Tuesday 4 ~ Wayfaring

 

Wayfaring

Here's about as close to going on a cruise as I will ever get...and this is an old picture from about 5 or 6 years ago!  I haven't been out in the kayak in quite a while, due to the shallowness of the pond, and the lack of strength in my arms.  Maybe if the rains will keep coming Still Waters Pond will fill back up to a reasonable depth and I can try making it around the pond once again...but don't hold your breath waiting! LOL!

Welcome to Tuesday 4... 

1. Where have you traveled and what is the furthest you've been from home?

Let's see, we are not big travelers.  Probably the farthest away from home I've ever been would be the Space Needle in Seattle, WA.  We flew there many years ago (probably at least 35) for a church annual conference. Although my hubby is not fond of heights, we managed to talk him into going up in the elevator to the top of the Space Needle, where we had lunch with some of our friends. I can assure you that he did not look down! LOL.   I don't have any photos from that experience, so I will borrow these from the internet:

Internet Photo

View from the top~Internet Photo

Back during the years that we were in the ministry, our church denomination would have an annual "Council" in a different location every year, and that was the highlight of the year for us as our church would send us to the conference. We usually had to fly to wherever it was, and we would get to stay in a nice hotel near the convention center. We always looked forward to meeting up with many old friends...other Pastors and their wives and people we had known from different churches where we'd served. It was like a great reunion/vacation for us...eating out at nice restaurants, and hearing inspirational keynote speakers (preachers), enjoying good music, and if there was time we would do a little sight seeing around the area.  We got to go places and see things that we never would've been able to do on our own. Seattle is the one I remember most, but we also went to Washington D.C., Columbus, OH., Rochester, NY, Orlando,FL (which was like going home for us), just to name a few that I can remember! It's been a long time ago now, so I'm surprised I remembered that much! LOL.

2. Is there a location other than where you are, that you think would be a nice place to live?

Yes, in the North Georgia mountains, (preferably in the fall and spring), and Maine or New Hampshire, but only in the late spring through fall.  We live in the best place for the winter months already...Florida!

3. Do you have a photo or story from a favorite place to visit? (See above)  The North Georgia Mountains...we have been trying to go every fall over the past few years with our kids. I didn't think we were going to make it this year, but they said "YES WE ARE!", so reservations have been made for late in October, lord willing and the creek don't rise! Praying for hubby's health to be better so he will feel more like traveling. Thankfully our son does all the driving.

4. What dream destination do you have tucked away in your heart? Do you think you'll be able to visit them one day or are plans in the making?

Dream destination? I really can't say that I have one.  I would love to go back to Maine someday for a good visit, not only to do some sight-seeing with our kids, but also to visit with our grandson Noah and his mother.   When our grandson was little, we would always go for his birthday in October, and one of the highlights was to take him to the Fryeburg Fair in Fryeburg, Maine.  

Many years ago with our grandson Noah in Maine

Uncle Scott always enjoyed taking Noah on the rides when he was there with us.

Here we are with Noah and his daddy, our son Matthew, and his wife Nicole, at a roadside scenic overlook in Maine, on the way to the fair. This was in October, 2013. Matthew passed away in May of 2014 after a 4 year battle with cancer. We haven't been to the Fryeburg Fair since then. Noah is now almost 26 years old, and I'm not so sure he cares that much about going to the fair anymore, but still, we'd love to go with him again someday.

So that's the Tuesday 4 for this week. Thank you, Annie, for coming up with the questions and doing this to honor the memory of our late blogging friend, Toni Taddeo.

In Memory of Toni Taddeo

Tuesday 4~ Travel Bug

 As usual, I am late getting to the party, but I hope it's not too late to join in the fun! It's been a busy few days and I haven't had time to sit down and think about this and what my answers should be...so now that I've slept on it a few nights, let's see if I can come up with anything worth sharing!  I've enjoyed reading everyone else's answers, (actually I am still trying to get around to you all, and by now most of you have moved on to the next thing!)  

So pack your bags and hop on the train, and let's go!

Travel Bug

Hello! It's time for Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 and I am happy you've come by to take part.

