I've been in Aiken for a little over 3 months now. It's one of the retirement towns of SC... abundant in elders, horses, and trees. Why am I here, you ask? If it weren't for the fact that Aiken is also an engineering town and my husband landed right in his field of work here after college-- I wouldn't be here, and certainly, neither would he. It is very quiet here, and one must embrace the simple things in life for entertainment... the park, a ride in the car, etc.
Fortunately, Augusta, GA is only about 30 minutes away-- there are more things of interest there. The Augusta Mall completely crushes the Aiken Mall in any and all things that it could be crushed in... Though the Aiken Mall is about 5 minutes from our apartment Augusta is definitely the go-to spot when it's time to do some real shopping and find entertainment. I do commend the Aiken mall for sticking out the times, and it never ceases to amaze me how it still survives this economy. I'd like to call it a miracle.
My mommy came to visit on Tuesday! Prior to her visit she had no idea as to where Aiken was or what it was like; she only knew that when she told people her daughter moved there she often got the response, "Aiken? Wow, she's down there in the COUNTRY!" or "Aiken? Does she like horses?" or "Yeah, I know Aiken! My grandparents live down there".... Wilderness and farmland is what she ultimately envisioned... and in most parts, that's what it is. The area that my husband and I live in, however, is probably considered the city and some people still probably put their "good clothes" on when they come this way. Everything we need is tucked within about a 3 mile stretch (Wal-mart, restaurants, grocery stores, little shopping areas, etc.) Though there still isn't much to actually do around here, my mom and I still managed to have a great time. Between visiting Augusta, playing Micheal Jackson the Experience, and exploring downtown Aiken [and taking pictures with the horse statues] we were able to fill her mini vacation with fun. Being that it was also my first time walking around downtown Aiken, I was really pretty pleasantly surprised with it's size and all the boutiques and new places opening up! My initial thoughts gave it no credit at all, but I've come to like it's old fashioned look and feel.
I believe my mom's visit made me like Aiken a little bit more.
smaller towns can be great places to raise families. We'd love to move to a smaller town but will most likely stay where we are for the mere fact that both of us have secure jobs and our kids like the neighborhood we live in- we'll just have to make sure the kids still learn good values and a love of God-not just "big city" ways :)
ReplyDeleteBTW-thanks for visiting my blog!
I'm glad I was some help in your finding a new appreciation of your adopted hometown.I enjoyed my visit :-)
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