Blackie & his new friends
Monday, January 30, 2006
Lake Livingston
We finally got out and rode around the town a little today. Really wanted to see Lake Livingston - it's supposed to be beautiful. Was a little disappointed because apparently the best access to the lake is through the state park and they want $10 just to drive through!! Needless to say, we were too cheap (and too late in the month!) to pay that. So, we rode around and found a couple of places to pull off to take some pictures. Blackie even met a couple of friends at one of the places we stopped!
We got a picture of Roy & Barb, who I've written about a couple of times. They left for Victoria, TX this morning. We may meet up with them again in Alabama.
We got a picture of Roy & Barb, who I've written about a couple of times. They left for Victoria, TX this morning. We may meet up with them again in Alabama.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Weekend at the Park
Eating is a big deal in the RV life - most every campground we've stayed at has had at least one meal per week on its activity calendar. This park is no different. We went to breakfast yesterday for $3/person. We got scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, fruit cocktail, juice & coffee. Even got free entertainment - the line dancers were there, too. Unfortunately, once again the pictures aren't loading, so if you'd like to see our dining companions and the linedancers, go to http://community.webshots.com/user/guiler85/0 and click on the Livingston TX album. I'm trying to get this picture problem figured out!
This evening one of the couples we've met, Roy & Barb, came over for dinner (and, NO, it wasn't chicken divan OR hot dogs w/mac & cheese!!). Then we went to the ice cream social. Boy, you can't say we don't live on the wild side! hehehe Roy & Barb are leaving tomorrow. We may meet up with them again in Alabama, but they're not sure where they're going. They are definitely just taking it one day at a time and enjoying having no schedule.
We plan to go to Lake Livingston tomorrow 'cause it's supposed to be another beautiful day. Hope to have some nice pictures for you.
This evening one of the couples we've met, Roy & Barb, came over for dinner (and, NO, it wasn't chicken divan OR hot dogs w/mac & cheese!!). Then we went to the ice cream social. Boy, you can't say we don't live on the wild side! hehehe Roy & Barb are leaving tomorrow. We may meet up with them again in Alabama, but they're not sure where they're going. They are definitely just taking it one day at a time and enjoying having no schedule.
We plan to go to Lake Livingston tomorrow 'cause it's supposed to be another beautiful day. Hope to have some nice pictures for you.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Dinner out
I haven't posted anything in the past couple of days 'cause we have been slugs! We haven't gone sightseeing or wandered very far from the RV since we got here last week. Some of that has been weather-related, but most of it has been just enjoying being lazy!
Tonight we went to "Dine Out," a campground-planned activity at one of the local restaurants. And, NO, it WASN'T the "early bird special." Several couples from the campground went to a family restaurant and took the time to get to know one another. It was fun. I was going to take pictures, but I forgot my camera! (Jason, please don't be disappointed in me!) I usually have my camera in my bag all the time, but had taken it out to upload some pictures and forgot to put it back. I know everyone is just devastated not to see pictures of a bunch of old people sitting around eating!! And there wasn't a soft food order in the bunch! :) hehehe
We have gotten to know one couple, Roy & Barb. They are actually our age, which is a little unusual. They are from Ohio and are full-time RVers, too. They just got started in December. We rode with them to dinner, and then went back to their RV for the next three hours. We had a great time talking, showing pictures and just sharing stories. This is one of the best parts of this life - finding out good places to go and things to see and adding to our group of friends.
Well, that's about it for today. Way past my bedtime. Tomorrow & Saturday are supposed to be ugly weather, so we'll be watching movies. Hope you all are enjoying each other and all is good in your world. Love to all!
Tonight we went to "Dine Out," a campground-planned activity at one of the local restaurants. And, NO, it WASN'T the "early bird special." Several couples from the campground went to a family restaurant and took the time to get to know one another. It was fun. I was going to take pictures, but I forgot my camera! (Jason, please don't be disappointed in me!) I usually have my camera in my bag all the time, but had taken it out to upload some pictures and forgot to put it back. I know everyone is just devastated not to see pictures of a bunch of old people sitting around eating!! And there wasn't a soft food order in the bunch! :) hehehe
We have gotten to know one couple, Roy & Barb. They are actually our age, which is a little unusual. They are from Ohio and are full-time RVers, too. They just got started in December. We rode with them to dinner, and then went back to their RV for the next three hours. We had a great time talking, showing pictures and just sharing stories. This is one of the best parts of this life - finding out good places to go and things to see and adding to our group of friends.
