Makin' Turtle Tracks

I'm an odd duck normally. You never know what I will enjoy from one day to the next. I'm pretty opened minded and enjoy most things, but certain items (like art), I just have to be in the mood to go see. I love art - don't get me wrong - but I don't have a lot of down time, so usually I don't spend it in museums. Now, when the art comes to me, it is a lot easier. And who knew that such art would be in the form of 5-foot-tall fiberglass turtles??? Let me explain...

Atlanta is a big city, but more so, we have lots of outlying suburbs considered to be part of Atlanta (most of these are OTP - outside the perimeter). Sandy Springs is one of these suburbs...soon to be its own city!

I basically grew up in Sandy Springs from the time I was 8 until I was 20-something and my parents continue to live there. SS has been trying for many years to be made into its own city, and they finally won this battle this past June.

In April, a new exhibit was revealed called The Town Turtles of Sandy Springs. Basically, this is our answer to The Trail of Painted Ponies and The Cow Parade. Why the turtle? Well, my brother and I would love to think that this is because Sandy Springs was the home to the greatest music store of all time - Turtle's - but alas, the turtle is the town mascot since apparently the turtle is indigenous to Sandy Springs.

So 75 artists got together to design and paint turtles and businesses got to buy them to display them for 6 months at the low, low price of $5000. The turtles are scattered all over Sandy Springs.

It was really fun in the beginning, finding them in random places and pointing them out, but now it has become a mission for me...and I am up to 58 spotted.

This is how lame I am - I am driving around with a map and list of turtles in my car and checking them off as I find them. I am also driving home convoluted ways to see if I can get 2 or 3 checked off. My next mission, is to drive around and get pictures of them...yes, I am a big NERD! There is a little girl, she is 4 or 5, I think, who just got her picture taken with the 75th turtle - and this made the Sandy Springs newspaper...okay, maybe I'm not a nerd, maybe I'm just a kid at heart!

Here is the sad part - kids are destroying the art. Turtles have been kidnapped and thrown in the lake, set on fire, painted on, and damaged by pranksters who will someday end up in prison or on the streets - people suck! They have had to put together a Turtle Hospital to cart the turtles off to for restoration and repair...what is this world coming to?

This instills a sense of community and it's just plain fun...what is wrong with that, I ask you?

Anyway, if you get the chance, and are in Georgia, drive around Sandy Springs and see the turtles on display - they are fun for the whole family!