Days 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the Great Adventure

Okay folks - hope you have stayed with me - we have been without Internet access for three whole days!!!! I'll explain as I go through the days, but who would have believed I would be without Internet like this. The entire time we were heading west last summer I was never without Internet - go figure. Anyway, let's go back and start with Day 2 - Sam A. Baker State Park in Missouri.

Day 2 started without any fan fare. We were up and on the road by 8 am - I fixed the thermos of coffee and a sausage biscuit for Dan and I. The road trip was uneventful (which is a good thing) and we got to Sam A. Baker State Park right outside Patterson, MO early in the afternoon. It is a beautiful park - the picture above was taken right outside the park - but it is in the middle of absolutely nowhere - which meant I had no cell phone service or Internet service (and no tv). I tried using the booster and it still wouldn't work - so, no blog for the two days we were there. As soon as we arrived, while checking in to the park, Dan met a distant cousin on his mom's side of the family (Shearrer). So they talked for awhile about the families and who was still around that area. After we got camp set up we went driving around - out to Dan grandparents farm (or at least where the farm used to be). The old well house and the steps for the schoolhouse were still there, but that's about all. We spent the rest of the afternoon driving around and looking at places from Dan's childhood and from his parents childhood. We also drove into Fredicktown to the cemetery to Dan's parents grave. Then we drove on into town and ate dinner at The Pig - a local establishment that was a MUST do on Dan's list. Then we found another family member and we stopped at her apartment and visited for a little while. It was way after dark by the time we got home and it was time for bed.

Wednesday morning (Day 3) we took our time getting going - in fact, Dan had said Tuesday night that he had done everything he wanted to do and we would leave on Wednesday - however; he changed his mind Wednesday morning and we decided to stay the extra day. We went over to the bath house and took showers (no water in the state park!) then jumped back into the truck and rode around to more places Dan remembered from growing up in the area. We were back home early afternoon where I proceeded to fix dinner. While cleaning up the kitchen I heard a car door slam and we had company. One of Dan's cousins on his mother's side had heard we were here and came by to visit (which we thought was extremely nice). We had a very nice visit and Dan was able to reminisce about growing up and riding horses and playing in the river. It was really a nice time for Dan and I'm glad we decided to stay the extra day. We gave out a couple of our cards with our blog address on it and I hope that the cousins will stay in touch and follow along on this adventure we are on.

Thursday morning (Day 4) we were up early and ready to get on the road. We had everything ready and we were pulling out by 8 am. Once again, the road trip was uneventful, other than the wind - horrible side wind that cut down on the fuel mileage, but Dan said he couldn't tell the difference with the truck pulling the unit - a couple of stops for fuel and we are eating lunch at rest areas - it gives Dan an opportunity to get out and stretch his legs - the pups and run around and potty - get some energy spent - plus, it is much more relaxing for Dan. He doesn't have to worry about trying to find a place to park the unit or getting into a fix that will be a problem getting out of. It has worked out well for us so far - I think it is a good break for all of us. Well, I did get a telephone call on Thursday from one of the children just checking in making sure all was well - I told her that I would be blogging last night as we had a RV park all picked out just north of St. Joseph, MO that advertised Internet service (yeah!), but we got to St. Joe so early in the day that Dan didn't want to stop - he said we could do at least another 100 miles so I looked in our handy 'The Next Exit' and found a KOA at the same exit as fuel - perfect! (By the way, we have been stopping at truck stops to get fuel and so far it has worked so much better than we thought it would - people are very nice and we don't have any trouble pulling in and out.) Okay, back to the road - we made it to the fuel stop - got fuel and saw that the weather was looking bad - found out we were under a tornado watch until midnight. The KOA was down the road about 500 feet so we headed there. When we pulled in we were met by a very nice lady who explained that they had just opened the KOA after it being shut down for over a year - they had found a huge water line leak and there was no water in the park - no sewer - no bathhouse - but, if we wanted to stay she could turn on the water long enough for us to fill our on board tanks. Price $25.00. I was tired and so was Dan so we decided to stay. Dan pulled on down to the site while I went in to pay. The lady explained that we were only the second people to stay at the park since they opened and she had not had a credit card sale at all - well, to make a long story short - she didn't have a merchant number - the credit card wouldn't work so she told us to enjoy our stay (she didn't charge us anything!). Well, I walked down and told Dan - at first, he was a little upset that it took so long then when he heard the story he felt a little sorry for the people. Well, I went inside and tried to get on line - the word here was tried - once again, NO INTERNET!!!!! I couldn't believe it, but I wasn't about to try and leave then. Anyway, we went to bed - we were both tired! I woke up to the sound of a huge storm sometime in the night, but I went right back to sleep. We sure have been sleeping well!

This morning (Day 5) we woke up to gray skies and no wind. We were on the road by 7 am and on the way out we stopped at the office and left them $10.00 to at least cover the electricity we used. We drove through some rain - not hard, just a steady drizzle - but it wasn't bad and the traffic was light. In fact, the further north we got the less traffic there was - and almost NO RV traffic at all. We drove the rest of the way through Missouri, all of Iowa, all of South Dakota, and are now just west of Fargo, North Dakota. We are staying at a nice RV park tonight - and, wonder of wonders, I finally have Internet (or you wouldn't be reading this now!).

The plan for the rest of the week will be to go to Teddy Roosevelt National Park tomorrow and possibly spend tomorrow night depending on what amenities are available. Then it will be on to Great Falls, Montana on Sunday for a couple of days. We will probably be there through Tuesday and then move on into Canada on Wednesday of next week. We have requested our mail to be sent to the park in Great Falls - so hopefully, it will be there waiting for us on Sunday or be there by Monday anyway.

I wanted to let you know that if you come to look at the blog and I haven't been on know that it is because I don't have Internet service - so, please, keep checking back - I'll blog everyday IF I have access, if not, I'll catch you up as soon as I can get back on line. Thanks for hanging in there with me - this is a new adventure for me as well - and I'll just have to go with the flow! Hope all is going well with you all and ----------------------

I'll talk to you tomorrow (hopefully)!!!

Day one of the Great Adventure

Well, the adventure has begun. I was surprised that Dan actually slept in this morning and we did not get up until 7:30. I immediately jumped in the shower while Dan turned the coffee on. After I got ready, made the bed, poured the pot of coffee into the thermos, and then finished putting everything away. By 9 this morning we were ready to pull out. We told Don and Judy that we would see them soon (no goodbyes here!), said a prayer together, and then we were away.

