'57 Diner, Unadilla Georgia memories.

Where are we today ? 

Southern Trails resort Unadilla Georgia

 clic a pic to enlarge it

      Rain off and on most of the night then again this morning until about noon, overcast pretty well all day. But a comfortable 65F. Still warm enough for shorts.
       I did manage a walkabout the campground early between the raindrops.
      Then at 8:30 in the pouring rain we made trip to Walmart in Perry and Suzie even came with me. Yesterday I bought myself a new hoody (10 bucks) and sweat pants(7 bucks), and she wanted a new hoody as well. Picked up a few more items and back home shortly after 10 am. Still raining, quickly unpacked the car and enjoyed a light tasty lunch.
       I took another drive about the town wanting to stop by the "57 diner that we first visited here in 2008 when Earnest Christmas had just opened it.
       He does not own it anymore but still comes around on occasion. 3 young ladies are there and open weekdays 7 am til 2 pm a very busy place now and still reasonable with an expanded menu. Normally open Friday night for a Fish fry, but closed tonight, Mom's Birthday. Darn we were looking forward to that.
      Have been following their postings on Facebook of their daily specials.
      I went back on a old blog posting, But the pictures were not there, But I do have them backed up and was lucky to be able to find them on a disc.

This is my posting  from

March 27th 2008

        We went to this restaurant in town for lunch, “57 Diner”. Wow a blast from the past 1957 in particular. This name evolved from 1957 when Ernest turned 19 and bought a brand new 1957 Ford convertible complete with fender skirts and continental tire kit. (He still has this car and plans to get it repainted so he can park it in front of the Diner when he is open.) 
      Across from the train tracks in Unadilla this place is a hobby for Ernest Christmas whose wife passed away 8 years ago. His sister in law Dot Barker from Macon County Chamber of Commerce told us about this place. He wanted something to do and display his collection of antiques and memorabilia. Very simple menu quick and cheap, Hot dogs $1.25, Chili dogs $1.35, bowl of chili $1.50 drinks $1.00 and desert $1.00, bag of chips $.75. I really like his hours Wed. and; Thurs only from 11.00am till 1.30pm. As the name implies it has a 1957 theme with the counter , stools, booths and decorations. 
       We were early (11:05 am) and beat the lunch rush. Ernest happened to be there and we talked with him for a few minutes, but his business partner (Dino Lemmon) told him not to leave as he had to work today, his other help had to attend a meeting. He told us to return at 1:30pm when he closed and he would show us some of his other things.

       When we returned at 1:30 Ernest stopped sweeping the floor and took us thru a small door into a huge room, (his work in progress) Amazing! Neon signs, soda fountain, jukes box, ‘50’s music, tables, booths with .10 cent juke boxes, comic books. He hopes to finish it in the next year and use for parties or even open for a cruise night. From here he showed us the men’s washroom, Bright colours and a gas pump, the women's bright pink, with anitique scale and pink toilet seat. 
      While leaving the Diner we were given the last 2 pieces of Lemmon Cake, just because they are now closed until next Wed. and we may as well enjoy it. We walked down the street about 6 doors and he opened the front door of and old Grocery store. Again this is a replica of an old grocery store with medicines, pop, bottles, counters, meat counter, shopping carts, food bins, ice boxes, radios, pots and pans, comic books, displaying his collections. The other half of this building is a replica of an old soda fountain, booths etc. displaying more of his collection from the ‘50’s. From here we went to the building next store, an old car dealership. The first door was a reproduction of a small Barber shop, with mirrors, cash register, chair and shoe shine stand. The next room was the showroom for his Automobile collection of license plates, steering wheel knobs, old car accessories, Oil cans, gas pump, and his 1950 Ford in mostly original condition. 

      Well an amazing 2 hours viewing his collection and listening to his stories that he has to share. What a way to display your collection of items collected. If you ever get to Unadilla Georgia be sure to stop by and if Ernest is there I am sure he would love to show off his collections. 
        Below are some of the pictures I took back then, quite a few actually, but heck it was a fun visit. And stopping by today brought back those memories, so I looked them up, The beauty about having a blog we can do that,

Suzie out front
our first visit 2008

original menu

this be the place

that be Earnest with the yellow hat

we enjoyed tasty very reasonable lunch
chilly dog

Suzie and Dino

love the old cash resgister

     Back at 1:30 when Earnest was done and he gave us a free tour of his collections, housed in 3 buildings along this street. First was next door his reproduction of a much larger restaurant they use for meetings of the Lion's club.

     Stuff he has collected over the years and needed to store them somewhere. His private collections that we were lucky enough to have a personal tour of.

Suzie and Earnest

this juke box still works

comic book collections

when was the last time you saw these working?

    Then down the street to a couple of more buildings. These are not open to the public. All recreated like old-time stores with his collections.

Suzie and Earnest

Hi babe !

his 1949 Ford in a garage setting
very nicely restored

meat counter

recreated Barber shop

    That about covers it and I do have a newspaper article that was sent to me from the local paper back in Feb 2008 if you are interested I can send that to you as well.

Back to today 

              I had ordered a vest to replace mine that is getting worn (well loved) and could not find it anywhere until I came across one on E-Bay, slightly used and for a great price, I order earlier this week for delivery here today, and I got it ! Yahoo! Things are working out.

my nice new
 to me vest

       Driving about town I spotted a few neat things.

love this old water tower

now about this mail box?

    We did manage a couple of hours outside reading, in front of our coach out of the wind, even with overcast skies was still 64F. We can handle that.
     By 3:30pm was time to preheat our Weber Q to grill a 4 lb chicken we picked up today, at 4 bucks can't turn down a deal like that, a great supper, a few lunches and a pot of soup tomorrow.

we do enjoy this dipping sauce with our chicken
only in Canada, we stock up

this was our view most of the day

        And while here enjoying our reading a couple of horses strolled bynd from the arena next door.

nice to see these horses here

      Wind screen up on our Weber Q preheated and set the chicken on by 4 pm. About 90 minutes later was done to perfection.

windscreen in place and we cooking

now this is the way we enjoy our chicken
2 acorn squash pieces in foil

this did the trick tonight
 with a tasty salad

    There ya go we had a very nice day here even if the weather was not perfect but sure was not cold and we enjoyed it. The next couple of days will be much nicer
    Hope y'al had a decent day and we would like to thank you's for dropping on by.

Returning to Ontario April 10thCountdown

Want to learn more about Membership camping at Rock Glen Family Resort ? 

click this link www.geosuzie.rockglen.com to book a tour 

 Where have we been this Winter?