Peaches and Beaches and Boys! Oh my!

I can't believe it's been nearly three weeks since the last post! I just got back from a relatively long visit with The Boys of The South. Though I travelled with my best friend, er, I mean, my laptop, I decided not to post daily/weekly recaps of the trip (i.e. 'The Hawai'i Chronicles'), but do a brief summary when all was done and finished. (Also, Blogspot seems to be having some photo upload problems, so I am thin on photos on this post.)

The trip occurred in three parts: 4 days in Atlanta; 1 week in Edisto Island, S.C.; 6 scheduled (but ended up with 7) days in Atlanta. This was a bit of overkill, now that I've done it. Planning on paper, it seemed just the right amount of time, as I looked forward to exploring more of Atlanta on my own than I had in the past.

Arriving in Atlanta, I decided to stay at the Georgian Terrace instead of crashing at Rick and Chip's who live a good half hour away in Norcross. The hotel (which I have more photodocumentation at my "12 of 12" site) is across the street from The Fox Theatre and more centrally located than I was able to figure out in those first 3 nights. The rooms were large and included a kitchen AND a washer and dryer! The washer/dryer would be necessary, er, come in handy, after the over excited first night of partying! I planned to see my 'special houseguest' from June, Skye, who I developed quite an infatuation with by the time this trip ended. He's a big bodybuildingporn star, but without a skanky attitude! We did a fun dinner that night, actually running into Rick and Chip at Cowtippers, which serves some killer margaritas! (Cocktail count: 3 margaritas. This will be significant, later.) The Boys met Skye ever so briefly, though I hoped there would have been time for everybody to get to know each other, it just never happened. Skye and I moved on for post dinner cocktails at Blake's (Cocktail count: 2 margaritas), before dropping me off at the hotel.

Rick and Chip told me they'd be at Swinging Richard's, a male strip joint, after dinner and told me to meet them there. Now. After FIVE margaritas, not to mention spending dinner with a friend who just happens to be a porn star, you'd think that I would have just blown off going back out to gawk at dancer boys. However, I popped upstairs, changed and decided, what the hell! I popped over to 'Richards', met the boys for dancers and drinks! (Cocktail count: 2 cape cods) There I met 'Raphael'. Now, to Rick's credit, he did attempt an intervention of sorts as I was getting pretty trashed and 'Trashed Jay' + 'Dancer Boy' = $$Trouble. Rick failed, I spent and to the disappointment of all involved, actually got sick at the bar. GAWD. I rushed out, grabbed a cab (caught sick one more time on the road) went upstairs, tossed my 'evening wear' into the washer and passed out.

The next day, I met Rick for lunch in Norcross (JR's BBQ! yum!), laundered the previous nights events out of my fabulous silk Hawaiian shirt, met >Skye for dinner at Mick's, a fabulous and FAST drive around in his Infinity and Bose system BLASTING away, and some fun times at the hotel and went to bed!

The South Carolina portion of the trip began the next day with my move up to Norcross at Rick and Chip's, oh and their dog Sandy. Sandy greeted me with the tradition of throwing up in front of the bedroom door I stay in. I think he equates my arrival with going to 'doggy day care' which he apparently hates. (Unlike Maxxxxx who seems to LOVE 'birdie boarding school' where he is placed when I leave town.) Rick's sister had already arrived and Mark from San Francisco would arrive later that day. In other words, the house was getting full - prepared with food and visitors going to Edisto Island.

This year, there were FIFTEEN PEOPLE staying in the beach house in Edisto Island, S.C. Some were literally lined up outside the door when we arrived (after the six-ish hour drive). The cast of characters this year: Rick and Chip (co-hosts), Rick's sister Diane, Chip's sister Megan and boyfriend Tony, the following couples: Cliff and Rick, Paul and Frank, Scott and Patrick, and David and Tim; then Mark and I completed the house. The population would eventually trickle down to the five of us (Rick, Chip, Diane, Mark and myself) as the week progressed. But that first weekend was PACKED!!

Though there are dozens, if not hundreds of photos taken by the gang, there isn't one of the entire group, and most of them are of the evening gameplayers in the living room, playing 'Taboo' as if our lives depended on it! Well, perhaps that was just Patrick and I. 'Taboo' brought out a frighteningly competitive streak from 'Filthy Kate' to the shock and offended amazement of some of the houseguests. The days were spent out on the beach. Ahhhh...