Everything went just fine until it was time to stop and get fuel. Dan pulled out his credit card, the one we always use, and it said it was expired - no way, this card is good until 2011, but it wouldn't go through - so thank goodness I had my card - which we used. About twenty minutes later we stopped at a rest area to let the pups out and have lunch. As we were getting back into the truck we got a phone call from the security department of the Dan's credit card. Come to find out the credit union, who issued our card, has changed provider. They mailed us a new card about a week ago, but we haven't gotten mail from the mail service for a couple of weeks - so the bottom line is - no new card. So, we can't use our Visa card and will have to use the Master Card. We will call the mail service and have them send our mail to the place we are going to stay in Great Falls, Montana and everything will be fine. There always has to be some kind of problem - but we have been able to overcome all of them so far - lets just hope that we can keep doing that.

Now, we were able to get to Grand River, Kentucky today - which is on the north side of Land Between the Lakes. We will be able to make into Sam A. Baker State Park early tomorrow afternoon. We will spend a couple of days there and I promise to take some pictures of this area - actually we will be going into Fredicktown which is where Dan spent some of his childhood years. He has a lot of great memories and we will visit all his childhood haunts and also go out to the cemetery to visit his parents graves.

I'm going to sign off for tonight - I don't know why, but I'm bushed - all I did was sit and hold the pups. Anyway, so far all is going well (except the little credit card snafu, but it could be worse!). Hope you all had a good Monday - oh, Dana, Happy Birthday!!!! Take care all and --------------

We'll talk to you tomorrow!!!!

Mom's Birthday Party

This weekend was a very busy one. As you all know, we went down to Loganville to celebrate my mom's 80th birthday. Saturday was extremely busy. We started out the day going in to town to see the girls new house. This is a picture of Dan, Kim, Crystal, Melissa, and Justin taken in the living room of the new house. I really like the house - it is really a cute place and I think the girls will be very happy there.

After we left town we went back out to Loganville - of course, we made a stop so I could buy a birthday card for mom - then it was out to the house to pick mom up and off to prepare for the party.


The first stop after picking mom up was KFC to pick up the food. Then it was off to the church to get everything set up. My brother and sister-in-law met us there at the church and with their help everything was ready in no time. Then it was just a waiting game for everyone to show up.


It wasn't that long before all the grand kids and great grand kids showed up and then it was time to eat. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Mom was excited to open presents and cards - then the big surprise! My niece (mom's granddaughter) works at Publix bakery and made a special cake for mom as a surprise. This is mom's special cake ----------------

It had pictures of my mom and dad's wedding as well as a picture of them when they were dating - pictures of my brother and I as we were growing up, a picture of mom and dad with all the grand kids - this was a special picture as it was taken while my dad was sick and it is actually the last picture we have of him before he passed away. Then there was also the picture of mom's wedding to Bill. Anyway, it was a very special cake and my mom was blown away.

After everyone had cake - not this one - mom wouldn't let us cut it - we all gathered for family photos ------------------

This is me, my brother and, of course, my mom.

This is my side of the family - mom, my youngest daughter Melissa, her husband Justin, me, Dan, my oldest daughter Crystal, and our other daughter Kim.

Now, this is the whole "famn damily" including great grandchildren and my sister-in-law's sister and her grand kids. The twins in my mom's lap are her great-grandchildren (and I must say, the apple of her eye!). I was really happy that everyone on both sides of the family was there for her party - I know that it meant a lot to her.

We got up this morning and had breakfast - went into Wal Mart and had copies of all the pictures that I took of the party printed for mom. Then it was back to the house to pick up the pup's, tell mom bye, and we hit the road to come back to Unicoi. We weren't able to get away as early as we had first planned, but that's okay - we got here around 2:30. Dan started working outside finishing packing up stuff while I worked on getting things put away inside - doing laundry and getting lunch stuff ready for the road.

At 6:00 we went up to the Lodge for our farewell dinner with Don and Judy. It was really nice to spend a nice relaxing evening with a couple that we have become very close with. I will really miss them and I certainly hope and pray that we will be able to stay in touch with each other. They are very special people and Dan and I both feel blessed to have been able to meet and become friends with them.

We also got an email from the volunteer coordinator here in the park and we have signed up to be back here in January through March of next year. So, hopefully, we will spend November and December in Texas (and if Texas doesn't work out we can go back to Highlands Hammock in Florida for November and December), move here for January, February, and March, now I will look for a job in Virginia for April and May (hopefully around Williamsburg), then up to Vermont for the summer. At least that is the plan.

Well, I think I have bored you all to tears - I plan on blogging again tomorrow night - hopefully, from the north side of Nashville. I hope you all have a great week - and I invite you to follow along on our "GREAT Adventure".

I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!!

Last day at Unicoi

Yesterday was our last work day at Unicoi - in some ways it was sorta bittersweet. I sometimes find it very hard to believe that we start on a job and then, before you know it, it is time to leave. Now, I don't know if I will feel that way when it is time to leave Alaska - guess we will find that out in a few months.

Before we left Unicoi I wanted to take some pictures, so I had Dan take me around before we went back to the 'house' to pack. I took these pictures as well as some of the store -since I had never shown you where I worked. First picture, above, is of Smith Creek. It is the main stream that runs through the park.


This, as you can probably tell, is a picture of the store. Actually, this is right inside the front door and to the right. This is where I spent most of the time - except when I was doing inventory and straightening up shelves and t-shirts.



I have also said that the dogwood trees have not been blooming in the park - well, I wanted to show you that there are some blooming now - this tree was right outside the store. There is another one that is in full bloom right around the corner from the 'house' - maybe I can get a picture of it before we leave on Monday morning.

I don't remember if I have told you before or not about this bridge. Just in case I haven't I will now - do you all remember the movie Smokey and the Bandit??? Well, do you remember the scene where Burt Reynolds and Sally Field first kissed???? You know, after they jumped the car and they were "resting" - well, this is the bridge that they were standing on when they kissed - the people in the park call it the "Burt and Sally" bridge. I thought that was sorta neat. (BTW, the stream below the bridge is still Smith Creek).

We are down in Loganville now, getting ready for my mom's birthday party tomorrow. Melissa and Justin should be flying in tonight - Crystal and Kim are going to pick them up at the airport and they are staying with them. I think we are going to try and go into town tomorrow morning and see the house they are buying. Crystal is suppose to call me and let me know for sure whether or not we will be able to go since the guy that is selling the house still lives there. We will just have to wait and see.

We all went to town today - first we went to Wal Mart and I got my nails done (the last time until we get to Alaska). Mom had been talking about getting a pedicure, so I made sure that she got that done. Then we went in the store and bought all the paper goods that we needed along with a whole lot of stuff we probably didn't need. Dan got his electric blower that he had been wanting and a good extension cord. I also got a couple more air tight containers for the rolled oats and the wheat bread flour that I bought at the Nora Mill. Anyway, I can't tell you what all we got, but we were able to walk out for a little under $200. Then we came home and ate lunch. After lunch, Dan took a nap while I worked on some things on the computer.

