Special to the Athens Banner-Herald

PONTE VEDRA, Fla. — I came early for the weekend, as I always do when the football teams of Georgia and Florida meet in a rivalry game—which is one of the most-watched college matchups of the year. In the past the ancillary reasons had as much to do with that routine as it was to get in the mood for the game.

There were golf, fishing, and dining options that were attractive while winter’s chill was becoming entrenched in Athens. Then the centerpiece of the weekend—the game—swung back to the Red and Black, as it was in the thirties and forties.

Fast forward to today and you easily conclude that it has become a fall vacation for many Georgia fans who flock to the seaside resorts of Georgia and north Florida. With Gainesville being only 70 miles sout

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