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!!!!