Smacking the Pee-Wee
Saturday, November 25th, 2006
On Thursday morning, July 13, the convention activities convened at the nearby Georgia Golf Hall of Fame and Botanical Gardens, which was a short walk across the street from our Mariott hotel in Augusta. The area was beautiful with appropriate decor including a classic car display and wood crafted signs with the names of Laurel and Hardy films on them placed around the gardens. Also on display was a giant reproduction of a mousetrap that all conventioneers were asked to sign. Of course, after everyone signed it, the hosts realize that the marker they supplied was not permanent and we all had to sign it again (see picture at bottom of page). Read the rest of this entry »
The 15th International Sons of the Desert Convention kicked off officially on Wednesday night, July 12, 2006. Bob, Ashleigh, and I had made our own excursions to Atlanta, Americus, Plains, and Warm Springs before our initial arrival in Augusta. Then travelled along with some Sons on the two pre-convention trips back to Americus and Plains and then to Savannah to see the area. Now we were back at home base in and Augusta ready to dive into the convention activities. 
Following our daylong trip to Savannah (which followed two trips to Plains and Americus and one to Warm Springs), Ashleigh and I were pleased to be able to take a few hours of our Georgia trip to just sleep in, relax, swim, and take in a few sights leisurely.
Amidst our tour of Savannah during our pre-trip with the Sons of the Desert, Ashleigh and I encountered Chippewa Square, which is the exact site where they filmed the famous opening and subsequent scenes of Forrest Gump on the parkbench. In reality, the park bench was merely a prop set in front of the cement wall visible in the photo at right. The statue in the background can also be seen in the photo below. 
Last night we had our annual Halloween party, which, because it was delayed by a week until after the holiday actually occurred, was transformed into a family ‘game night’ with costumes optional. Everyone opted not to wear one. We’ve had some great costume gala affairs with haunted house, scavenger hunts, and hayrides – but this one was a mild family get-together.