Home Sweet Home

We did not have good internet access in Gatlinburg, and we stayed busy having fun with our friends, so I was not good at updating the blog.  Sorry!

Thursday night we played cards until around 1:00 a.m.  Kristin and Joyce kept getting tickled at each other and laughed and laughed until they cried several times.  It was a fun evening, no matter who won.

Friday morning we got up and went to breakfast at the Log Cabin Pancake House.  They make delicious biscuits!  Their sausage gravy was just OK but the biscuits made up for it.   After breakfast, Kathy and Mikel left to drive home.  We were sad to see them leave.  They had a family wedding to attend on Saturday so they could not stay for the weekend.  The Elkins and we went to Pigeon Forge for a little shopping.  We went to the HUGE Christmas store.  Gregg bought us a gizmo that supposedly tells you which light bulb is burned out on your string of Christmas lights.  I’m hoping to revive our pre-lit tree with it.  Figured it is worth a shot since we love the tree.   Joyce bought a few ornaments.  We mainly enjoyed looking.  Then we went to the Outlet Mall and walked around.  Not many purchases there, either, but fun to look.

We headed back to Gatlinburg and played a game of Shanghai Rummy.  Then we went out to eat dinner at Cherokee Grill.  They had good burgers!  An interesting side dish that Gregg and I ate was mac and cheese with spicy cheese and some spinach.  It had been baked in a small dish.

After we got back to the condo, we decided to not play another game but instead talked and then went to bed…our earliest night…at midnight.

Saturday morning we were all up early.  Gregg packed up the truck and we headed south around 8:00 a.m.  Chuck and Joyce left at the same time to go out to breakfast with some friends who now live in the area.  They were staying at the condo until Sunday.

It was a beautiful drive through the Smokey Mountain National Park.  It was fun to remember being there as a teen on Lynx Trips.  We saw the Chimney Mountains which we had climbed on those trips (we just stopped to take a picture, we didn’t hike or climb).  We stopped at the TN and NC State line at a beautiful overlook.  It was a delightful 60 degrees there!  Going to the bathroom there brought back many memories…of it being packed with girls who were changing their clothes (I think it was after we had climbed the Chimneys so everyone was dirty).  The drive through the park was so pretty!

Gregg with Smokey Mountains behind him

After getting out of the mountains, we started reading the third book in Steve McVey’s Grace series called Finding Freedom and Rest in Grace Land.  We have not finished it yet but are about half way through it.  We enjoy reading together and then discussing what we are reading.

We drove to Atlanta and met Kim Hayward for lunch at Williamson Brothers BBQ – a place we’ve eaten with them and love the food.  We had pulled pork, cole slaw, fried okra, baked beans, onion rings, french fries (if you do their all-you-can-eat, they let you change out your sides AND your meats if you want).  We saw Kim’s daughter, Paige, who was working next door at Jill’s Cakes and Bakes.  When she got off work, she came to the restaurant and sat with us (AND she brought us a goodie bag of cookies!).  Kelsey was in the air, returning from a mission trip from Kenya.  It was really good to see Kim and Paige!!!  

Kristin, Kim and Paige

After lunch, we drove home to FL.  If you were watching our itinerary, yes, we came home a day early.  We were tired and looking forward to sleeping in our own bed again.   It was a wonderful vacation!!!  It is such a blessing that Gregg can work remotely so that he only took vacation days for about 1/3 of the time we were gone.  We were gone for 24 days, drove through 16 states which was about 3,500 miles.  Thanks for traveling with us!

Gatlinburg, TN

Thursday evening

Greetings from Gatlinburg!  We arrived on Tuesday night around 10:30 p.m.  We are staying in a condo that Mikel and Kathy Patterson (St. Pete) rented.  Chuck and Joyce Elkins (Nashville) arrived earlier in the day and they had started playing cards before we arrived.  They graciously quit that game and started a new one when we arrived.  By 11:00 we had started a new game of Shanghai Rummy.  It usually takes us 4 hours, and true to history, we ended at 3:00 a.m.  Gregg won.

We slept in until 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday.  After “breakfast” we drove to the craft area and walked around “shopping.”  The guys usually make a quick run through a store then go outside and sit and talk while the ladies go through the store more slowly (and/or go through more stores).  Gregg and Kristin shared a yummy peach milkshake at one of the candy stores.

We returned to the condo and Mikel cooked delicious fajitas for us.  After dinner we started another game of Shanghai Rummy (it is similar to Phase 10 except it is with cards rather than dice….you play 10 hands and each hand is different…like one hand will be to get 3 sets of 3, another hand might be to get a run of 5 and 2 sets of 3, etc. )  We started at 8:00 p.m. and ended right about midnight.

