Emily and I arrived in Albany, Georgia late Friday night after a quick stop at Chick Fil-A for the first of what I assume will be many servings of Polynesian sauce. We joined Emily’s sister, Amanda at her friend’s house to participate in game night. We played some Rock Band on Wii and an interesting few rounds of loaded questions. I actually enjoyed rockin’ out on the guitar hero, on easy of course!

Saturday we picked up some Sonny’s BBQ and headed over to Emily’s Grandparents for lunch. I spent the afternoon helping here grandfather with a few chores around the house and a few errands he needed to run while Emily visited with her Grandmother. The afternoon was spent enjoying some of the NFL playoffs and delicious spicy sausage and biscuits. I love this sausage you can only find at Carroll’s in Albany. I was glad that I got to watch some of all four games this weekend. Going into the trip I was worried I would miss all of the playoffs, but it has worked out where I’ve gotten to see most every game. Saturday night Amanda’s friends band were playing a show at a small bar/club in Albany called the Crowbar. I’ve been to a bar in Albany before with Amanda and Emily, but nothing like this. This place was full of rednecks of course and they are proud of it! The band was called South Train; they were a country-rock cover band. The music was good but the vocals could have used a little work. I’d forgotten that you could still smoke in bars in Georgia by the end of night my skin was permeated with cigarette smoke and I felt like I had smoked a few packs. We also ordered some food from the bar; they had something on their menu called Cheese & Pepperoni pizza bites, which I wanted to try for obvious reasons. You wouldn’t believe it but it was a mini Red Baron pizza but cut up in small pieces. Just like in Cape Vincent, good thing my Mom doesn’t charge $6.99 otherwise Dave, Mitchell and I would have had to spend a lot of money over the years!

Sunday, Amanda and Emily cooked a huge steak meal with baked potatoes and green bean casserole. DELICIOUS! Afterwards I planted myself in front of the television only to watch the Giants lose, sorry Dad (at least Syracuse has been doing well, knock on wood). Emily and I were going to stretch our legs a little bit and walk around the Albany Mall but unfortunately it closes at 6 on Sunday so instead we stopped at the local Pizza Hut. What an experience! There were no servers, you just order your pizza at the counter, and they give you a paper plate and then bring you everything you ordered in one box. It took over 25 minutes, the longest I’ve ever waited at Pizza Hut. They didn’t even get our order right. So by the time we finished our pizza the breadsticks finally came out. We ate one a piece and save the rest for leftovers. At least those were good for breakfast!

We left Albany around 12:15, after another serving of Polynesian sauce for Emily (that’s 2 so far for those who are keeping count). We drove through Colquitt where the Houston family farm is located. Emily gave me a quick tour of the ponds and the one room house where her grandfather was raised. We were able to take a driving tour through rural Georgia listening to the Allman Brothers Live at Fillmore East courtesy of Emily’s father. Emily gave me a quick tour of the small town she grew up and stopped at the Brinson Baptist Church where her Dad used to preach. I used to think Cape Vincent was small, but at least we have Aubrey’s! For lunch we stopped at Richardson’s BBQ. Emily had remembered this from her youth as having the best Brunswick stew and here memory did not disappoint. It was so good I had to take some to go. It is a very small place, it seems like it has been unchanged for the last two decades. Yellow tables with orange chairs, the building looked as it was about to fall over. I got the feeling that we were the only two people to come through the door all day. You’ll have to see the pictures to believe it.

We made it Blakely around 4 O’clock and visited with the other side of Emily’s family a little bit before heading to Dairy Queen for dinner. They have a great DQ here, mmm Butterfinger blizzard.

This concludes our broadcast day.

Dave