After he woke up we went back out to finish up on some things. Okay, first thing was we went to Pet Smart and bought three more bags of dog food. This should last the pups until we get back into the lower 48 (we have 4 bags, plus a partial bag). Then we went by Dick's Sporting Goods - Dan wanted to look at a propane heater, but decided not to buy it there (just too expensive). Next, it was off to Kentucky Fried Chicken to order the food for mom's party tomorrow afternoon. Two buckets of chicken - one twelve piece order of chicken tenders - mac and cheese for the kids, cole slaw, mashed potatoes and gravy and, of course, biscuits. It is suppose to be ready by 2:00 tomorrow afternoon - so we can pick it up on the way to the church to set up. Now, the only thing we don't have is ice and the sausage gravy that mom wants from Bojangles.

The final stop was the cleaners for mom to pick up some pants she had hemmed for her cruise that she will be going on the first of next month. Now we're home for the evening.

Dan worked on some outdoor chairs for mom and he and mom's grandson put them out on the front porch after he washed all the pollen off the porch. I'm not sure what he is doing now - maybe working on cutting the board that he picked up at Lowe's earlier today (I forgot about that little side trip). Mom is warming up the roast that we had for dinner last night for hot roast beef sandwiches with french fries (from the oven) for dinner tonight. The rest of the night I think we are just going to try and chill out some. (Oh, I also did a load of laundry today).

I really don't have much else to report - everything should be going well by this time tomorrow - I'll be sure to post some pictures. Oh, before I sign off - there is one other picture that I wanted to show you -----------------------

This is another branch that feeds into Smith Creek - and I thought it would be a good picture to end the blog with tonight . Hope you all had a good week, and --------------

I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!!

Farewell to Don and Judy

Tonight we went up to Ann and John's camp spot for a "farewell" party for the camp hosts that are parked right next to us - they were suppose to leave on the Friday after we leave on Monday. However, we found out tonight that they are going to stay until the first of June - they are going to go up to their place in Tennessee for a week (I think) then come back and finish the month of May. So, while we had their farewell dinner tonight they will be back - so they will get to have another one in May!

Actually, the meal was very good tonight - Ann fixed pulled pork and a salad along with a dessert with strawberries. Very good. The girls sat around and talked and LAUGHED while the guys sat around the fire pit and talked. I don't know what they talked about but it sure wasn't as funny as what we did because we laughed our fool heads off! A good time.

Also today, Faye and Woody came down from Franklin for a nice visit. They got here this morning around 9:30 and stayed until after lunch. We went up to the Lodge and ate - once again I had the soup and salad bar while Dan had the full buffet. That's okay - we won't get to have it again - well, maybe Sunday night. It depends on what time we get home from Loganville.

We also went into town and mailed a couple of things - a birthday card and a little something to one of our friends down in Florida. Then we went to the mill and picked up some porridge for Dan and some rolled oats and some whole wheat bread flour. I hope that this will be enough - although Judy said if we need more she will go down and ship it to us. I'm sure Dan will remember that IF we run out.

We work in the morning and then will leave for Loganville and 'the' birthday party. It will be nice to see some of the kids before we head off on the GREAT adventure. I'll fill you in on all the party doings this week.

I'm sure we have to do some shopping while we are in Atlanta - but I'll keep you posted on all that as the time comes. I'm going to sign off for now and go to bed - after all, I have to get up in the morning. Hope you guys are having a good week, and ----------------------

I'll talk to you tomorrow from Loganville!!!!

What to call this one???

Today was pretty much a wash out - it rained almost all day and to top it all off I had a headache! We did go to a host meeting this morning and we got our 100 hour pins for our service along with a certificate for 5 free nights of camping in a Georgia park (that's a nice thing). I made a few suggestions for the campground - not sure if they will follow up, but at least I made the suggestion.

After we came home I took some pills - put my eye thing on and promptly fell asleep - so I spent the rest of the day sleeping on and off. Finally tonight the headache is gone and I'm feeling much, much better!!!!

I did help Dan for a little while outside today - between naps - He wanted to clean the roof of the unit and the awnings over the slides. So, even though it was raining (not hard at that time) I went out with him and watched him up on the roof. The whole time I was scared to death - I mean it's raining and he's up on the roof about 12 foot high. Anyway, he got the roof clean and I helped him down - yes, I made sure that each of his feet where on the rungs of the ladder. Anyway, he got down and I came back in and went back to sleep.

I sent Dan down to the Lodge for him to eat dinner - I ate a bowl of cereal about 8:00 - I thought he would have the soup and salad (like he does when I'm with him), but no, he decides to have the entire buffet. I have no idea how much he ate, but he said they had catfish. Oh well, at least he had dinner.

Well, for someone who didn't have anything to talk about I sure have run on and on. Hope you guys are having a good week and -------------

I'll talk to you tomorrow!!

Three down and one to go

I wanted to put this picture on line last night, but it was so late that I didn't want to take the time to load the pictures and then up load it to the blog. Sorry - but I wanted to tell you about this little squirrel - this picture was taken out the back window of the unit. There is a grape vine on this tree and this little squirrel crawled down on this grape vine and curled up and went to sleep. It was so cute - he must have stayed in that position for about an hour until the girls went outside and started to bark. Anyway, I thought it was really cute and I even liked this little squirrel.

Now, on to today. The shift today was from 11 to 3. I think I told you how much I dislike this shift - the only good thing about it was it is the last time we ever have to work that shift - at least this year. We were somewhat busy - I did do over $100 which is pretty good for a Monday, but I still had time to read some and put some stock out. I was able to load the coke cooler and put some other stock out on the shelves. We only have one more day to work - Thursday morning - and then we will be finished with our assignment here.

We are planning to start putting things away tomorrow - like taking the shelter down and getting it packed up. We will also have to look at rearranging and straightening up the "basement" to make room for our new E-Z Up screen room and the two new lounge chairs. This should be interesting, but I am sure that I will be able to make it work.

We did go into to Wal Mart and Ingles today after work - there were a few things we needed to pick up - well, maybe 'needed' isn't exactly the right word - more like 'wanted'. We did need garbage bags, coffee filters, water filters - both for the Brita and for the outside water filter. We wanted to get an electric knife (make cutting the homemade bread easier) and Dan wanted an electric blower (didn't have one). We did see one at the Ace Hardware store in Helen - don't know if he will decide to get that or wait and see if he can find one in Loganville this weekend. I also wanted to pick up some stuff for the bread machine. I think we are pretty much ready as far as picking things up for the trip - I still haven't bought all the coffee I wanted to get, but we can get stuff in Great Falls, Montana before we cross over the border. (It is still hard for me to think that one week from today we will start out GREAT adventure!)

