out downtown Anderson is a town in the middle of a major renovation.  There were more storefronts that were empty than full.  We did find one antique store. On unusual thing about downtown was the fish.  Every so often we saw fish on a stick.  Very interesting.

We left downtown headed toward our hotel to check in.  On the way of course we had to stop by the local Walmart.  (I know, it's a redneck thing but we always do it.)  We had several gift cards from Christmas so we spent them on a netbook case for me and a camera part for Ran.

We got to the hotel, walked in and saw the following "Welcome" sign.

 I've never had a hotel do that before.  That's me, Rhonda Lindsey.

We spent the evening relaxing and getting ready for a big day of flea marketing today.  The desk clerk told us about a huge flea market not far from where we were staying.  So we got up early this morning, had a quick breakfast and checked out so as to be at the flea market shortly after it opened at 8:00am.

We arrived at Jockey Lot, parked and started walking the buildings.  Jockey Lot is the biggest flea market in the South and covers 65 acres.  It is HUGE.  Trouble is, we got there so early that not all the vendors were there yet and it was cold.  I had left my coat in the car but we finally found a vendor selling jackets made from Indian blanket material.  I picked out a blue stripe and put that puppy on.  We walked and walked and walked but because the place was so empty and things were so spread out we weren't having a great time and decided to leave.  Trouble is, we had not really paid attention to where we parked the car.  And when we came out to our surprise we found a huge yard sale kind of atmosphere with rows and rows of  folks, and cars and booths.  Where did all this come from??????   I was turned around and scared we were not going to be able to find the car.  Well Ran to the rescue.  He remembered a few landmarks and was able to get us to the car.

 We did have one really fun experience while there.  One vendor had the most unusual thing for kids to do that I have ever seen.  He had these big plastic balls the kids got into and the balls floated on water.  We watched the kids running and falling inside these big clear balls.  It was hilarious.  Don't worry there was a 5 minute limit per child so they didn't suffocate.  

As we were leaving Ran suggested that we drop by the Pendergrass flea market near Gainesville on the way home.  We have been there before and really enjoyed it.  On the way over we saw a billboard for a large electronics outlet.  Well we couldn't resist.  We hit that first and spent more money than we planned but got some cool stuff.  My fav is the software program that teaches piano.  It's been a few years since I took lessons and I'd really like to learn some new songs.  I'm very excited.

Then we crossed over the expressway and it was on to Pendergrass.  I really love this flea market.  It is all indoor, warm in winter and cool in summer and every stall was packed with stuff.  Even if we didn't buy anything I love to just walk around and look.

We ate lunch at the food court then decided we were tired and ready to go home.  I took a risk at lunch and ate some Chinese food.  It was really good but triggered a migraine on the way home that went full blown when we got home.  I took a two hour nap and woke up feeling much better.  It was good to be  home.

All in all it was a very fun weekend.  Some things went the way we planned and some didn't but we rolled with the punches and had a good time anyway.  The best part was just being together and doing something different.  We didn't go far from home but it was far enough away that we could put our day to day life behind us for a while and forget everything except just enjoying each others company.  Ran is so much fun to travel with and after more than 28 years of marriage I love him more today than I did the day I married him.

Later ...