Mountain Day 2011

**First of all, thanks for the suggestions on the boots!  My one goal for the fall is to find some good boots that will accomodate bigger calves.  I will, of course, pass on whatever I find!!**

My alma mater has a super weird tradition.  Once a year, a bunch of alumni come back and all of the current students walk down this big hill and hold hands and then keep doing it over and over and over.  And the students wear certain colors and drop pennies (one for every year they are) into a basket at the bottom.

It's called Mountain Day.  And the college hosts several other events that day, like a picnic, a 5K/2 Mile health walk, reunions, and a convocation.  The Friday before, classes are cancelled and the dorms have a Mountain Day Olympics, which is basically field day type activities, except with college kids.   

Why do we have that tradition?

I have no idea.  We're supposed to be celebrating Martha Berry's (the founder) birthday, but I have no idea how walking up and down a hill celebrates a birthday.  Trust me, if that's how you wanted to celebrate MY birthday, I would reconsider my friendship with you.

Anyway, to be honest, I never participated in Mountain Day.  I did the Mountain Day olympics for the two years I lived on campus, but that was it.

So last year, when some of my friends decided to trek back up to Berry College for Mountain Day, we had no idea what was going on.  But it was really good to see some of our friends that we hadn't seen in a LOOOONG time.  

We decided to hit up the old BC again this year.  Mountain Day is on a Saturday, so we decided to drive up on Friday and stay in a hotel.  Our plan was to get up early to go run the 5K.

Well.  

That didn't happen.  But let me tell you what did.

Las Palmas- our favorite Mexican place in Rome.

My best friends and I.

Nertz- I won.

Flashback to sophomore year- you had to be there to understand.

Circle of Death, anyone?

A giant bite (most likely a spider bite) on my toe that made it kinda painful to walk.

The possibility that I have a stress fracture in my heel.  Or something else not good.  Either way, it is not smart for me to run a 5K until my appt. at my doctor on Thursday.

Bojangles.

Boberry biscuits.  Yummmmm.

Buying the most amazing sweatshirt from the Berry College bookstore.

A walk up a SUPER STEEP hill just to see the Rome clock tower.

It really wasn't all that impressive.

Jefferson's- fried pickles and wings!

Discovering "The Best CD Elise Has Ever Made"- circa July 2006.  And yes, that is what I entitled the cd when I gave it to Paula.

Not knowing what was going on at Mountain Day, but running into friends we hadn't seen since graduation.

Being asked forced to join Paula's menu planning committee for her Halloween Party.

Playing Nertz again.  I won.  Again.

Florida losing to Alabama.  Boo.

And that's my Mountain Day weekend in a nutshell.  How was your weekend?  Does your alma mater have any weird traditions?

The BEST picture of the weekend.