Yet Another Cocktail Party

I’m no stranger to the annual late-October pilgrimage to St. Simons Island. It’s mine and many other people’s favorite weekend of the year, the Georgia-Florida game, better known to its fans as The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.

The weekend follows the same basic formula every year, yet it’s unpredictability is a huge part of the appeal. We arrive late Thursday (or Wednesday for those die hard fans or college students), party on frat beach (more on this later) on Friday, gameday on Saturday, and finally a hungover drive home on Sunday while reminiscing about Georgia-Florida weekends past and planning cocktail parties future.

My crowd this year was a mix of college friends, past roommates, a first time GA/FL friend from NYC, and my current roommate who was kind enough to let us all stay at her beach house. The Atlanta crew picked up the New Yorkers from the airport Thursday evening, and we arrived sometime after 1 a.m. We stayed up late sharing memories, but have learned over the years to save up for what is to come.

Frat beach. How else can I explain it other than to show it to you:

If you’ve never been there before, start making plans to attend next year. It’s hundreds upon hundreds of people united by their allegiance to the Georgia Bulldogs and their love for day drinking on the beach who come together once a year to blow it out Georgia-Florida style.

But more than that, it’s a day where everyone arrives with one goal, and that is to have a great time. Remembering the day places a distant second.

The night gets hazy from here, but the pictures and flashes of memory compiled from the group tell the story...

Backbends, boxed wine, porch drinking, cab rides, tequila shots, dancing on tables, skinny dipping, climbing trees and sleeping in wet clothes.

Oh, and we’re all 26+ years old.

While the game may not have turned out how we had hoped, the weekend delivered on every expectation. I only hope that next year can top it.

JLH