Well, that's about it for today - hope you enjoy the picture of the squirrel and -------

I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!!

Par Tay!!!!

We had a pretty good day at the store this morning - actually it was busier than I thought it would be. We had a lot of people coming in and asking questions but I sold some stuff too. So, it was a good mix. We have to work tomorrow also - it's the 11 to 3 shift - I really don't like that shift - by the time you eat breakfast you don't want lunch before you go to work and then it is so late by the time you get home that you are starving and then you don't want supper - it just messes up your whole day. Oh well, it's the last time we have to work that shift so I shouldn't complain.

This afternoon, just as we came in from work, we had a nice surprise - a couple from Dowling Park pulled up to our camping spot! Paul and Flo Cook were up at their time share in Helen and came by to see us. They came in and visited for a little over an hour and caught us up on everything that is happening at ACV. What is really funny - last night when we went up to the Lodge to eat dinner we saw another couple from ACV. They had just spent the day in Cleveland and just came up to Unicoi to see if they could find us. They were sitting on the porch and Dan saw them. So, we had a nice visit with them also. Counting Carol and Neil we have had four different couples come up to Unicoi to see us - That is really nice that they all took the time to come. We really appreciate that they went out of their way to come visit with us.

Then this evening we went over to Don and Judy's for our "going away" party. It was really fun - we had hamburgers, potato salad, chips, and all the fixings. We also had some things that were left over from the wildflower and edible plant walk yesterday - things like violet jam, wild garlic dip, fiddle fern quiche, poke salad, just to name a few. Actually all the edible plant stuff was really good - Dan and I brought home some of the wild garlic dip and the violet jam. Of course, all the food that Judy and the other ladies fixed was excellent. It was nice to sit around the campfire and talk and just laugh and have a great time. (Of course, I forgot to take my camera over so I don't have any pictures.)

Dan has already headed for bed and I think I'm going to take the girls out and join him. I'll read for a little while before turning out the light, but I don't think for very long. I hope you all had a great weekend! Take care - have a good week ahead - and --------

I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!!

Tired, Tired, Tired!!!

This is not going to be a very long post - I am really tired and want to go to bed, plus we have to open in the morning. The campground is full and we were really busy at the store - but I balanced at the end of the day which is the important thing. I'm not sure how busy we will be tomorrow - usually not too much on Sunday, but with the campground full and we are the morning shift I'm not sure.

I did get two loads of laundry done today before we went to work - and Dan fixed breakfast outside again - only it was pancakes today. (they were still YUMMY!) Tonight he wanted to go up to the Lodge for dinner - as he said, he didn't have many more times he could eat all you can eat trout. So, that is what we did.

Then it was home and played with the girls some. Now, it's time for bed.

Hope your weekend is going well, and --------------------

I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!

Rub-A-Dub-Dub

Okay - so no men in the tub, but Dan is in the shower - does that count??? Okay - the reason I called the blog what I did was because it was cleaning day - that was after a quick trip to Wal Mart - but let's begin at the beginning.

First, Dan decided that he wanted to fix breakfast outside this morning - so, he fixed bacon, eggs, and toast on the grill and it was YUMMY! Of course, just about anytime I don't have to cook it's yummy! While he cleaned up the dishes (yes, folks, he even washes dishes!) I made the bed and got ready to go to "town". Okay, we just went to Wal Mart, but that is in town. We wanted to pick up some things so I could finish organizing the pantry - so you have the picture above. Everything is in airtight containers and labeled so that should help with any "bug" problem that might arise and helps to keep me organized too! Plus, I like how neat it looks.

Then it was time to clean - bathroom, kitchen, floors, dust, vacuum, the whole nine yards - I also did two loads of laundry. Whew! I'm tired just thinking about all I did today - also got some stuff ready to go in the mail - we got the first bill from Dan's stay in the hospital over Christmas and I wanted to pay it before someone changed their mind -I'll pay $55 for a 7 day stay in the hospital (well, actually this was the doctor's bill )- and that's all we owed after medicare and our private insurance paid. I don't think that was bad. I got a summary from BCBS and according to the summary we don't owe the hospital anything. We'll see!

I fixed dinner tonight - just using up some stuff we had in the pantry and using the grilled chicken breasts that Dan fixed the other day on the grill - trying to be cost efficient!

Tomorrow we start our three days in a row of working - afternoon tomorrow, morning on Sunday, and the whole day on Monday (it's a short day - just 11 - 3). Then we only have one more day to work - Thursday and we will be through here. That is so difficult for me to believe - it seems like it was just yesterday we pulled into the park and now we are about ready to leave.

I hope that you all had a good work week - Sometimes I don't think our kids read the blog - I can't believe no one made any comment about the cabin - oh well! You guys take care and ----

I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!!

a little visit to Franklin

We went back up to Franklin today and looked around. Seriously, we had seen a little (985 sq.ft.) log cabin advertised in the Real Estate magazine and we went up to look at it - it did have possibilities IF the price had been right BUT the guy is asking way more than it is worth in today's market. It has been on the market for almost 2 years and no offers and he has only come down on the price about $6,000 - I don't think he is serious. Anyway, it was nice just to go up and look around.

We also went by our cousin's place in Franklin - they have a summer home there and arrived for the summer last weekend - so we just dropped by there and visited for a little while. Then we went out to lunch with the realtor and his wife, who just happen to be friends of ours. Ray and Debbie worked at the company that I worked for before Dan and I left Franklin about two years ago. Plus, we went to the same church. It was nice to be able to spend some time with them.

Actually, Dan and I have talked and we have almost decided that when we are ready to go back to a "sticks and bricks" we will probably be back in Franklin. It is hard to explain, but Franklin feels like 'home' much more so than Florida does now. I don't know how to explain it to people - it is just a feeling we get when we get there - we feel like we are home. Anyway, I'm sure that is a little ways away - we have the next 6 months already booked so it's not something that is going to happen tomorrow (not like we usually do things!).

After we got home we spent some time with the pups before going up to the Lodge for soup and salad ($7.45). Then it was coming home and settling in for the night. Tomorrow I am going to clean house and catch up on the laundry - I think Dan MIGHT wash the outside of the unit - we'll see, since we are not suppose to wash the RV in the park. Not sure how that will work out but it sure does need to be cleaned up some.

Well, I'm going to sign off for tonight. Hope your week has gone well - one more day in your work week - we work this weekend (actually we only have four more days to work here before we are done - Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning, Monday, and then Thursday morning - unbelievable!) Take care all and ------------------------

I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!

What to say???

Today was a day to get some last minute things done - we worked this morning - BORING!!! Not a lot going on - I think I had about $11.72 in sales - not exactly burning up the cash register! Dan brought me a sandwich to the store so we wouldn't have to take time after work to eat. When we got off work at 1:00 we came home, let the pups out, and then decided to take them with us on our little jaunt to Gainesville.

