When in Rome, do as you done in Milledgeville.

Recently travelled to Georgia with my friend Nicole to visit the birthplace of one of our favorite authors, Flannery O'Connor. Our first stop was Savannah to see her childhood home. We had a great guide who gave us a private tour and told us a funny story about Flannery regularly going up to the attic and "beating up" her guardian angel by spinning around and punching her fists in the air. You had to be there, it provided a great mental image. We went to a reading by Brad Gooch who was out promoting his new biography on Flannery. We kept running into him throughout our trip. Savannah is a kool sleepy little southern town known for Savannah College of Art and Design and Paula Deen and also that cemetery where they filmed Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The weather was nice and mild for the end of February and the best of our 5 day trip. From there we drove to Milledgeville to visit Andalusia the farm where Flannery lived with her mother after she developed difficulties from lupus. We were lucky enough to arrive at the farm in glorious sunshine after driving thru "tornado alley" that morning. We saw Brad there too and it was actually a bit crowded what with fans and all. There was a lone donkey who seemed kinda sad and dirty we couldn't figure out why he was there and wherest he came from. There are no peacocks on the farm any more, the last one died a couple years ago. We also managed to find her grave and appropriately mark the occasion with a photo. There is an extensive collection of Flannery's writings and various ephemera at Georgia State College which is also located in Milledgeville. From thence we drove on to Macon, Ga, of which I have no comment, and then northward back to Atlanta to catch our respective flights home but not before driving through a blizzard!