Glory Days

Day before yesterday, the family and I had to make a detour from the lake to Athens on the way home; Todd had to return a bike that they didn't use for a shoot last week, and so i called my friend Opel to meet us for lunch. We had the dog and kids with us, so Taco Stand (Milledge, of course) was an obvious choice. I had already dragged Todd there during some portion of our courtship; He was still unimpressed, but i have years to force him into submission. I had forgotten that Athens is so dog-friendly, so i had the pleasure of eating my favorite college hangover food with my 8 year old dog, who had never been there with me. And the kids got to try it, too! They even have a tv on the deck, which i don't think was there when I was in school, and they had on Tom and Jerry, which bought me tons of time to hang and chat with Opel.

I'm pretty sure that one of the most fun times in my life was when i lived on Pulaski Hts in Athens, with Honey and Scott. Opel and I were talking about how much we loved that house, and how he would go to class and then end up at our house just about every day for a year or more. Lying on the vinyl couch. Playing darts in the massive 70s kitchen. Going down to the tracks to throw rocks at the train. The day in March when we had that crazy snowstorm and then tons of people came over and partied all day. Curt Cobain died when I lived in that house and I remember Chris Bilheimer and I finding out from a Grill coworker and then i walked home and went to the Quarry with Scott, Dave, and Karen. She drove her jeep. Ah. . . Warm days at the Quarry or at the river out 441 with the railroad trestle. Watching the fire at Hoyt St. The hot guy that lived on the corner, whom Honey and I lusted after when he mowed his lawn. The crazy woman who lived across the street. The hippie bus in the wooded lot across the street. The water tower bases at the dead end.

After we left Taco Stand, I made T. drive by the Pulaski Heights house. Truly odd to ride in my family van, with my kids and husband, up the hill to the old house. Todd mentioned that it was really steep. I told him i used to walk my bike up that portion of the ride home. On the way out, i pointed out the houses that were the same, the house were Sheila and Debbie had a really fun party where Touch Me I'm Rick and Sheila were naked, and where i took my underage sister and her friend to their first college party. When we came back from that party, someone had broken into our house and torn the window box off Scott's window coming in, and they stole his pants.

Good times, all. When I think of those days, i think of Honey and Scott, Zach, Opel, and Dave. Camille and Ryan and Dave and Rich. Katie and Karen and Donnie. These pics are for them. Apologies to the people who live there now, who were probably thinking, "Why is that old lady wandering around taking pictures of our little dead end street?"

The house and surroundings look a little different. I can still remember everything about what they used to look like, though.

The house on the steep hill. It used to be white. And a lot more run-down looking.

The front view. Looking at the porch makes me think of the porch swing and making wind chimes with scraps of metal from the railroad tracks behind the house. I loved hearing the train whistle at night.

This new construction is behind the red house on the corner of Pulaski and Pulaski Hts, and where the old Hippie bus used to be! I guess it's going to be some kind of studio or guest house. Pretty cool!

This kind of floored me. It is a fence and gate constructed in front of the old water tower site. When we lived there, only the water tower bases were there - huge concrete slabs that used to hold up a water tower, but without the water tower. Very cool, and pretty creepy. Hard to explain, but it was kind of like having your own Stonehenge. This is a neat addition, but odd, because there is no fence - you could just walk around it and go over to the stones anyway. I guess the woman from across the street did it. There are still a couple of old shack houses down at the end of the street, almost overtaken with kudzu, looking exactly like they did back in the early 90s.