Jumped in the truck and about a hour later we were at the Pet Smart in Gainesville - we bought the girls two bags of food, but we will need to buy at least four more bags to last the entire time we will be gone over the summer - but that's okay - the pups are used to a certain type of food and we will make sure that they have their food.

After we left the pet store we went down to the Camper's World that was about 10 miles down the road. Dan wanted to look at some stuff and we ended up walking out with almost $400.00 worth of stuff - Okay, let's inventory. First of all, did I tell you he broke his outside cot?? Well, he did, so he wanted to get a couple of those "anti-gravity" chairs in the extra large size. (He figured I needed the larger one because of the dogs - which is so true because Sam jumped in the chair beside me when we got home!) We also picked up the chocks that fit between the two tires to see if that will help with the "rocking" of the unit. Anyway, we got the stuff that Dan wanted and then we headed home - after we made a quick stop at the Donut Shop.

Well, after getting home I fixed dinner - well Dan did cook the chops on the grill along with a couple of chicken breasts - chops, new potatoes, green beans. Yummy! Tomorrow we plan on going into Franklin for a little while - probably try to go by and see Faye and Woody (they are suppose to be back up in Franklin now). I'll let you know tomorrow.

Well, that's it for tonight - hope everyone is having a good week - and remember, you made it through 'hump' day! Take care everyone - Oh - Dana, Good luck on your interview tomorrow - we know you are going to do FANTASTIC!!!

Talk to you tomorrow!!!!

Time is Flying By

It is so very hard for me to believe that in a little over two weeks we will on our way to Alaska. Judy talked to me today about our "going away" party here in the park. You know that we always do a thing for the hosts that are leaving - well, this Sunday is our turn (we won't be here next weekend - Mom's birthday). We are going to have a cook out at Judy and Don's place - that will be a lot better than going up to the Lodge. It just seems like we got here yesterday and we are talking about leaving in just a few days.

Today we did a pretty good at the store - plus I was able to get all those stuffed animals that came in a couple of weeks ago priced and out. However, there was one little hitch in the day - we had a couple of different people come in and pay with $100.00 bills - in fact, one of the purchases was for $3.53 - and they pay with a $100 - I mean, come on!!! Well, I was able to give them change but it completely wiped me out of money. So, I had to have Dan come in and take the 2 bills down to the Lodge and have them changed for me. It all worked out okay - but it sure was a hassle!

We open the store in the morning - and then we are going to have to go get the pups their food - we didn't go today because by the time we got off work - took the deposit up to the Lodge - came home and ate lunch - it was after 4 o'clock. So, since we get off at 1:00 tomorrow we figure we'll have more time to do it then. It's not like they don't have some food to eat - they do - they just don't have any more down in the basement or in their container here in the unit (when they eat everything in their bowl and about half another bowl they will be out). We will go down to Gainesville tomorrow and get some - I already printed out the directions to the store so we shouldn't have any problem finding the place.

Dan also wants to go down to the Camping World that is a little below Gainesville - there are a few things that he wants to look for - so we'll see. I'm not sure if we want to buy all this stuff or not with us this close to hitting the road or not, but I guess we'll see tomorrow.

I really don't have anything else to report - hope your work week is going well and ---------

I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!

"Cooking" the books

Today seemed to be a productive day. I was able to get the checkbook balanced - the bills paid - money transferred- and automatic payments set up. I also got the "little black book" caught up and balanced. I decided to set up some automatic payments so when we are on the road I won't have to worry about a bill being late - I mean we only have two bills that have to be paid monthly (other than the "house" payment) and that's the credit card (which we always use for fuel and them occasionally for other things) and the Verizon bill (phone and air card). That bill is always the same, so that is no big deal to set that up as an automatic payment every month. But, the credit card bill varies every month. So, I decided I would set it up with an automatic payment and then, when we get settled in Alaska I can go back on line and find out the actual balance and pay it off each month. By having the automatic payment set up I won't have to worry about being late in any way - and that will take a big concern away.

I also called both credit card companies (we really only use one - but have another for a back-up) and told them that we will be out of the country in Canada in about three weeks, will be in Alaska for the summer and then back into Canada - and that we would not be back into the lower 48 until the last of September or the first of October. I did not want them to put a hold on the cards when we were in Canada (I have been told that any time that you travel out of the country you need to let the credit card company know). Anyway, that is done and I made sure they had the correct address on record.

I then called Verizon to see if my cell phone and air card will work in Canada - well, my cell phone will work but it will cost 69 cents a minute to use it in Canada and if I want to use my air card I'll have to pay an additional $129.99 for just 100 megabits of service - I don't think I'll do that. Everything will work fine once we get to Alaska, but not in Canada. So, unless we are in a campground with free WiFi I won't be able to blog while we are in Canada - but I'll keep you posted on that as the time gets nearer.

I am just trying to get as much of the little things done before we leave as I can - as I think of them I'm trying to do them. Don't like to wait until the last minute. Oh, I also made a new batch of "business" cards - which I think I'll call "contact" cards from now on - they have our contact information on them so that is as good of a name as anything to call them.

I cooked dinner tonight - fajitas with Spanish rice and refried beans. I've taken a lot of meat out of the freezer to thaw - some pork chops, a roast (Dan wants to do his thing on the open fire again), some chicken, and some beef stir fry. That should last us the week.

I also got the rest of the laundry done - a load of my clothes, the towels, and a load of Dan's clothes. Now, that is all done. I even straighten the house - didn't do the deep cleaning, but at least we are straight. Tomorrow after work, we will probably have to go down to Gainesville, GA and get some dog food - we are completely out - we'll see.

Well, I'm going to sign off for tonight - hope you guys had a good Monday!

I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!

Busy Day in the Park

Sorry, my friends that I haven't blogged in a couple of days. Friday night I was just too tired by the time we got in that I just wanted to go to bed and call it a night. We had been on the run all day - first we worked in the morning and we were busy - then Crystal and Kim came in around the time we got off from work. I'll explain more of what we did later, but by the time we took them back up to the Lodge I was just ready to hit the sack. And last night was not any better. I'm sure you will understand when I go into the details.

As I said, the girls got here just a little while after we got off work. We met them up at the Lodge and got them settled into their room and then we came back here to the unit. Crystal wanted to see the pups -so we stayed here for a little while, before deciding to go do some site seeing. We ended up going over to the Old Sautee store and having lunch at the little sandwich shop that is right next door. (We had eaten lunch there on Friday with Bud and Joyce and Dan liked it so well that he wanted to go back on Saturday). After we ate lunch we went over to the store and looked around and then went across the street to the shops there and looked around for a little while. On our way back home we stopped at the Jumpin Goat Coffee shop as the girls wanted to buy some locally roasted coffee. Then it was over to the Grainery to see them grind some corn meal - they also wanted to get some stuff there before walking out back to the river. We probably spent a good hour there - before heading back to the 'house'.

