A Whirlwind Tour

The past two weeks have been very hectic as we have been on the road most of the time.

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April 28-30: We visited Jim and Anais in Hudson, Ohio to admire their garden in bloom, particularly the many varieties of daffodils.

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I also presented a research seminar cum lecture at the Cleveland State University. Driving time between Happy Valley and Hudson, Ohio was approx. 4 hours.

May 1 - 7: We visited Georgia and South Carolina for a whirlwind visit of three universities: University of Georgia, Georgia State University and Clemson University.

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In Atlanta, we stayed with Geoff. His house is in Roswell, which is a charming suburb of Atlanta. We heard that Julia Roberts, Kenny Rogers, and Whitney Houston own houses in the vicinity. One afternon, we took a leisurely stroll around town and did some shopping in an interesting antique market. We managed to find a bargain (a set of 3 cds by Kenny Rogers for $8).

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On our first day, we had lunch at "Fickle Pickle", where we tried fried pickles for the very first time. Truly, quite appetizing.

On Thur evening, we met up with CF and Elaine, who were also visiting Georgia, for dinner.

May 2: We drove 1 1/2 hours to Athens, for a research discussion at the University of Georgia. Jim and Henry hosted us to a meal at their regular lunch-joint in an Italian restaurant.

photo: Terry College of Business, UGA

May 4-5: We rented a car ($16/day) and drove 2 1/2 hours (north) to Clemson in South Carolina, where we stayed with Elaine. On Sunday afternoon, Tom gave us a 2-hour driving tour of the area, which include scenic lakes as well as huge and pricey mansions. We also drove past a nuclear power plant.

On Monday, my wife and I toured the pretty Botanical Garden in the morning. It was a wonderful time, enjoying each other's company as well as the many flowers in bloom - Japanese Camilia, Iris, and Rohdendrum. After that, Elaine gave us a quick tour of Clemson University campus.

Dinner (curry chicken and sautee vegetables) was prepared by Nikki, Elaine's 9-year old daughter.

May 6, Tue: I gave a seminar to the doctoral students at Georgia State University. It takes approx. 45 minutes (off-peak) to travel from Roswell to downtown, where Georgia State University is located.

photo: downtown Atlanta

We lunched with Julian, Karen and Geoff. After that, XiaoRong, whom we met earlier in Captiva, gave us a quick tour of the city of Atlanta. We visited the Coca-Cola museum. Other memorable places we visited during our trip in Atlanta include the famous giant chicken billboard at Marietta and the National Battlefied Park on Kenneshaw Mountain.

May 7, Wed: We finally reached home at 5 pm. We are happy to return to Happy Valley, which is surprisingly still arrayed with colorful tulips and the dogwood trees blooming gloriously in pink and white everywhere!

Below are some more photos of our trip.