Well, that's about it for today. Way past my bedtime. Tomorrow & Saturday are supposed to be ugly weather, so we'll be watching movies. Hope you all are enjoying each other and all is good in your world. Love to all!
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Pictures!
Here are the pictures I wanted to share with you yesterday. Technology is a funny thing - needed to use a different browser to get these to upload. AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!! Anyway, here you go. The first picture is of Dan & Debbie Domer, our wonderful friends in Alabama. Pictures 2 & 3 are of Lake Lincoln State Park where we stayed for the night while traveling through Mississippi. Isn't that sunrise beautiful!?!?!!! The fourth picture is the Mississippi River - it was so impressive. Even had the barge sailing down just as you would expect! And the last picture is the park sign where we are currently staying.
Hope you enjoy the pictures. Won't be back online until tomorrow probably. Although we are going to play with the satellite to see if we can get it up and running. Talk to you soon.
Friday, January 20, 2006
Made it to Texas!
This will be a fairly long entry ‘cause it covers two days. So, get a soda or cup of coffee or tea, sit back and enjoy! I tried to upload several pictures to this entry so it wouldn't be so boring, but for some reason, they wouldn't load. I'll try again at another time. So, if you can't stand to read without pictures - have at it. If not, you can wait for the next posting!
Wednesday morning, we got on the road around 9:05 am - amazing! Of course, it’s a whole lot easier to “break camp” when all you have to do is put your clothes in the RV, hook up the truck and go. :)
We can’t say enough how wonderful it was to spend the past week and a half with Dan & Debbie. Their hospitality is unmatched, I’m sure. They made us feel so comfortable and at-home (probably TOO comfortable!) that it was hard to leave.
We arrived at Lake Lincoln State Park around 3pm. It was a fairly easy trip, until we got about an hour and a half away from the park. Word of caution - GPS is not perfect!! The GPS directions would have gotten us here, but it sure took us on the scenic route!
We were following the directions and bore left onto a road that had a sign “End State Maintenance.” We knew we could be in trouble. The next six miles were butt-clenching, to say the least. Actually, it really wasn’t that bad, but at the time we just weren’t sure what was around the next bend. The road itself was only half again as wide as the RV. When we’d meet other cars, both of us would have to move to the right to be sure we’d not touch. And the condition of the road was atrocious - there certainly wasn’t any sign of ANY maintenance, much less state maintenance!
As we came to another turn we were to take, God took pity on us and a local guy was coming to the intersection at the same time. Randy jumped out and asked him if we really wanted to take this road. Needless to say, we didn’t. This nice guy, I’ll just call him “Bubba,” gave us different directions that took on us much better roads. And we were only five miles from the park. We did arrive without incident and the park staff told us the road we had taken was called the “roller coaster road” by the locals. Grrrrrrreat!
The park is very nice. Wouldn’t have expected a state park to be this nice. I guess I expected it to be more primitive. The sites have full hook-up (water, electric, sewer) and are level, concrete pads. That makes for such easy set-up. It’s definitely a park we will come back to, if in the area.
We did have one little hitch during set up. Randy found a leak in the water system and when we ran water inside, water literally ran inside! UGH! It wasn’t a flood but it was still a pain. And, it was back to the bath house for us! Brought back memories from the pop-up. Guess we’ll appreciate “indoor plumbing” even more once it’s fixed.
Once again we were able to get on the road around 9am. It’s a six hour trip to Livingston, so we’ll be there mid to late afternoon. Six hours driving is always at least seven hours actual. Unfortunately, GPS seemed to want to take us around the barn, so we made a few adjustments which added about a half hour to our trip. But that was just the beginning!! I’m not sure if it was the GPS or the navigator, but we had a few “oh, no” situations on this leg of the trip. One could have really been a problem if we had not been watching the signs. The route was to take us down a road that either had a tunnel or bridge that was too short for us to go through. Thank goodness we had an atlas in the truck and found an alternate route. That added about an hour to the trip. Nothing like a good old-fashioned map to pull you through!