We got up earlier today…9:00 a.m.   After cinnamon rolls for breakfast, we went down to the main Gatlinburg shopping strip.  We parked at one end and walked down the road, crossed over and walked back up….”shopping” and eating the whole way.  We shared a fried Snickers bar which was interesting, a yummy sausage dog with onions and green peppers and later we shared french fries.

Then we drove into the National Park area – stopping at the visitor’s center first.  We drove into the park and stopped at some pull-offs.  It was beautiful.  We stopped twice at bear sightings (you could tell because there were tons of cars and people all looking, pointing, taking pics).  It was a Mother bear with 3 cubs….so they say.  We missed them both times (well, Mikel did spot them the second time and took some photos but I think it was too dark and so they were a bit blurry.)

For dinner we went to a nice restaurant for dinner – Park Grill Steakhouse.  Now we’re stuffed.  We’re going to play another game of Shanghai Rummy soon.

Please pray for Mardi’s family.  Her husband, Kelly, checked on his mother today (it is her 70th birthday) and he found that she had gone to heaven.   Please pray for the children of the family as they deal with another death (Kelly’s brother, Jim, went to be with Jesus in 2003 from brain cancer – he has two girls who are now teens.)

Mikel & Kathy, Joyce & Chuck, Kristin & Gregg

Going to TN

Tuesday

Gregg worked again today.  Kristin, Mardi and Reagan went to the mall.  The big girls were at music camp again.  Then Mardi had to go to a meeting at work.  Once she and Kelly get home from work, we plan to hit the road towards Gatlinburg, TN.

We are meeting two couples – the Elkins and the Pattersons – in Gatlinburg, TN.  They are good friends of ours from St. Petersburg.  We love playing Shanghai Rummy with them, talking, eating, and I heard that there is a craft show – which means the girls will “shop” while the guys stand around and talk.   We’ve not all been together in a number of years so we are looking forward to it!  I’m not sure how much we’ll be able to blog.  We plan to leave TN on Saturday morning and head towards Atlanta.

Alabama photos

Monday -

Kristin, Mardi and girls went to the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center today for the 40th anniversary of man walking on the moon celebration.  It was a lot of fun!  They gave away Moon Pies and commemorative Coke cups. We all rode G-Force…a ride that lets you feel G’s.  Mardi made it fun because we laughed through it.

For dinner, we went to Baumhower’s Wing House (“Wings” as we call it).  Yummy!

Then some of us went shopping to look for an Auburn running hat/visor but we didn’t find one.  Bummer.

Now we are playing Wii….Links Crossbow Training.

Kelly's Fire Pit

Hot dogs!

Roasting Marshmallows!

Tiger loves playing with balls! (yes, as in Auburn Tiger!)

Moon Pies and commemorative Coke cups

I remember the first moon walk! We lived in Cocoa, FL

Saturn V displayed in stages

Jessica (pink) and Reagan (orange) rock climbing

Cookout!

Kelly built a fire pit in the back yard since we were here last.  With the cool weather still here, we decided that last night would be a perfect time to have supper out there.  We roasted hot dogs and then marshmallows.  It was a lot of fun!  The smoke smell on our clothes reminded us of camping as kids.

I have a few photos I want to post, but my Explorer keeps crashing when I try to upload them.  Maybe later.

Today (Monday), Kristin went to Panera’s with Carolyn Life, a friend that Mom made when she stayed here with Mardi.  Carolyn was a sweet friend to Mom and she has encouraged/helped Kristin with writing.  Sydney and Jessica went to music camp at church this morning.  We are going to go pick them up and then go to the Space Center to see what events are going on to celebrate the 40th anniversary of man walking on the moon.  Tonight we plan to eat at our favorite wings place!

Sunday

We had a fun bike ride on the Aldridge Creek Greenway.  We went about 4.5 miles to Ditto Landing which is a marina/park on the Tennessee River.  We had left a vehicle there with coolers of drinks and our lunch so we had a picnic there.  Then we rode back to our starting point.  Unfortunately, on our way to Ditto Landing, Sydney began getting a migraine so Kelly took her home after lunch in the truck we had parked there.  She is feeling better now.

I had forgotten to give food and reading updates.   In Arkansas we ate great local fish – catfish (farm raised) and trout (they do a lot of fly fishing in that area).  Dad cooked us some great breakfasts – scrambled eggs with cheese one morning, omlets before we left.  He also does a great job on the grill…one day we had hamburgers, another we had yummy chicken.

We finished reading TrueFaced on our way to Arkansas.  On our way to Alabama we began reading Grace Rules which is the next of three of Steve McVey’s books on grace (Grace Walk was the first book that we read on the trip).  We are half way through it.  Again, his books are very readable and easy to grasp. 