I know, that is a short recap of a week's worth of activities, but the beach house is a place where nothing is supposed to happen in the first place! :)

Returning to Atlanta a day early (which included my slapping a 'moon' at Rick and Mark as we passed them in the other car a couple of times), I decided I needed to check into a hotel again, as I had been unusually social the past week. In other words, having my own bathroom was worth the price! This time, I stayed at the Regency Suites, which is a moderately priced hotel in an extraordinarily convenient location! Skye and I had been talking nearly everyday during the beachhouse week, and I was excited to spend some more time with him, too.

The Atlanta Week 2 started with yet ANOTHER visit to Swinging Richards, where I made a 'new friend' of J.J., whose lapdance evolved into a massage, which evolved into his proposal of marriage! HA! Saturday was the official wedding reception for Rick and Chip. It was held at an Episcopalean Church in a faraway suburb of Atlanta. So it seemed. The reception was quite lovely, with everyone on their best behavior. I made the trek via public transportation, which was not necessarily one of my best moves. It took me nearly two hours to get back into Atlanta for dinner (Cowtippers again) and only a couple of cocktails with Skye, whom I decided I was in love with by this time.

Sunday, after doing a really good brunch at Gilbert's in midtown with Skye, I caught up with the gang, plus Chip's mother and sister Megan and niece Jessica, at Mary Mac's Tea Room. That night, I took a LONG bath and just slept...

The next couple of days blur together. I took a LONG walk along the length of Piedmont Park, shopped a bit, and there was a really NICE dinner at Einsteins with Skye, after which we took a nice drive around the city, again. We talked about the status of our friendship, which I attempted to ignore (again!) and fight past (again!). (I am nothing if not stubborn and can be quite "emotionally aggressive" and "insistent" with my 'boyfriends'.) After saying goodnight to Skye, I was ready to come home to S.F. I sort of felt that my visit there was finished. But it went on...

Tuesday, I wandered down to the High Museum of Art, on the suggestion of J.J., who wanted to get together later that afternoon. J.J. you will recall, is the dancer-boy I met at Swinging Richards on Friday night. He took ME to dinner, cocktails and got me pretty stoned that evening before he had to go to work at the club. This was to be my last night in town, as well as Mark's, so Chip, Rick and Mark wanted to meet me for a final night of dancer boys. If you recall earlier "Jay + Dancerboys = $$Trouble". I got there maybe as much as an hour earlier than the rest of the gang, where my new best friends J.J. and Raphael (from that FIRST embarrassing night two weeks earlier) literally did the "Hello Dolly" number for me. It was a LONG night! The Boys left around midnight, and I closed the place with Raphael and we went to breakfast.

I resolved at this point to staying up all night, as I needed to leave the hotel at 5 a.m. to make my 7:30 a.m. flight to SF. Raphael dropped me off at the hotel at 3:30 a.m. and I needed to rest my eyes. FOUR HOURS LATER, I woke up literally screaming at myself about missing the flight! I threw clothes on and threw everything back into the luggage. (I'd been there 5 nights and was literally moved in at this point!) I HAULED out to the airport, only to find that there was no way of getting back to San Francisco without buying a $700 ticket. I returned to the hotel.

In making the most of this extra day, I went to the Georgia Aquarium, which is FANTASTIC! It is impressively HUGE!! And horrifically CROWDED!!! But the Beluga Whales make it more than worth the visit!

Skye wanted to do one more dinner while I was still in town. We went to Cowtippers again, but I did NOT knock back the margaritas this time! We came back to the hotel, where he made sure I was not going back out. At this point, I was getting REALLY tired on all levels: physically, mentally, emotionally. I sent Skye ANOTHER freakin' email all about 'our future', and he replied the next morning, where he put his foot down with a FINAL resolution (yes, that is redundant). Oh, well. One can't have too many friends, I guess... ;)

I did make it to the airport the next morning and in a civilized manner, if I do say so myself. I was on standby, but checked right in. When landing in SFO, I nearly got choked up! I'd been gone too long, and there was just enough emotional stress between "The Summer Infatuation Of 2006" and handling a house filled with 15 people and the typical southern heat, that arriving in San Francisco was nearly overwhelming.

I needed to just zone out a day before posting all of this.