We crossed the Mississippi river as we entered Louisiana. It is an impressive sight. Took a picture of it with a barge sailing down the middle - just like you'd expect. Hopefully, I'll be able to get that picture up later.
We finally arrived in Livingston around 5pm. We must have made up some time because that was actually only about an hour later than expected. I have found that I am not a good traveler when things don’t go as expected. Aren’t you shocked! I feel very responsible for ensuring that we are on the right track and hate it when I either misread the GPS or we find ourselves on a road that isn’t the best for the RV. Needless to say it was a bit tense a couple of times. But, gratefully, Randy is so easy going that we just drive ‘til we find a good turn-around spot and then retrace our route. And we got here in one piece, so all’s good!
Then we topped the evening off by having Blackie's food stolen!! Yes, you read it right. Randy had taken the bin of food out of the storage compartment to fill the container we use inside and then he got distracted. Next thing we were going out for a walk and Randy remembered he'd never filled the food container. He looked for the bin and it was gone!! He thought he'd lost his mind - he knew where he had left it, but looked all over the site (which isn't very big) and it was nowhere to be seen. We were flabbergasted - we have NEVER had anything stolen from a campsite in all the years we've camped. And to have dog food stolen - what the heck is that about???!!! Anyway, it seemed like a logical end to our day. We are praying this doesn't set the pace for the rest of our time here. Oh, well. It's only dog food.
This park is the national headquarters for Escapees Club, an RV club to which we belong. We are looking forward to getting a tour of the place - it’s pretty big. They have a mail center, a Care Center (for older RVers), and lots of activities every day.
Randy is going to get the leak fixed today. That will go a long way to making life easier. Then we’ll get some groceries, fuel and come back and get settled. We have limited internet access here - WiFi is only accessible in certain areas of the park and of course, our site is not in those areas! So, we'll be checking e-mail every other day. We may try to get our satellite up. If that happens, you'll know!
Love to all. Talk to you soon!
Wednesday morning, we got on the road around 9:05 am - amazing! Of course, it’s a whole lot easier to “break camp” when all you have to do is put your clothes in the RV, hook up the truck and go. :)
We can’t say enough how wonderful it was to spend the past week and a half with Dan & Debbie. Their hospitality is unmatched, I’m sure. They made us feel so comfortable and at-home (probably TOO comfortable!) that it was hard to leave.
We arrived at Lake Lincoln State Park around 3pm. It was a fairly easy trip, until we got about an hour and a half away from the park. Word of caution - GPS is not perfect!! The GPS directions would have gotten us here, but it sure took us on the scenic route!
We were following the directions and bore left onto a road that had a sign “End State Maintenance.” We knew we could be in trouble. The next six miles were butt-clenching, to say the least. Actually, it really wasn’t that bad, but at the time we just weren’t sure what was around the next bend. The road itself was only half again as wide as the RV. When we’d meet other cars, both of us would have to move to the right to be sure we’d not touch. And the condition of the road was atrocious - there certainly wasn’t any sign of ANY maintenance, much less state maintenance!
As we came to another turn we were to take, God took pity on us and a local guy was coming to the intersection at the same time. Randy jumped out and asked him if we really wanted to take this road. Needless to say, we didn’t. This nice guy, I’ll just call him “Bubba,” gave us different directions that took on us much better roads. And we were only five miles from the park. We did arrive without incident and the park staff told us the road we had taken was called the “roller coaster road” by the locals. Grrrrrrreat!
The park is very nice. Wouldn’t have expected a state park to be this nice. I guess I expected it to be more primitive. The sites have full hook-up (water, electric, sewer) and are level, concrete pads. That makes for such easy set-up. It’s definitely a park we will come back to, if in the area.
We did have one little hitch during set up. Randy found a leak in the water system and when we ran water inside, water literally ran inside! UGH! It wasn’t a flood but it was still a pain. And, it was back to the bath house for us! Brought back memories from the pop-up. Guess we’ll appreciate “indoor plumbing” even more once it’s fixed.