I think finding reasons to blog and stay in touch with others, or to meet new bloggers is very important. Blogging also provides you with a record of your thoughts and ideas to leave for your family. It's a journal of sorts really that you share with others.

Summer is June 21st and people usually take advantage of the warm weather to take a trip or vacation or day trips to visit, shop or for recreation.
So could we talk about travel?


1. What are the most memorable destinations you've visited, and what made them stand out? (this could include places like museums, art galleries, etc. not only a vacation site.)

I am trying to remember...our family has not traveled extensively, so it was more the experiences and adventures we had along the way and the places we stopped here and there that were memorable. I have shared several links below to former posts that I've written about some of my family experiences in traveling when I was a child.  With our own children our vacations were mostly going to visit the grandparents, but we did manage to take a few "real" vacations throughout the years. Some of the most memorable places I remember going with our own kids were:

• Biltmore House in Asheville, NC...it was gorgeous, and I'd love to go back now without three young kids that I had to keep in line and reminding them not to touch things!
• Hyde Park in NY
• Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, and all the civil war sites in the area...our 3 sons and their daddy especially loved all of this!
• Washington DC
• New York City and also a Yankees Baseball game at the old Yankee Stadium
• Spent a week in a mountain cabin on "Dream Mountain, NC" with our kids, and met another young family there with kids the same ages as ours, and we ended up having so much fun, picking blackberries and making cobbler, traveling together to Maggie Valley and Ghost Mountain in the Sky.  I had been there before with my parents and siblings, (Ghost Mountain), and it was so much fun to takemy own kids there as well to experience riding up to the top of the mountain in the chair lift and coming down on the cable car.

Most memorable places we've visited (with or without the kids):

• St. Augustine
• The Space Needle in Seattle,WA
• Boston
• a Sleigh Ride at Nestlenook Farm, Jackson, NH  (actually, we did this with our son Matthew and his wife Nicole and our grandson Noah many years ago.  

• See below...the Cog Railway on Mt. Washington, NH

2. Which hidden gem locations have you explored that you'd recommend to others ?

• I don't know if it's a "hidden gem", but if you ever get to go to the White Mountains of New Hampshire and go take a ride on the Cog Railway up to the summit of Mount Washington...that's an experience you'll never forget.  And no matter what time of year you are there, be sure to take a jacket with you to the summit! The temperatures in the valley on the day we went were in the 90's (July), and it was freezing/snowing at the top!
  
  
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  Here's a video so you can experience it for yourself right where you are! But still, you have to be there to feel the real thrill of the ride!
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3. What’s the most unique cultural experience you’ve had while traveling ?

Not so much while traveling, but for our family, when we moved from Florida to Ohio so my hubby could attend Seminary, it was a huge cultural change for us.  We moved from the sunny south to the cold and wintry north, to farm country and all things rural. Our kids experienced snow for the first time, and we enjoyed seeing our first tractor pull. We also lived in an area where there many Amish farms, and we enjoyed the sights and sounds of the horses and buggies trotting by our house every day, and observing how the Amish lived as if it were the 1800's instead of the 1900's. That was fascinating for us. I remember one time that we stopped at a farm stand near our home to buy some vegetables and eggs, and the Amish lady had her young sons there with her, and I had my young sons with me.   I said to her (in my ignorance) that I would love for our little boys to be able to play together sometime.  She looked at me with astonishment, as did her young boys. She may have very quietly said "thank you." I realized then that I had probably made a mistake in suggesting that.  I felt sad about it because I thought it would be so much fun for our boys to experience their farm life, and for their boys to experience our life...but now I know that would never have happened.  


4.What mode of transportation is your favorite for a long trip? How about a short trip?

Well, if our destination is more than two days away, I'd rather fly so that we can get there and then rent a car, so that we have more time to visit the places we are going to see. But now that we are retired, I wish we could take a nice slow road trip and visit many places along the way and come back home a different way. But sadly I think we've missed our opportunity for doing that.  Hubby doesn't really like to drive long distances anymore and health concerns are keeping us from wanting to venture very far from home.  Thankfully we have been able to take a few nice trips to the mountains with our son and daughter in law, and that will probably be the only way we will be doing any travelling (if at all) from now on.  

