Birthdays. They're not just for spankings anymore.

Well, it seems somehow I haven't been crushed by a meteorite again this year, so I make it to my 31st birthday. Most of the morning and afternoon was spent heading down towards Atlanta. I did a couple of stops along the way to check out Black Rock State Park as well as a few caches. I didn't hit any caches at Black Rock, but was still able to enjoy the views as well as a hike doen to Ada-Hi falls. I kind of like driving the old country back roads and seeing the old homes and fields nestled in the valleys. The really old homes that appear as if they were hand built in the 40's or even earlier hold an allure for me as well. It can be neat to imagine growing up in the old places where one had to provide nearly everything on their own.

I also quickly stopped by the Tallulah Gorge interperative center in hope of capturing a nearby cache. The hike itself was a little over a mile and it ended at a gorgeous overlook of the area in which I was hiking last year. Although the cache remained elusive, I still enjoyed getting a chance to check out this site. One of the last caches I hit was especially nice. It was named 'Secret Falls' and it took quite a bit of turning through residential roads along a golf course, however the final site was especially nice. There was parking right at the base of the falls and after a little poking around, the cache was located. The rest of the trip down was pretty uneventful. I headed over the the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area to collect another park stamp. I had a lovely talk with the ranger there concerning geocaching, stamps, and the general area and probably kept him 10-15 minutes past normal closing time. I sat out by the camper for a while to relax for a bit and had several people come by to take a look at it. I was fortunate that the person with whom I was couchsurfing actually lived just a couple of miles down the road. Shari used to live in Tampa a couple of years ago and we still kept in touch. She was gracious enough to take me out for a sushi dinner downtown. Somehow without my knowing she informed the staff of my birthday status. After we finished the entrees they came out with a fried ice cream scoop and sang some songs, forcing me to stand on a chair as everyone in the place just watched and laughed. Fortunately they didn't make me do any saki-bombs as I had enough saki during the dinner itself. I was pretty tired from the day, and so after Shari and her sister set up the couch for me, went to sleep as soon as I could get the call that I was expecting fairly late.

Not a bad way to spend the day I think.