Once again we were able to get on the road around 9am. It’s a six hour trip to Livingston, so we’ll be there mid to late afternoon. Six hours driving is always at least seven hours actual. Unfortunately, GPS seemed to want to take us around the barn, so we made a few adjustments which added about a half hour to our trip. But that was just the beginning!! I’m not sure if it was the GPS or the navigator, but we had a few “oh, no” situations on this leg of the trip. One could have really been a problem if we had not been watching the signs. The route was to take us down a road that either had a tunnel or bridge that was too short for us to go through. Thank goodness we had an atlas in the truck and found an alternate route. That added about an hour to the trip. Nothing like a good old-fashioned map to pull you through!
We crossed the Mississippi river as we entered Louisiana. It is an impressive sight. Took a picture of it with a barge sailing down the middle - just like you'd expect. Hopefully, I'll be able to get that picture up later.
We finally arrived in Livingston around 5pm. We must have made up some time because that was actually only about an hour later than expected. I have found that I am not a good traveler when things don’t go as expected. Aren’t you shocked! I feel very responsible for ensuring that we are on the right track and hate it when I either misread the GPS or we find ourselves on a road that isn’t the best for the RV. Needless to say it was a bit tense a couple of times. But, gratefully, Randy is so easy going that we just drive ‘til we find a good turn-around spot and then retrace our route. And we got here in one piece, so all’s good!
Then we topped the evening off by having Blackie's food stolen!! Yes, you read it right. Randy had taken the bin of food out of the storage compartment to fill the container we use inside and then he got distracted. Next thing we were going out for a walk and Randy remembered he'd never filled the food container. He looked for the bin and it was gone!! He thought he'd lost his mind - he knew where he had left it, but looked all over the site (which isn't very big) and it was nowhere to be seen. We were flabbergasted - we have NEVER had anything stolen from a campsite in all the years we've camped. And to have dog food stolen - what the heck is that about???!!! Anyway, it seemed like a logical end to our day. We are praying this doesn't set the pace for the rest of our time here. Oh, well. It's only dog food.
This park is the national headquarters for Escapees Club, an RV club to which we belong. We are looking forward to getting a tour of the place - it’s pretty big. They have a mail center, a Care Center (for older RVers), and lots of activities every day.
Randy is going to get the leak fixed today. That will go a long way to making life easier. Then we’ll get some groceries, fuel and come back and get settled. We have limited internet access here - WiFi is only accessible in certain areas of the park and of course, our site is not in those areas! So, we'll be checking e-mail every other day. We may try to get our satellite up. If that happens, you'll know!
Love to all. Talk to you soon!
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Heading for Texas!
Good morning! We are leaving Alabama and heading for Texas, stopping tonight in MIssissippi. We will be offline until sometime Thursday afternoon (unless I hit a WiFi stop before that!). Thanks to everyone who has been reading the blog and commenting. It makes us feel like we're not so very far away. Take care and we'll "talk" again soon.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Just Taking It Easy
Haven't done much this week since Tuesday. We need to conserve $$ so that we can play once we get to Texas. So, we've been totally enjoying Dan & Debbie's hospitality - watching movies we've been wanting to see, walking the neighborhood and just chillin'. I've been cooking dinner each night (YES, I HAVE!!!!) as a small way of thanking Debbie for allowing us to stay here.
We may head down to Montgomery tomorrow, weather permitting. A nasty thunderstorm came through this morning and brought colder weather with it. So, we're going to play it by ear tomorrow morning. I'm sure we'll find something to do.
Looking forward to spending the weekend with Dan & Debbie. We'll be leaving next Wednesday for Texas.
We may head down to Montgomery tomorrow, weather permitting. A nasty thunderstorm came through this morning and brought colder weather with it. So, we're going to play it by ear tomorrow morning. I'm sure we'll find something to do.
Looking forward to spending the weekend with Dan & Debbie. We'll be leaving next Wednesday for Texas.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Birmingham Sights
Today turned out better than expected, weather-wise. We thought it was going to be cloudy and rainy, but that's been pushed back in the week. So, we took the day and headed into Birmingham to see some sights.
First up, Arlington, an antebellum home dating from the early 1800s. It passed through several families before the city of Birmingham purchased the property and turned it into a house museum. It is furnished and decorated in 19th century style. The gardens are probably beautiful in the spring, but the pansies were pretty today. 
This was an okay "sight," but not worth the $8.00/person entrance fee. Luckily, the docent on call gave us the AAA discount even though we aren't members and it only cost us $9 for both of us to get in.