Gregg teaching Jessica and Reagan how to wear sunglasses

Jessica, Mardi, Kelly, Sydney, Reagan on bike path

Note to Dad:  Reagan is riding the pink mountain bike you brought them from Florida.  They enjoy that bike!

Alabama

Friday night we ate dinner at Rosie’s Mexican Restaurant.  We’ve often eaten at Little Rosie’s (a fast-food relative) so it was fun to eat at “Big” Rosie’s.

Saturday evening we ran in a 5K with Mardi and Kelly.  It was unique in that the men ran at 6:30 p.m. and the women ran at 7:15 p.m.  The weather is unseasonably cool and it was a great evening to run!  The three girls watched from the sidelines, sitting on a blanket.  The women could hang with the girls during the men’s race and then the men could hang with the girls while the women ran.  Perfect!

Sunday – we are preparing to take a picnic and go for a bike ride.  The girls are quite excited (although, they unsuccessfully begged to bring their mini-daucshound with us.)  Again, it is nice and cool outside!  Yippee!!!

At Rosie's

The gang - before the 5K

Arkansas

We had a really nice time in Arkansas with Dad and Gladys. 

On Wednesday after Gregg got off work, we went golfing.  It was a golf course at the base of the dam.  We played the back 9.  Very pretty (and challenging with lots of water and woods…lost several balls).  Then we ate a late dinner at a nice restaurant.

On Thursday, Dad and Gladys took Kristin on a tour around the area, showing where Dad teaches, etc.  After Gregg got off work, we drove to see a beautiful cave… Blanchard Springs Caverns.  It is a Federal Park.  Absolutely beautiful! We took a 1 hour tour through it.  Amazing!!!  I would DEFINITELY recommend it if you are ever in the area!  The rest of the park is beautiful, too.  There are springs where you can swim, camping, hiking, etc.  You can also take an off the trail 5-hour tour of the caverns if you are so inclined…sounds like fun.   http://www.fs.fed.us/oonf/ozark/recreation/caverns.html

Friday morning we enjoyed sitting on Dad and Gladys’ back porch, overlooking the lake, before breakfast.  Then we left to drive to Alabama to see Kristin’s sister and family.

Golf at River Cliff Golf Course

Dad and Gladys at Blanchard Springs

View from Dad's porch

Photos

Wednesday

We’re having a great time in the Mountain Home, Arkansas area with Kristin’s Dad and Gladys. 

When we got into town on Monday night, we went to a small, local restaurant for calzones.  Very good!

The weather was rainy yesterday morning so (while Gregg worked), Dad, Gladys and I went to the visitor’s center at the dam.  Very interesting…and pretty views.  We drove around and also went to the marina and saw their sailboat.  Dad grilled yummy hamburgers for us.

When Gregg got off work, we drove to Branson, Missouri.  We enjoyed walking around an outdoor mall and then eating dinner on the water before going to a show.  We saw Cathy Rigby in Peter Pan (it used to be on Broadway).  An excellent show!  We really enjoyed it!  Cathy is 56!!! Amazing!!!  We had great seats on the floor at at the very end she “flew” right over me…I even got “pixie dust” sprinkled on me!

We’re taking things slowly today.  Dad had to meet with someone.  Gregg is working.

Here are some photos that I could not get to upload on my last post:

Our truck bed

Gregg at trailhead in St. Louis

On Old Chain of Rocks Bridge (old Route 66)

Kristin on the bike trail in St. Louis

The top left window was our room in the Hampton Inn

Monday…on the road again!

We had a great morning in St. Louis! We really enjoyed our time in that city (even though it was less than 24 hours). 

We stayed in the Hampton Inn Gateway, close to the Arch, on the top (17th) floor.  The hotel was very nice and the folks who worked there could not have been more helpful!  They gave us great tips on where to eat, they stored our bikes and golf clubs for us, and graciously gave us an extra hour before checking out this morning.

After breakfast (yummy sausage and egg biscuits), we rode our bikes from the hotel down to the river (just a few blocks away), and rode the Riverfront Trail.  We took it north to the old Route 66 bridge which is now a walking/biking bridge over the Mississippi River connecting Missouri with Illinois.  It was really neat to bike over!  We went 25 miles in about 2.5 hours.  It was a really fun time!

After showering, packing up and checking out of the hotel, we went to Smokey O’s for really good St. Louis style BBQ ribs and a vinegar based cole slaw.  It was a hole-in-the-wall place but the food was fabulous!

Now we are on the road towards Lakeview, Arkansas to spend a few days with Kristin’s Dad and his wife.