So thankful for our son being willing to drive us to fun places!

We've come full circle!

Link to older post about my summer vacations

Another Post about Summer vacations

Family Travels as a Child

Finally Back Home!

Page One of our journey to and from Georgia this past weekend, with the primary goal of attending the "80th Birthday Celebration of Life" for my husband's cousin "Sonny", who passed away right around Thanksgiving.  He had told his wife Joy, while he was seriously ill and in ICU, that he wanted her to go ahead with the plans for his 80th birthday celebration regardless of the outcome of his illness. Plans had already been made to have such a birthday party, decorations had been ordered, and he assured her he would be there in spirit if not in person.  I will share more about that "Celebration" in a later post, but first I wanted to take you along on our little trip,  which was also a mini-vacation with our son and his wife and their two sweet pups, Sugar and Spice. To begin with, we had decided to rent a "mini-van", which turned out to be a Chrysler Pacifica, for the trip, so that we could all ride more comfortably and have plenty of room for all the "cargo".  That turned out to be a very good decision, and we enjoyed having that vehicle with all the latest bells and whistles (literally) and plenty of room for our long-legged men, we medium legged ladies, and also our short legged Pekingese pups and their crate. I wish I had taken a picture of us all packed in there, but you can imagine I am sure. 

My apologies to my Facebook Friends, as you have probably already seen most of these pictures.

We started out bright and early (well, it was actually still dark) at 7:00 a.m., and hit the Florida/Georgia line around 9:00 a.m.  Of course we all waved 'Good bye Florida, Hello Georgia" as we passed the signs. Do you do that? That's something we've done since childhood every time we go from one state to the other. I just wonder if everyone else does that?

We made a gas/pit stop around noon at a Buc-ee's...have you ever been to one of these super gas station department stores? 

Here I am meeting "Buc-ee" outside for the first time:

 It's not a truck stop, but a mega-pit stop with food, souvenirs, and all manner of things to see and buy, if you can stay long enough, and not get lost... I found it a bit overwhelming and also a bit concerning while I stood outside waiting for my hubby to come back out the door he and entered when he went to find the restroom. I was going to direct him to where the kids had moved the car after getting it filled up and where they were walking the dogs.  I stood there waiting for at least 15 minutes, and I was getting a little frightened when he still had not returned. I was about to go get our son to go inside and look for him to see if something had happened in the restroom, when I saw my son waving to me to come back to the car.  (Now, keep in mind, this is a very big place).  I motioned back to him that I didn't know where Daddy was. He motioned for me to come on.  That's when I realized that "Daddy" had already returned to the car, and apparently had gone out a different door from the building than where he had gone in.  I cannot begin to explain the sense of panic I had begun to feel, and then the relief that he was there safe, but also a bit angry at him for doing that to me! Of course, he didn't realize I was standing outside waiting for  him, so he was perfectly "innocent" and sitting in the car eating his sandwich while mine was getting cold.  I was thankful that all was well, but I also let him know exactly how I felt...sweetly of course. LOL.

Moving right along, I settled back into my seat and tried to relax for the next leg of the trip. Soon we were in Atlanta, amazingly we managed to drive through it with no major traffic issues. Thankfully we got there before rush hour. (Which, in Atlanta, is actually most of the time, but this was a bit of a lull in the action)

Here's a few pictures as we entered the city...

That's my sweet DIL trying to capture a picture of the gold dome of the State Capitol. I was doing the same thing...

Surrounded by skyscrapers and big buildings on every side...

Hey, there's the "Google" building, and TBS, (Turner Broadcasting System).

More buildings being built everywhere we looked as well...

Finally we got outside of the city and headed out toward the mountains...and there they are in the distance!  What a beautiful sight!:

And after a few more hours of driving, and then a VERY winding, steep, scary, nail-biting drive up into the "resort" where we had reserved a cabin for our stay,  we finally arrived at our destination:

The "Red Door Cabin":

It said to "Come on in & cozy up"...among other fun ideas...

And this little hand embroidered sign was on a table at the front door:

And yes, we gasped with joy as we entered the "little cabin to keep" and saw the soaring ceilings and the  stone fireplace climbing up the wall:

It wasn't long before our smart daughter in law figured out how to light the "gas" fireplace and the room began to warm up so that we could "cozy up" as the doormat had invited...