The girls had to send some paperwork back to their real estate agent (they just bought a house in Atlanta) which they did by scanning some paperwork and sending it back by email. The wonder of technology! Anyway, we spent some time here at the unit out by the fire (oh! I also had to get my loaf of bread out of the bread machine!) with the pups - talking and catching up on stuff. Then we went up to the Lodge for dinner. After we ate it was back here while they did some stuff on the computer (I have a call in to Crystal now - I can't get on our bank web site - it meaning the computer - says that I need to turn off the TPA because "it is not compatible with the router" - I have NO IDEA what the computer is talking about, but I didn't have that problem before Crystal and Kim did some stuff to the computer to "make it better"). Hopefully, Crystal can call me back and let me know what to do so I can get back on the bank website since that is how I pay my bills!

This morning we met them up at the Lodge for breakfast before heading up to Anna Ruby Falls for an outing. That was a nice little hike (and, of course, I forgot my camera!). Then we toured around the campground and went to the "Burt and Sally" bridge. In case you are wondering what in the heck I'm talking about - the "Burt and Sally" bridge is the bridge from the movie 'Smokey and the Bandit' when Burt Reynolds and Sally Field first kissed - that bridge is here in the park. So, we wanted to take the girls there and we also went to the store where I work and showed them that.

By the time we had finished all that it was time for lunch and time for the girls to think about heading home. So, we took them to get their car and they followed up to a little place called 'The Tavern' where we got a really good pizza - the crust was not too thick and not too much pizza sauce. Anyway, Dan and I brought the left over home for dinner tonight. The girls left from the pizza place heading back to Atlanta.

I also got a phone call from Melissa saying that she had bought their plane tickets up to Atlanta for my Mom's birthday party in a couple of weeks. I really wish they hadn't spent the money on plane tickets - they could have put that money toward Melissa new tires for her car, but it's too late now - the tickets are non-refundable. Oh well!

It is hard for me to believe that we will be finished here in just two weeks and two weeks from tomorrow we will be heading off on our BIG Adventure - Alaska! I guess it just hasn't sunk in yet, but it isn't that far away until we will be leaving. I will certainly keep you updated on everything as it is happening.

Well, I think I have caught you up on pretty much everything we did in the last couple of days - the only other thing we did was, after the girls left, I went over to Judy's and we went over the bread machine cookbooks and she let me know which recipes she had used and which ones were good and which ones were not. Looks like I will be doing a lot of bread making!

I'm going to sign off for tonight - I'm back on schedule now - no more company that I know of will be coming in - so I should be able to blog every night. Hope you had as good of a weekend as we did. Have a good week ahead and ------------------------------

I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!

Forgive me

Forgive me my friends - but I am just too tired to do this tonight! I'll get caught up tomorrow! Good night all!!!!

It's Been "A Rainy Day in Georgia"

It rained almost all day here - I think it rained in the entire southeast. At the store today I worked on getting inventory priced and put out. We got a new shipment of sweatshirts in about a week ago and no one has taken the time to price them (plus we didn't have the inventory sheets). Anyway, today I worked on getting them priced. I also put a couple on display - two of the adult sizes and two of the youth sizes. I let the afternoon host know that all the adult shirts were sized and organized in the storeroom and I almost had all the youth sizes done - I'll finish them tomorrow afternoon on my next shift (if we aren't busy).

Our friends from Dowling Park got in today - it was sure good to see them. We sat and talked for a while - then went up to the Lodge to eat dinner. When we were ready to leave the power went out in the Lodge (actually all over the entire park). So, when we got back to the park we stayed outside and sat around the campfire - until it started raining again. I think Bud and Joyce were tired so they went back to their camper and we came inside. We will meet in the morning around 9 and then go into Helen and look around.

I think that I will sign off for tonight - I hope that your week has gone well (the first one back from Spring Break - but it's one closer to summer vacation!). Take care everyone and --------

I'll talk to you tomorrow!!

Glad to be home!

Well, Spring still has not completely come to the mountains yet, but there are more signs every day. This plant is right beside our camp site and has these beautiful yellow flowers on it. There are more and more dogwood opening in town, but not in the mountains yet. The time will come.

Of course, it is suppose to start raining tomorrow and get cooler (in the high 60's) so we'll see when the dogwood will open here. I think that it is later this year than when we were living in Franklin - we always had dogwood in April. I think this spring is going to be as crazy as this winter was.

We left Mom's this morning and went out to Fort Yargo State Park to make reservations for the end of the month (you know, for Mom's birthday). Well, it is a good thing we did because they don't have any openings. Well, I'll rephrase that - they had a opening on Thursday night but not Friday night, so that won't work. So, we will have to rethink our plans - right now Dan is thinking that we will just leave the unit here and go and stay at Mom's then come back and get the unit and leave from here on Monday morning. I guess that is what we will do unless I can figure out something else.

A couple of our friends from Dowling Park are suppose to be here tomorrow afternoon/night. They are heading home from Kentucky where they had to take a load of clothes to a ministry there. Anyway, we will be glad to see them even if it only for the night.

We work in the morning - don't know how busy we will be - the park is pretty full, so we might be very busy. I'll try and get some of the new merchandise out if I have a chance. If not, we will get it out sooner or later.

I have to tell you about our newest thing - Dan just fell in love with the bread that our neighbor made for us so we HAD to have one too. I ordered it on Amazon the other day and it came today - so ------------------------

this is our new bread machine.

This is the first batch of bread that I am attempting to make - it is suppose to be ready in three hours - I'll let you know how it turns out tomorrow!

Until then - take care and ----------------------

I'll talk to you tomorrow!!

Mom's

Today was a productive day at mom's. First we had a really good breakfast that Mom cooked here at home - eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits - Yummy! The boys (mom's great grandsons who are twins and live with my brother) came up and ate some breakfast with us too. They are two years old and FULL of energy. The pups aren't really sure about them and we have a lot of barking while they are around because they run all the time. Anyway, things went well and they ate then went back downstairs.

After breakfast we loaded the back of the truck with stuff that Mom wanted to donate to Goodwill - when I say loaded I mean LOADED - but it was good to get the stuff out of her house. Then Dan took me to Wal Mart and dropped me off to get my nails done while he and Mom went to Lowe's to pick up mulch. They picked up a pallet of mulch and then came back to Wal Mart to get me - I wasn't quite ready yet so they went shopping while I was finishing up.

