• Travel

    4th of July Trip 2022

    August 8, 2022 - By 

    Today I’m sharing with you our trip to the mountains for the 4th of July this year. We stayed about 3 miles north of the GA/NC border. Here’s a link to the cabin we stayed at >>> Evolve Vacation Rentals. Here are the highlights of our trip. Here the boys are on the ground level floor playing pool. Bigsby had a big day of travel so he was chillin’ not to far from Drew & Caitlyn. We started a hike at Piney Knob – The Grape Smuggler, which is a 2.1-mile inner loop trail. Lunch at Chophouse On top of…

  • Life

    Red Rocks Amphitheatre & Golden, CO

    December 22, 2020 - By 

    Hey yall! Here is the final post of our Colorado/Wyoming trip from a few years ago. On our last day in Denver we visited the beautiful Red Rocks Amphitheatre located about 16 miles from Denver in the little town of Morrison, CO as well as the nearby little town of Golden, CO. Red Rocks Amphitheatre is a world-famous, open-air theatre used since 1941 that hosts many concerts and other events. The amphitheater was designed by Burnam Hoyt within the area between two massive slabs of Red stone (Ship Rock and Creation Rock). The elevation of the amphitheatre’s top row is…

  • Travel

    Exploring North Colorado & South Wyoming

    December 15, 2020 - By 

    I’m continuing with my COVID – no travel – catch up on my previous travel posts – post! Ha! If that makes any sense. So in my last travel post, Rob and I drove from Pikes Peak to Avon, Colorado. 39°38’5.53″ N 106°31’28.03″ W – (Map #1) For this post you will find the GPS coordinates that are linked so that you can see the exact location that most pictures are taken. You can also click on the numbers on the interactive map below: On this last full day of this trip we traveled from Avon through Vail, Colorado passing…

  • Travel

    Scenic Drive from Pikes Peak to Avon, CO

    November 24, 2020 - By 

    Happy Travel Tuesday, ya’ll! I’m continuing to share from when Rob and I were in Colorado for a work conference. This was an epic day. Rob finished up with his conference that morning, we booked it over to Pikes Peak, which you can read about >>> Pros and Cons of Driving up Pikes Peak. Up until November 2017, you had the choice to drive or ride the Cog Railway up. However that have since been renovating the Cog Railway and it looks like it will open back up in 2021! More Sight Seeing in Colorado Springs, CO My camera (Canon…

  • Vacationing in the Mountains of North Carolina
    Travel

    Vacationing in the North Carolina Mountains

    August 10, 2018 - By 

    Mountains, waterfalls, and serene views were calling our names for 4th of July this year. You may recall that we had an annual 4th of July mountain trip tradition going for a while (2010 2011 2012 2013), but we have done other things the last few years. Saturday We got up early Saturday morning, hit D Square donuts on our way out of town for a little sugar, and then got on the road. Our first planned stop was Tallulah Gorge, but we saw signs for great views at the Tallulah Point Overlook, which is basically a tourist trap. They…

  • Bryson City, NC
    Travel

    Cub Scout Mountain Trip 2014::Bryson City, NC {Day 2}

    July 9, 2014 - By 

    If you missed my post on the 1st Day of our Cub Scout Mountain trip, click here. The 2nd day ended up being a little different for us. Many folks decided to go white water rafting on the Nantahala River. This is not a scout sanctioned event, so this was just an outing for any family that wanted to go. Rob and I had decided not to go, because Rob will be doing it soon with the boy scout troop. However, we didn’t want Alex to miss out if he wanted to go, which he did, so he ended up…

  • Travel

    Gatlinburg Chalet

    July 10, 2013 - By 

    Our 4th Annual 4th of July Trip {the Chalet} Day 1 ~ Day 2 ~ Day 3 ~ Day 4 ~ Day 5This year for the 4th of July, we went further away from home to visit Gatlinburg, TN. Rob and I have fond memories of this place and it has become a place that our kids love as well. We rented a chalet up on top of Ski mountain. It was a nice, roomy place except for the kitchen and dining room. The decor is a bit outdated for those that are concerned about that. We didn’t mind. We…

  • Travel

    Fun times in the North Georgia Mountains

    July 26, 2012 - By 

    Sunday we headed out to the Track Rock Gap Archaeological Area to see petroglyphs made by Native Americans. Most of them were so weather-warn you could hardly make out the shapes, but I just stood there closed my eyes and imagined the Natives pounding away at the rocks to make those carvings. Amazing! We left there and drove over to the John C. Campbell Folk School, which is a school that allows a non-competitive, adult learning community offering classes in art, cooking, craft, dance, gardening, music, etc. that vary in length.