We did purchase a fictional novel entitled Red Acres that is set in Arlington during the post-Civil War era. This book is no longer available for purchase in the general market, but copies were reprinted in celebration of the 125th anniversary of Birmingham. I love finding books like this!
Since it was very early in the afternoon, we decided to head to Tannehill Historical State Park, about an half hour south of Birmingham. There is an old ironsworks there along with a museum and several 19th century log cabins. To our surprise, there is also a very nice campground as well.
The log cabins are placed around the park with signs explaining whose they were and how old they are. Some of these same cabins are available for rent. There is a river which flows through the park which added to the overall beauty of it.
At the top of a hill, away from the rest of the park, there sits a country church at which they still hold services every Sunday morning!
During the season, from March through October, there are crafters who come and share their skills and wares. We definitely enjoyed walking around this park and hope to come back and camp sometime.
Not sure what the rest of the week will bring. Still waiting on the rain to show up and colder weather is supposed to come, too. Today, it hit 70 degrees! Just lovin' that!! We're hoping to go to Old Alabama Town, an historic setting, in Montgomery before we leave next week.
We pray all of you are doing well. Let us know what you think of our pictures, travelogue, or just what's going on in YOUR lives. You're in our hearts.
First up, Arlington, an antebellum home dating from the early 1800s. It passed through several families before the city of Birmingham purchased the property and turned it into a house museum. It is furnished and decorated in 19th century style. The gardens are probably beautiful in the spring, but the pansies were pretty today. 
This was an okay "sight," but not worth the $8.00/person entrance fee. Luckily, the docent on call gave us the AAA discount even though we aren't members and it only cost us $9 for both of us to get in.
We did purchase a fictional novel entitled Red Acres that is set in Arlington during the post-Civil War era. This book is no longer available for purchase in the general market, but copies were reprinted in celebration of the 125th anniversary of Birmingham. I love finding books like this!
Since it was very early in the afternoon, we decided to head to Tannehill Historical State Park, about an half hour south of Birmingham. There is an old ironsworks there along with a museum and several 19th century log cabins. To our surprise, there is also a very nice campground as well.
The log cabins are placed around the park with signs explaining whose they were and how old they are. Some of these same cabins are available for rent. There is a river which flows through the park which added to the overall beauty of it. 
At the top of a hill, away from the rest of the park, there sits a country church at which they still hold services every Sunday morning!
During the season, from March through October, there are crafters who come and share their skills and wares. We definitely enjoyed walking around this park and hope to come back and camp sometime.
Not sure what the rest of the week will bring. Still waiting on the rain to show up and colder weather is supposed to come, too. Today, it hit 70 degrees! Just lovin' that!! We're hoping to go to Old Alabama Town, an historic setting, in Montgomery before we leave next week.
We pray all of you are doing well. Let us know what you think of our pictures, travelogue, or just what's going on in YOUR lives. You're in our hearts.
Monday, January 09, 2006
Touching Base
Just thought I'd check in with you this morning. Don't have much to share - we are comfortably ensconced in the home of our very good friends, Dan & Debbie Domer, in Birmingham, AL. Getting used to being in the Central time zone! Gotta remember that when calling home. :)
Had a very lazy weekend. Dan & Debbie had a couple of their friends over on Saturday night for dinner and a game of dominos. That was fun - you never know if you'll click with other people's friends, but we had a great time.
Yesterday we went to church; Dan & Debbie go to a church similar in style to Grace, but much bigger, if you can believe that! They meet in a large high school and have several services. I felt like I was seeing Grace's future. After church we went to the Golden Corral for a HUGE buffet dinner. The rest of the day was pretty quiet.
Today will be a chores day - laundry, shopping, etc. I'm on tap to make dinner tonight. Weather forecast is for rain over the next couple of days, so we probably won't be doing much sightseeing until Thursday.
Take care, everyone. Thanks for "traveling" with us! Write when you get a chance. Love to all.
Had a very lazy weekend. Dan & Debbie had a couple of their friends over on Saturday night for dinner and a game of dominos. That was fun - you never know if you'll click with other people's friends, but we had a great time.
Yesterday we went to church; Dan & Debbie go to a church similar in style to Grace, but much bigger, if you can believe that! They meet in a large high school and have several services. I felt like I was seeing Grace's future. After church we went to the Golden Corral for a HUGE buffet dinner. The rest of the day was pretty quiet.
