Home again, Home again, Jiggety-jog!

 PART 2

Ward and I took a driving vacation last week. Here is part 2 of the highlights.

Day 5

We spent the next day exploring the area with our friends. This area is home
 to numerous waterfalls and state parks. First up was Whitewater Falls, North Carolina.

Next, we saw Kings Creek Falls in South Carolina. The weather was
perfect for hiking down to the falls with temperatures in the 50s.

After the waterfall hikes, we visited Stumphouse Tunnel.
Stumphouse Tunnel was dug/chiseled for the Blue Ridge Railroad.
Work began in 1855 and stopped in 1859 when the legislature
stopped funding. Clemson University acquired the tunnel in 1951,
and they used it for several years to cure blue cheese.

Day 6

We left our B&B the next morning to begin our trip home. In addition to running a B&B, the owners had several animals, including goats, miniature horses, and a llama. Here is the barn cat.

Our first stop was in Johnson City, Tennesee, to walk on the Tweetsie Railroad Rail Trail.

We had a pleasant 2-mile walk before continuing onto the final leg of our trip for the day.

We spent the night in Salem, Virginia. After dinner, we took a walk
along the Roanoke River Greenway.

DAY 7

Today was the final leg of our trip home. We stopped at the Strasburg, Virginia, Visitor Center for a break.

Among other things, the visitor's center had a museum chronicling important Civil War battles that took place in the area.

After a good trip, we came home to cats who let us know in no uncertain terms,
that we had some petting to make up for.

Home again, home again jiggety-jig!

PART 1

Ward and I are back from our driving trip south. It was a good trip with good weather, good visits, and good scenery. I had hoped to post a travelog along the way, but the internet was spotty to nonexistent. In fact, at last night's hotel, there was an internet outage in the neighborhood, and nothing was working to the point where we couldn't get into our room without an employee going with us to let us in. (They couldn't program key cards.)

When we got home, we were giving Theo the details of our trip, and I was already confused about what we had done over the past week. So we'll see how it goes posting here. I hope the pictures will help me remember. Not that you are interested in the details of my trip, but I might be sometime in the future and will be happy to at least have a framework.

DAY 1

Our first stop was in New Market, VA, for lunch.
New Market is a historic little town that we explored
after we ate at the Southern Kitchen.

The next stop was Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA. Ward went to undergraduate and graduate school here. We met when I transferred there for grad school. It's been a long time since we've been back, and a lot has changed, but we still found many familiar old haunts.

DAY 2

After spending the night in Wytheville, VA, our next stop was a welcome center in North Carolina. It was one of the nicest welcome centers we've been to. 

Much of our drive down and back was through the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. 

And the hillsides were full of blooming redbud and dogwood (not shown here).

The next time we stretched our legs was in Ashville, NC, where we visited The Botanical Gardens at Ashville. They focus on native plants, and we were lucky to see many spring wildflowers blooming. Pictured-Toadshade trillium.

We reached our destination in Georgia just in time for dinner with my cousin and his wife.
(Virginia bluebells from Ashville Botanical Garden)

DAY 3

The next morning, we went into downtown Atlanta to visit the Georgia Aquarium. It was crowded, but we could still see everything we wanted.

DAY 4

We left Georgia the next morning and followed this Chips Ahoy truck
through Atlanta. Ward's grandmother always had a jar full of Chips Ahoy,
so we thought this was a sign. Not sure what kind of sign,
but it was fun thinking about it.

Our first stop of the day was at another visitor's center. Again, the famous southern hospitality shone through. We particularly enjoyed the swings they had.

In the afternoon, we checked into the B&B, where we stayed for the next two nights.

Then we visited with friends, who took us on a boat ride
 exploring the lake they live on.

But wait! There's more! Tune in next time to see just what that might be. :)

Hello

 Hello, again! Looks like I'm in a regular poster of irregular posting these days. :)

Things are busy here, but with mostly everyday stuff. We had beautiful weather this week before returning to cold and rainy. We took the opportunity to start our spring bed cleanup. I leave most old growth in the fall to protect the roots during the winter, so there's a lot of cleanup to do. However, we've had a relatively mild winter except for some single-digit temperatures in December. It's always interesting to see what comes back in the spring. I hope some mums I planted last year come back, but no signs of life yet. It felt good to be outside digging in the dirt again. And as it always seems, the yard work stretches infinitely before our eyes this time of year. But it will get done, slowly but surely. Unless it doesn't.

Our car had some problems last week with wildly varying estimates of what it would take to fix it, one from a dealer and one from a local, trusted mechanic. Luckily, the lower estimate from the local mechanic won, and the car runs well now. 

And just in time because we leave on Monday for a driving trip south to visit with family and friends. We are definitely counting our blessings that the car trouble happened before we left. We will have a two-day drive down and a two-day drive back. It's been a very long time since we've driven that far for a vacation. Usually, we would fly, but the airlines seem to be having problems now, as well as rental car prices have soared, so driving won out. We shall see how we do. Preparation for the trip is well underway, although some things can only be done at the last minute. I have to work all weekend before we leave on Monday, so we've been doing everything ahead of time we can. 

I will post along the way if I can, but internet access, time, and motivation are still to be determined during our travels.

Until next time...

Spring has Sprung

Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while.  ~Kin Hubbard

This is so true. For me, anyway. I talk about the weather with my coworkers. I talk about the weather with Ward. I talk about the weather with Wally and Theo. I talk about the weather with my sisters. I talk about the weather with the library. I talk about the weather on my blog and other blogs. Anyone I can get to listen, I talk about the weather. Weather is the common denominator for all of us. Rich or poor. Big or little. Old or young. We all experience it, and it's the one thing we really don't have control over. So we talk about it as a way to connect with others, whether complaining or praising what is happening outside. And because I happen not to be so good at chitchat, the state of the weather is a good conversation starter. 

So guess what I'm going to talk about today? The weather. 

Today is the first day of spring. My day started with temperatures in the 20s; it should go into the 40s this afternoon. Cold, but clear. Spring is when I look forward to warmer temperatures and a burst of color. But that does not happen in a linear progression. A warm day. A freezing day. New blooms. Frost-bitten blooms. 

Here is a retrospective of what the weather has been like for the official start of spring since we've been in our "new" house - the first day of spring over the last several years - just because I like to talk about the weather. :) Note: In parentheses is a comparison to this year.

  2023 This year, most of the crocus are about done blooming, although there is one spot where they don't even have buds yet. Sadly, none of the yellow ones came up this year.

2022 (This year, we had no snow at all.)

2021 (This year, the forsythia bushes are about 1 week ahead of these.)

2020 Bluebird nest (No nests in the birdhouses yet this year.)

2019 (The crocus this year are ahead of these.)

2018 (This crocus is 2-3 weeks behind this year's.)

2017 Frostbitten forsythia (This year's forsythia is a couple of weeks ahead of this and is surviving the below freezing temps so far.)

Until next time...

Thankful Sunday

I am thankful for more spring blossoms.

Crocus

Crocus

Crocus

Quince

Phlox

Forsythia

Daffodil

Daffodil

Ornamental Plum