  • Fun day in the Georgia Mountains - Blairsville, GA
    Travel

    Another fun day in the Georgia Mountains

    July 25, 2012 - By 

    Saturday was kind of a lazy day, much to Rob’s chagrin. He and my FIL, David, ended up going to the store for steaks and also to check out a couple spots. After they got back we ate lunch and decided to go tubing at Pappy’s. Every time we left the cabin, we passed this place and it piqued our curiosity. It was like $6 for an hour of tubing, but it ended up being nearly 2 hours on the river. Really great for the money! Then, when we got done tubing we walked around Pappy’s. There’s a general store…

  • Travel

    Fishing, Young Harris, and Lake Chatuge

    July 24, 2012 - By 

    Friday we got up, had a quick breakfast, and headed out to see if we could get any fish to bite. Since we needed to find out a good place to fish and get some bait, so we stopped at Paradise Bait and Tackle. We saw signs for it as we drove toward the river. Turned out to be a little building on someone’s property. My MIL had to use to restroom, so the man called up his Mama and asked, “are you dressed? cuz I gots a young lady customer who needs to use the facilities.” There were several…

  • Travel

    Helton Creek Falls/Dukes Creek Falls

    July 23, 2012 - By 

    Day 2 started with some homemade waffles and jambalaya quiche and some web surfing while surrounded in the beauty of the mountains. Soon after, we threw on our swimsuits and hiking boots and headed to Helton Creek Falls Daisy usually travels in a travel crate, but with 8 people in the Pilot, there’s was no room for her crate. All the pics shown on this post are of the upper falls at Helton Creek. On the way back to the cabin for lunch. Quick dip in the hottub. After lunch, several of us decided to hike at Dukes Creek Falls.…

  • 4th of July Activities near Blairsville, GA
    Travel

    Blairsville, Georgia 4th of July Festivities

    July 22, 2012 - By 

    Our first day in the mountains, we were busy unpacking, grocery shopping, and enjoying the 4th of July festivities. Here we are making fools of ourselves enjoying ourselves at the festivities at Vogel State Park. Dizzy fun! After our equilibrium returned, we enjoyed some egg tossin’ and some balloon throwin’! The greased pole competition was fun to watch. None of us participated in that. We made a stop on our way back to the cabin at Booger Hollow for a couple odds and ends. Chatting on the deck while enjoying the beautiful scenery. My little Ham anxiously awaiting burgers for…

  • Travel

    Cabin in Blairsville, GA

    July 21, 2012 - By 

    Here’s the cabin, we stayed in for the 4th of July trip this year. It was hands down the nicest and biggest cabin we’ve stayed in. It’s a 3 bedroom 3 1/2 bath with a large playroom on the bottom floor complete with games, foosball, and air hockey. Sleeps 9-10. It’s located in Blairsville, Georgia, which is just the location we’ve been trying to stay in since we started this tradition. The views from the cabin are amazing, but I’ll warn you that when you turn on the the street where the cabin is located it’s extremely steep; To say…

  • Travel

    Second July 4th Trip 2011::Blue Ridge, GA {Day 3}

    July 13, 2011 - By 

    If you missed Day 1 or Day 2. Sunday we started by hiking up to the highest point in Georgia at Brasstown Bald. We enjoyed a picnic lunch and then decided to go find the Swinging Bridge which crosses over the Toccoa River. This was a very cool, very hidden spot. Great place to camp, swim, tube, kayak, etc! For dinner we ate at Papa’s Pizza-to-Go Buffet, which had hot, high quality pizza. Then, we did something we have never done before and that’s go to a drive-in movie. The one we went to was in Blue Ridge and it’s…

  • Travel

    Trip to Murphy, NC

    July 9, 2010 - By 

    Tuesday night the week before 4th of July, Rob was talking with his brother about finding something “fun” to do over the weekend. The last few years we have mainly hung out at home and enjoyed time with our neighbors. Before that we headed to Texas to visit my family there. Anyway, after some thought and research we decided it would be fun to head up to the North Georgia Mountains. Since it was so close to the date, there were only a few options. We ended up staying here in Murphy, NC. We went with Rob’s Mom, Step-Dad, adopted…