Then we headed back to the house for me to do laundry (yes, I pulled a college kid stunt and brought laundry home to Mom's to do). While the laundry was going I helped Dan (a little) hang some Roman shades in the sewing room and then we hung some wall art in "our" bedroom. Dan also went out to Dicks Sporting Goods to look around - he didn't buy anything but he was gone for a couple of hours. After he came home he took a shower and we headed off to Ruby Tuesday's for dinner. I had called the girls to meet us, but they had other things they had to do tonight - hopefully we will see them this weekend.

I said that I would post some pictures today - the first picture is a tree in mom's front yard - and the picture at the bottom is of a double daffodils that is also in her front yard. We saw the first dogwoods opening on the way done and I'm sure they will be opening in the park soon - I'll be sure to post pictures when they are.

When we leave here tomorrow we plan on going by Fort Yargo State Park and making reservations for the end of the month when we come down for Mom's birthday party. Then we won't have to worry about that - I guess that we will go to the church and look at the rec hall tomorrow - we didn't do that today (don't ask me why - I don't know). Hopefully we will get away fairly early.

Hope you are having a great week and -------------------



I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!!

Loganville

We got a late start coming down to mom's today. We couldn't get people out of the store - it was after 3:30 before we could lock the door (we are suppose to close at 3:00). Anyway, by the time we got the doors locked and the reports done and all the paperwork balanced it was close to 4:15. Then it was home to load the pups and get all our stuff in the truck. By the time everything was done and we were on the way it was close to 5:00 which meant we didn't get down to Mom's till almost 7:30.

We sat around and talked for awhile and my brother came up and we made some plans for the party - you know, the food was the main thing - I think we will end up having the party at Mike and Margie's church - they have a playground for the kids and we can use the recreation hall for the party (and I don't think we have to pay for anything). I think we got it all figured out and that will all be taken care of. That wasn't really that hard to come to an agreement on. (wonder of wonders!) We are going to go down to the church tomorrow and check it out - but if Mom and my brother are happy it's not a big deal to me where it is held (not worth arguing about).

The only other thing that I want to make sure I get done while we are here is my nails (I know that I talk about that a lot - but for the first time in a long time my nails actually look half way decent and the polish doesn't come off - plus my "bad" nail is growing out!!) Dan has a few projects that mom would like for him to do for her - like putting up some black out shades in the bedroom where she has moved all her quilting material. He will also probably take the hitch out of the truck and go to Lowes and pick up a pallet of mulch for mom (at least WE don't have to put it out - sorry, Mike!)

Not much else is happening right now - I'll try and get some pictures tomorrow on the blog. Hope your first day of the week went well and ------------------------

I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!

Easter in Franklin

This morning we went into Franklin to church - what a wonderful day! We saw so many of our friends at church and the service was fabulous! We were so blessed to be able to go into Franklin and be with our church family. Dan and I have both talked about how much at home we feel when we are in Franklin and at our church. We have tried other churches but none have the right feeling - it's hard to describe, but the very first time we walked into Holly Springs Baptist Church almost eight years ago I told Dan that I felt like I had found 'home'. It was still that way today.

One of our friends at church, which also used to be one of our neighbors in the Vista, asked us to come back to their house for Easter dinner. They were having a few people in from the neighborhood and wanted us to join them. So, we did. What wonderful food and fellowship. It was so nice to be back in the "old" neighborhood amongst friends. Anita and Bill are such welcoming people and they always have such wonderful fellowship at their home.

The first picture above was while we were filling our plates with mouth watering ham, candied sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, fruit salad, slaw, and rolls. What a spread!!!

This is one of our friends who was in the Real Estate business with me - he didn't work in the same office, but we were still friends. He is still in the business and we had a nice conversation about how things are going in this economy - it is going to take a while yet for the market to recover. Things are NOT going to turn around this year and probably not next year either. Plus, Franklin is really a second home market - not a whole lot of people live in Franklin year round - and in this economy, most people can not afford to have a second home. It will take awhile before things change for the better.

Another picture of some of the guests at Bill and Anita's - I guess all together there were nine of us. It was a good time and hopefully, we will be able to be together again in the future.

Now, I couldn't leave Bill and Anita's without taking a picture of Topper - Anita made him go outside while we were eating, but he didn't leave the sliding screen door. He is a little older now (aren't we all) then he was when we lived in the Vista and he doesn't get around as easily, but he still is a sweetheart. (Dan and I used to pick him up on the road where he would want to go visit another neighbor and their dog- the only problem was it was about a mile away, so we would pick him up and take him back home - such fun memories!)

Tomorrow we have to go to work - and it is an eleven to three day - so at least we don't have to get up early (YEAH!). After we get home from work we'll grab the pups and head down to Loganville for the next couple of days. We want to make sure we have all the details of the party worked out along with doing a couple of things for Mom around her house. I also want to get my nails done (it's been a couple of weeks), then I'll get them done one more time before we hit the road at the end of the month. It will keep us busy for the next few days.

I hope that you all had a fabulous Easter and that you remembered the reason we celebrate this day - Have a fabulous week ahead (sorry all of you that have to go back to work tomorrow - Spring Break is over, but that puts you closer to the end of the school year! Just hang on to that thought!) Oh, and Crystal, Lent is over so you can get back on line and make comments on the blog - I'll look forward to hearing from you!

Oh, one more thing before I sign off --------

This is what my fabulous husband thought of my taking pictures today .....................

Isn't that cute!!! (NOT, but I love him anyway!)

I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!!!

Here comes the Easter Bunny!

Today I was the Easter Bunny - I know, go ahead and laugh - everyone did. Well, I should restate that sentence- all the adults did - the kids seemed to like the bunny.

You can see that Dan did a pretty good job on the make-up and the costume wasn't that bad - and to tell you the truth - I really think it went well. At least none of the kids cried when I was around!

This was just before the kids were released to start the hunt. The good thing was they had the field divided into three age groups and the kids really did a good job of staying with the age group they were suppose to be in. In fact, I was impressed overall with the kids and the parents.

This was the kids in the craft area - before the hunt the kids made Easter baskets with milk jugs - the kids were even good at doing this - they didn't make a mess or anything - like I said I was impressed!

This is the first time this little girl had seen the Easter Bunny - or for that matter any of the "creatures" of holidays. At first, she just stared at me - but then after a few minutes she was laughing and pointing at me. It was a fun moment. I'm just glad that the day is over.

Tomorrow we are going to go in to Franklin to go to our church. I'm not sure what we will do about lunch but I'm really not worried about it - if nothing else we will take a sandwich with us for lunch. Don and Judy said that they will come over and let the puppies out so we don't have to take them with us. That is a good thing. Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Dan and I wish you and all of your a very Happy Easter! Remember the reason for Easter is NOT the Easter bunny but the resurrection of our Jesus Christ.

Talk to you tomorrow!!!

