Southern Passage

Catching up on a few more Fall 2011 Adventures...

This year's Thanksgiving was in Nashville (we alternate between families). It has long been my favorite holiday because of all the family traditions. Every year since I can remember we all make the trek to Nashville and gather at Aunt Lucy's house. Wednesday usually means grazing on BBQ as everyone arrives and telling family war stories. Pretty sure we've heard every story 10 times through, but they never fail to be funny. Stories like trading worldly possessions for a boxed cake, cats named Smooshed and Smashed, and how to become a successful door to door salesman without ever leaving the car. Man, that fish sure does get bigger every year...

Thanksgiving took a new turn in the early 90's when Aunt Lucy married Alan and we quickly learned we had a new chef in our midst! Alan specializes in 'Southern with a cajun flair'. Now every Thanksgiving day begins with magical sausage balls ('magical' because they always disappear) and it is not complete until he makes the Salmonella dressing and fries the turkey.

Now, anyone that knows Barry knows that he can find his way around a kitchen too. His first few appearances at the Waggoner Family Thanksgiving he stood back and watched, but this year he started talking about the fried turkey weeks in advance. I could tell he was ready to get in on the action! As you'll see from the following pictures, Barry has officially begun his Fried Turkey Apprenticeship and is well on his way to becoming a bona fide Southern cook! If we could only figure out a way to give it a whirl on our rooftop...




This year's Thanksgiving was extra special - for the first time in many years everyone was there. Every cousin, grand child and great grand child made the celebration. It turned out to be the last we would get to spend with my 96 year old grandmother, Maw Maw; she would pass away on December 29, 2010. Maw Maw lived a full 96.9 years and made her mark not just on her loving family, but on every person she knew. She will be missed dearly.

Thelma Louise Yates Waggoner (1915-2011)

Long overdue...Football 2011

This post is several months overdue. Either life has gotten busy or I've gotten lazy (probably the latter). Several adventures have taken place since mid-September, but none more eventful than Football Season.
We attended several games this year - UGA v Boise St which I already posted on, UGA v Mississippi St in Athens, and then LSU @ Alabama in Tuscaloosa. My blood pressure swears I attended more games (especially UGA v UF) but those are the only ones I have photo evidence of.

Our trip to Athens was wonderful - perfect crisp, fall morning with a hint of bourbon and football. We tailgated with one of my favorite tweeps Robert Wolfe ("Tweeps": Twitter + Peeps). His crew sets up an amazing tailgate right behind the stadium. If we ever move back down South we will absolutely join this tailgate. They do it right. Plenty of food, drink and TVs to waste the day away. He's only steps away from the Dawg Walk and Coach Todd Grantham (#KTMFD) post game tailgates a few spots away. As you'll see from the photos, many a tweeps came by before the 12:30pm kickoff.

The LSU v Alabama game had even more flavor to it. We always enjoy our trips to Tuscaloosa and this year was no exception. The best place to stay is Hotel Gambrell - named for our gracious hosts, aka Russ' parents. This year it was dubbed as The Game of the Century...#1 v #2. The town was packed and we got the royal tour. On Friday we toured The Zone, which is Bama's answer to the age old issue of sitting in a suite but feeling far away from the crowd. In The Zone, your seats are outside but inside are all amenities you would ever want. We also checked out the suites on the opposite endzone. Our tailgate was hosted by a friend of a friend and was the place to be. The game itself was exciting and very, very cold.

Without further adieu, pictures from our 2011 football adventures...