Today will be a chores day - laundry, shopping, etc. I'm on tap to make dinner tonight. Weather forecast is for rain over the next couple of days, so we probably won't be doing much sightseeing until Thursday.
Take care, everyone. Thanks for "traveling" with us! Write when you get a chance. Love to all.
Friday, January 06, 2006
Twin Lakes RV Park
Thought you'd like to see where we've been staying this week. We are leaving this morning around 11am to head for Birmingham. This is a short trip - only three and a half hours! Piece of cake! :)
It's been fun to spend time with Drew, Missy and kids. We look forward to coming back. Family is so important.
Probably won't write much over the weekend. Depends on what we do. But, keep checking back!
It's been fun to spend time with Drew, Missy and kids. We look forward to coming back. Family is so important.
Probably won't write much over the weekend. Depends on what we do. But, keep checking back!
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Pine Mountain, Georgia
It was a beautiful day today!! Gorgeous, 65 degrees and sunny with blue skies. We took a drive to Pine Mountain which is about an hour southwest of Atlanta.
Pine Mountain is a very quaint small town (about 1400 residents) and its main street is one that you would expect to see in Mayberry. :) We had lunch at the Purple Cow Cafe - very good sandwiches and a GREAT double chocolate chip cookie dough milkshake. A fun way to start the day! We then walked down Main Street and went through a couple of the stores. One was an "emporium" where I found used books - I was in heaven! I only bought four, though. I restrained myself.
Once we had finished with the stores, we took a drive to Warm Springs which is about a 15 to 20 minute drive from Pine Mountain. Warm Springs is the town in which President Roosevelt built a cottage replica of the White House for his getaways. FDR started going to Warm Springs to partake of the healing waters and fell in love with the area. The State Park system owns the cottage and has restored it and turned it into a museum. We thought it would be interesting to see that.
To get to Warm Springs, you have two choices: the "rural" route which is the shortest; or, the "scenic" route which takes you through the FDR State Park and is about five minutes longer than the rural route. Of course we took the scenic route. And, it was beautiful. I've included a picture from an overlook. Just beautiful.
The FDR museum was interesting. You just meander through on your own. There is a timeline area, which charts FDR's life and then you go out into the yard and walk to the Little White House which has many of the actual furniture pieces from the Roosevelt family as well as glassware and such. It is amazingly well preserved.
There is also a walk of state flags and stones. Each state contributed a piece of indigineous stone and there is a placque giving the stone information, the date the state entered the Union, and the state's motto. That was interesting reading. The east coast is full of limestone, I'll tell you that! Many of the stones are fashioned in the shape of the state itself, which is kind of neat.
We took the rural route back to Pine Mountain and started for "home." We did find a nice campground there in Pine Mountain. That will be handy for when we return so we can visit Callaway Gardens which is 14,000 acres (yes, 14,000!) of botannical gardens, pathways, etc. The brochure says you need a few days to see it all. Not sure when that will be, but we know it's there.
Don't plan to do much tomorrow. Randy thinks he's getting a cold, so we might just take it easy. Definitely want to see Missy and kids again before we leave Friday.
Hope you enjoy the pictures!
Pine Mountain is a very quaint small town (about 1400 residents) and its main street is one that you would expect to see in Mayberry. :) We had lunch at the Purple Cow Cafe - very good sandwiches and a GREAT double chocolate chip cookie dough milkshake. A fun way to start the day! We then walked down Main Street and went through a couple of the stores. One was an "emporium" where I found used books - I was in heaven! I only bought four, though. I restrained myself.
Once we had finished with the stores, we took a drive to Warm Springs which is about a 15 to 20 minute drive from Pine Mountain. Warm Springs is the town in which President Roosevelt built a cottage replica of the White House for his getaways. FDR started going to Warm Springs to partake of the healing waters and fell in love with the area. The State Park system owns the cottage and has restored it and turned it into a museum. We thought it would be interesting to see that.
To get to Warm Springs, you have two choices: the "rural" route which is the shortest; or, the "scenic" route which takes you through the FDR State Park and is about five minutes longer than the rural route. Of course we took the scenic route. And, it was beautiful. I've included a picture from an overlook. Just beautiful.
