Down to the final 2 days of the year 2017 we drove around yesterday trying to pick up as many points as we could reasonably get locally. Most of today’s photos were ones we looked for all year long hoping to find just the right one, but for one reason or another we dismissed what we saw, thinking that a better one would come along, and then realized we were running out of time to take the photo. We almost waited too long too on the water fountain as several of the local ones we had marked as “aces in the hole” were shut off because of the cold weather.
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- Animal Shelter (with Animal): Donna, Lucky and Lucky’s owner in front of the Aiken County Animal Shelter. (12/30/17)
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- Greasy Spoon: The Track Kitchen in Aiken’s horse district has always been a spot for owners and trainers to discuss their thoroughbred’s morning workouts, but its down-home charm has attracted a following among Aiken’s regular folks for breakfast. You order at the counter and they bring your food to your table, but if you get coffee you have to walk around the counter into the middle of the kitchen proper and serve yourself from a giant urn. (12/30/17)
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- Water Fountain: This was, like many of today’s photos, one of those we looked for all year long for just the right one, but for one reason or another we dismissed what we saw thinking that a better one would come along and then realized we were running out of time to take the photo. We almost waited too long too as several of the local ones we had as “aces in the hole” were shut off because of the cold weather. (12/30/17)
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- Infamous Location: A monument to Thomas McKie Meriwether, the only white person killed in the Hamburg Massacre in 1876 in what is now part of North Augusta, SC. This is part of the inscription on this side: “In life he exemplified the highest ideal of Anglo-Saxon civilization. By his death, he assured to the children of beloved land the supremacy of that ideal.” The wording on the other 3 side are just as cringe worthy today. If interested, the whole story is here.(12/30/17)
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- With an Old Friend: We both have like maybe one friend left over from school days, but they live too far away. The middle years were spent in brief stints in different places due to military service, so our time in Aiken is where our old friend had to come from. Donna and I befriended Jackie and her husband John when they showed up at a Miata Club meeting with their new ’95 M. So I hope 22 years ago counts as old times. (12/30/17)
It’s not over yet either. We have procrastinated ourselves into a whole on the “Epic Sunset” photo, so Sunday night (AKA Six Hours to Deadline) we are going to go out and take a picture of whatever kind of sunset that happens and call it Epic and hope it counts. We also have a New Year’s Eve gather to go to that has a Fireworks Display” involved, so that will be another point. If we get both we will end up with a total of 242. Probably not a winner, but should land us in the money of one of the top 50 runners up.