First flowers in the trees

Today was a busy day at work - we actually had customers - the campground is almost full for the first time since we have been here. There are a lot of families here and a bunch of tent campers. We have really been surprised at the number of tent campers there are - and the type of campers. The first part of this week we had a girl by herself tent camping just a few spaces up from us. Of course, we have families galore - but we have been a little surprised at the number of families with little kids - I mean toddlers up to about 3. Then you have your typical families with kids that are 8 to 12. What I have also been somewhat surprised at is the number of guys tent camping. You would think there would be quite a few - NOT. I would say that the number of girls by themselves, or a couple of girls together, far outnumber the guys by themselves. At least in tents. Also, tents far out number any other type of camping unit. In one way, that does not surprise me - it is the cheapest form of camping there is. It is definitely interesting to see who is camping and what they are camping in.

The weather today was fabulous - in the mid 80's and clear. We had a slight breeze and it made the day just about perfect! Everyone was outside doing things - fishing, reading, riding bikes, hiking, or just taking a nap outside in their lawn chairs. I even spent some time outside with Dan and also at our neighbors talking to Judy.

Speaking of Judy - she fixed a breakfast casserole this morning and had us over before work. She said that she was fixing a new dish and she wanted to use us as guinea pigs. Well, she can do that any time she would like - it was wonderful! Plus she had fresh homemade lite wheat bread and fresh homemade strawberry jam - YUMMY! We left from their unit to go to work. That is one of the nice things about camping and being a host - you meet the nicest people!

These are pictures of the first flowers that have bloomed in trees - I though at first they were going to be dogwood, but I don't think they are - they could be a pink dogwood, but I thought that dogwood only had four petals and some of these have five. So, I'm not sure - but it sure is pretty. Plus, it budded out yesterday morning and today the flowers are fully opened. If this isn't a dogwood - we still haven't seen any of them yet. Of course, all the trees around are starting to sprout leaves - it won't be long until all the trees will be covered.

Tomorrow morning I have to be the Easter bunny - Dan will make sure and take my picture after I am all made up - I might have him take the camera with us over to the Lodge and take some pictures when I am with the kids - it should be a hoot - and I'm sure it will give everyone a big laugh.

Oh, the first picture on tonight blog's I took yesterday at Amicola Falls - it is the plaque that states that the AT starts there - so I thought I would take a picture of it - that is probably the closest I will ever get to walking on the AT so I wanted a little memory (very little - LOL!)

I'll close for tonight - hope you guys have had a great week. Oh, one more thing before I sign off - I want to wish my son-in-law Justin a very Happy Birthday tomorrow!!! (I won't say how old he is going to be, but he's catching up with me -Ha!Ha!) Take care everyone and ----

I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!!

Dahlonega and Amicola Falls

Today was a good day - it started out this morning with breakfast with Carol and Neil before they left for home. While the visit was a very short one, it was sure nice to be able to spend some time with them. Neil said something today that really started Dan and I thinking - he told us today that this would probably be the last time they see us for at least nine months. When he said that it made me really stop and think about what we are talking about doing this winter and next summer. It could be very possible that we will not see our kids for a year or more. That is a little scary - I'm not sure if I'm okay with that. It will have to be something that Dan and I discuss some more before any final plans are made.


After Neil and Carol left we came back to the house and spent about an hour with the girls and then decided that we would take a little trip today - so we went over to Dahlonega - which is known for being a 'gold rush' town. The first ever gold rush in the country was in the Dahlonega area. This is the old court house which has been turned into the gold museum. There are quite a few nice shops around the town square that we enjoyed walking through. We did actually buy something today - we found a dish towel that has a pine cone on it that we bought to hang on the oven door - just for decoration, but it looks nice. The first picture is of the plaque in the town square - I don't think you can read what it says, but it was very interesting - how newly weds go around the square three times for good luck in their marriage and other things like that.

After we left Dahlonega we decided to take a little side trip and go over to Amicola Falls State Park - it was only about 15 miles from Dahlonega and we thought we should check it out in case we might want to come and host at this park.


This is the lodge - which is really pretty nice - much newer than the Lodge here at "our" park, but I really didn't like the modernness of it - I like our wood Lodge and the nice feeling you get from it. However, I couldn't fault the view from the lodge and all the glass certainly helped with that.

This was the view from the right outside the Lodge - pretty nice huh? We went into the campground and rode around - not at all like our campground - not nearly as pretty nor as many trees. Plus, the road up to the campground would be a very hard pull with our rig -very steep - the only thing up in the campground were pop ups and tents. I don't think this will be a park for us. There were some nice things about the park though.

This is a view of the falls from down at the very bottom. They have stairs that you can either walk up or down - if you are brave enough or in shape enough to do. There are 624 stairs and I think I could walk DOWN them, but I know that there is NO WAY I would be able to walk up to the top. Not unless I had all day to do it - then maybe.

This is the creek that makes up the falls - it is hard to believe that a creek this small and not very deep could make a water fall like the one in the previous picture. Anyway, it was very pretty and I am glad that we went over to the park to see it.

We got home around 3 this afternoon - we ate at Chick Filet on the way home (actually it was in Dahlonega which we had to go back through to get back home). So neither Dan nor I were very hungry tonight - so we decided that we would clean out the refrigerator. We have eaten everything that had been cooked now except for a few baked beans and a little bit of chili which we will eat after work tomorrow. I'll fix a couple of hot dogs and warm up the chili to go with them and finish up the beans. That will be a good lunch and clean the refrigerator out at the same time. I did take out some Taliapa filets to fix for dinner tomorrow night - I'm not sure how that will go - I am NOT a big fish eater (actually I don't like fish at all), but I think I can learn to eat Taliapa since it is a white fish and isn't suppose to taste "fishey". We'll see.

I hope that tonight was a little more interesting reading than the last few nights (weeks) has been. I know that the blog has not been very good lately - but we just haven't done too much. I guess that is part of the thing - even when you are full timer's you don't do exciting stuff all the time. I hope to make things more interesting the next few days. The plan for the next week is - We work tomorrow morning - then Saturday morning I am the Easter bunny for the Easter egg hunt here in the park (don't really know how that will play out, but I'll be sure to let you know!). Sunday, we are planning on going into Franklin to our church for Easter services. We work again on Monday (that's one of the 11 to 3 days) - after work we plan on going down to Atlanta to my Mom's and see if we can get all the planning done for her birthday party on the 24th. We plan on staying there Monday night and Tuesday night and come home on Wednesday - Work on Thursday. So that takes care of the week. Now, we'll see how close we come to sticking with the "plan".

I'm going to sign off now - I'm going to go in and read for just a little while and then go to bed - I'm tired (we got up early this morning and have to get up early in the morning too). Any way - I hope you are having a great week and I hope the blog tonight was more interesting. Thanks for sticking with me!

I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!!!