The FDR museum was interesting. You just meander through on your own. There is a timeline area, which charts FDR's life and then you go out into the yard and walk to the Little White House which has many of the actual furniture pieces from the Roosevelt family as well as glassware and such. It is amazingly well preserved.
There is also a walk of state flags and stones. Each state contributed a piece of indigineous stone and there is a placque giving the stone information, the date the state entered the Union, and the state's motto. That was interesting reading. The east coast is full of limestone, I'll tell you that! Many of the stones are fashioned in the shape of the state itself, which is kind of neat.
We took the rural route back to Pine Mountain and started for "home." We did find a nice campground there in Pine Mountain. That will be handy for when we return so we can visit Callaway Gardens which is 14,000 acres (yes, 14,000!) of botannical gardens, pathways, etc. The brochure says you need a few days to see it all. Not sure when that will be, but we know it's there.
Don't plan to do much tomorrow. Randy thinks he's getting a cold, so we might just take it easy. Definitely want to see Missy and kids again before we leave Friday.
Hope you enjoy the pictures!
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Downtown Atlanta
Spent today in dowtown Atlanta. We took our nieces, Tara & MacKenzie, with us to the World of Coke tour. It was kind of interesting - you learn all the history of Coca Cola as well as how it is now ALL over the world. It was funny to see the familiar Coke logo in different languages. At the end of the tour you can taste the different sodas that are made in different countries. Very odd.
We then walked through Underground Atlanta which is literally underground. There are specialty shops, boutiques and restaurants. But, according to Tara & MacKenzie, you DO NOT want to be there after dark. So, we weren't!
We ended the day at the CNN headquarters. That was just a short walk from Underground Atlanta. There was a tour available there, too, but since we had just spend $$ on the World of Coke tour, we felt we couldn't do this one, too. That was disappointing because we would rather have done the CNN tour, but we didn't know about it. So, now we have something to do when we come back to Atlanta. Of course, we figure Ted Turner has so much money, he shouldn't even be charging to tour the place!!!
I've included some of the pictures we took. Hope you enjoy them!
Sunday, January 01, 2006
We're in Georgia
I ended our day Friday with an unexpected trip - down the stairs into the kitchen! Yes, a whole three steps and I just had to fall down them. Scared Randy to death - he thought we’d be going to the ER. Nothing broken except my pride! My backside was (and is) pretty sore, though. I know, I know, TMI!!!
Got a much quicker start to the day on Saturday! Got on the road about 7:30am, only took a half hour or so to break camp. BIG difference! Drove about an hour to Jonesville, NC and stopped at the Cracker Barrel there. Gotta check off those Cracker Barrels so Randy can continue on his trek to eat at every Cracker Barrel in the US. :)
We had another beautiful day to travel - bright sunshine all the way. That last hour, though, seemed to drag. We just wanted to BE there, you know?
Well, we arrived at Twin Lakes Campground around 3:30pm.We were a little concerned about this park because we had never even seen a picture of it, so we were going on faith that the campground directory ratings didn’t lie! It didn’t help that we got a call from the campground owner about an hour and a half before we got here to ask when we thought we’d arrive and what type of hook-up service we’d need. I told her I had given all this info to the gentleman with whom I made the reservation. Apparently, whoever was on duty was trying to get out a little early because of the holiday and wanted to get all the reservations ready for the campers who were coming in.
Gratefully, when we pulled into the park, we were pleasantly surprised to see that it is a beautiful park! Nothing fancy at all - no “amenities,” except for a beautiful lake which all of the sites face, in one way or another. It is a very peaceful setting and we are pleased. You never know what you’re getting when you reserve sight unseen.
Got set up in short order and plopped down in front of the TV. We figured we would only have “air” channels (those that you can only pick up via antenna), but Randy found a cable hook-up and tapped into it. Not sure whose cable we are enjoying, but Randy talked one of the neighbors and he’s tapped into it, too. Guess we’ll see what happens and enjoy it while we can.
Will be seeing Randy’s sister and family Sunday. We’re looking forward to it, we haven’t seen them since Thanksgiving 2002. We’ll have lots to catch up on.
Hope everyone enjoyed their New Year’s Eve celebrations. Happy New Year to all and we pray that you will feel the hand of God on you in 2006 and that your lives will be richer this year than last.
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