Question: Where is it hotter than Hades?

Answer:  Central Georgia, apparently.

Here's the proof:

If you can't tell what that is, it's my Dunkin' Donuts giftcard.  (What?  I like coffee.)  I left it sticking halfway out of the in the visor of my van.  The result:  It melted.

Amazing.

While I'm on the subject of hot Georgia summers, this would be a good time to debunk the stereotype that all Southerners like it hot.  It is simply not true.  They (I say "they" because I'm a transplant myself) might tolerate the heat better because they have lived in it, but just like all northerners don't love having two feet of snow on the ground in the winter, all southerners do not like 90+ degree temperatures with humidity that rivals that of a tropical rainforest.  I'm sure you can find some that do, but they are the exception...not the rule.

This year marks the eighth summer I have endured living in Georgia.  (I experienced one before that, but wasn't technically a resident at that time.)  I still sweat from walking down and up my driveway to get the mail.  I still sweat from standing (even in the shade) in my tank top and shorts while watching my poor uniform-clad son play t-ball.  I still gasp at the thickness of the air when I walk outside in the morning.  But you know what?  I'm learning to tolerate it.  And with that comes less complaining.  (If you think I complain now, you should've heard me while I was walking around 9 months pregnant in the summer of 2003!  I swear that was the hottest summer in the history of the world.  It couldn't possibly have been the watermelon I was carrying in my belly making me even hotter.)

I'm not exactly sure what the moral of the story is here.  Perhaps it's this:  if you're going to travel to the Deep South in the summertime, be sure to consider that otherwise un-meltable things can indeed melt when left in your car.  (I'm not helping the tourism industry with this post, am I?)

P.S. - While a Dunkin' Donuts giftcard is hardly an amazing photography subject and these are hardly prize-worthy photos, I should mention that I shot these in manual mode on my camera.  Baby steps towards #72 on the list.