Oh, and look at the view out the back door...those are mountains in the distance:

They became more blue in the sinking sun at the end of the day...

And the cozy ambience of the fireplace and the candles soon helped us all to relax and settle down for the night.

The next morning brought about "coffee time"... (and I had to learn how to operate one of those fancy Keurig machines). Thankfully the hosts of our Airbnb had provided complimentary coffee k-cups and even several choices of tea bags...

Which suited me to a cup of tea...even a red whistling tea-kettle!

One of the funny things in this cabin was this hallway of doors...we played "what's behind door #1, or door #2, or door #3, or door #4, or even door #5?  Steps to the basement, which was locked off, were behind #1, Our bedroom was #2, A small closet was behind #3, our bathroom behind #4, and a small laundry room behind #5!  I won't tell you how often I tried to open the wrong doors...lol.  I didn't take any pictures, but the kids had the 2nd floor, complete with a little den, their bedroom with another balcony overlooking the back yard, and a master bath with a jacuzzi tub!  All very lovely...

This was the view in the morning as the sun's rays were reflecting on the trees and mountains...

Looked like the trees were on fire!  So beautiful...

And then, this happened:

Deer started arriving next door and then they came over to our yard...and apparently they are used to being fed by the guests...but we didn't have anything to feed them at this time...

They were still very hopeful...

Lots of young ones and young mothers too...

As a matter of fact, as we drove out for the day, we saw them all  through the neighborhood wandering around from house to house. There must be hundreds of them living in this area...and they are quite tame...

Oh, this was the sign on the wall above the dining table:

And these were the windows in the living room:

Here's where I sat for a while having a cup of tea in the afternoon...

And yes, we did go buy a bag of deer corn, and look how many showed up for dinner!

This young buck was asking if there was any "seconds" for him...LOL.

On Saturday we met up with hubby's brother and his wife for lunch and then we walked around the little town of Ellijay, shopping in all the shops (don't think anyone bought a thing!), and just talking and laughing and having a good time. Here's a few pictures to show you how much fun we were having:

Outside of "Linda's Outback Antiques and More" shop was this cute sign, so we each had to take our turns getting our picture taken.  Above is Rose and Benton.

Here's Peggy and Billy

And here's the true antiques, yours truly and hubby John

Here are the three Steiner men

And the three Steiner ladies.  

Just walking around having fun. This was a cute toy store. It was good family time.  Later that evening was the "Birthday Party", so we had to go back to our respective quarters and get ready. But I will share more about that in another post.

On Sunday it was very cold, rainy, and foggy...not a good day to go out driving on that treacherous road for us flatlanders. So we stayed home and relaxed inside and played Yahtzee, made popcorn, and enjoyed a quiet day inside.  I had not played Yahtzee in years, so I had to relearn. But guess what? I even won a game!! It was fun doing this with our "kids".

We also made pizza for lunch and the boxes of "Sicilian Pizza" we had purchased had these silly mustaches as cutouts on the boxes. So DIL Rose and I thought we'd be funny and try them on:

Then son decided to get in on the act and we decided he looked a lot like Teddy Roosevelt!

Rough and Ready Teddy! LOL.

I should include a picture of the sweet grandpups, Sugar (the white dog) and Spice, (the brown dog).  Sadly, Sugar had picked up a tummy bug of some kind and was not feeling too perky, along with having to be taken outside quickly and quite frequently all night long. That made for a lot of stress and concern, but I am happy to report that she is just fine now. Apparently something just had to literally work its way out.

Tomorrow I will share more about the Birthday Party and other pictures.

For tonight I would just like to thank the Lord for being with us all the way there and back, and that except for Sugar having a tummy bug, everything else went very well.

Psalm 66:1-4

1 "Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth!

2 Sing out the honor of His name;

Make His praise glorious.

3 Say to God,

“How awesome are Your works!

Through the greatness of Your power

Your enemies shall submit themselves to You.

4 All the earth shall worship You

And sing praises to You;

They shall sing praises to Your name.” Selah

Amen and Good night for now.