Our Fall 2011 "Southern Tour" (in pics)

Could you ask for a prettier day for a road trip?












One of those landmarks that tells us "We're almost there!" (Time to get excited!)










For this Big City gal, our arrival in our destination town was like a step back in time!




Who needs pumpkins when you get greeted by this Halloween Sweetie?!?











The Big Guy auditioned a new partner for his attempt to get on Dancing With The Stars. He might want to get her some higher heels!






The colors in the Great Smoky Mountains (Maggie Valley, NC) were at absolute peak that day. We were on our way up the mountain to Cherokee, NC.









Strange looking "cloud" hanging over the mountain!








Hmmm, our suspicions were right. That IS snow on the ground - in North Carolina in October!! (Okay, so we were pretty high up in the mountains BUT it is the South and it WAS October!!!)





Lots of great food, loud music and loads of fun at the Oktoberfest in Valhalla, SC. (It was super crowded ! I didn't quite expect all those people at an event in such a small town ... and it was competing with a home game at Clemson, just down the road!!)

**Incidentally, Clemson won.




Everybody did a little toe-tapping at the Oktoberfest, even the scarecrow!!














Just one of the reasons to hate running out of time on this visit! (Although an even better reason to return soon!!)



While still colorful, some areas along the Blue Ridge Mountains had already passed their peak on our return trip.





The Tennessee Visitor's Center atop the mountain gave a fantastic view of the surrounding mountains (any direction you looked!) Trees of every color formed a true Autumn palette of color.



Had an interesting lunch at a diner about mid-way up I-81 in Virginia - an "open-face chili burger"! I really liked this one!! Basically they laid the roll out flat and placed an average-sized burger on each half and piled lots of spicy chili on top, topping it off with shredded cheddar and chopped onions. (A blob of sour cream was optional.)




The trees in Harper's Ferry, W still had a lot of changing to do!!







And that brings us back to home!!

Home again - jiggity jig.

Sorry I've been missing in action this past week but when a gal has an opportunity to squeeze in a vacation, she's gotta grab it with gusto!! And it was wonderful!!!We finally managed to get that much postponed trip to the South Carolina foothills. It was a great week to be there, too. The sun was out each day and the temps soared to the 60s and 70s. We even squeezed in an outdoor festival on Saturday when the thermometer actually made 76!!
I had thought I'd be able to blog from there but had my arms full snuggling, hugging and playing with a very sweet and happy addition to our gang. Who could find time to blog?!? Seriously, we were just enjoying spending time with folks we love and miss very much. I didn't want to waste a minute sitting at the keyboard. (NOT that I don't love all of you, too!)
We squeezed a tremendous amount of activity into just a few days and , of course, we feel like there was so much we didn't get a chance to do. Most importantly, we were together! We DID have some fantastic home-cooked meals, ate at a few new restaurants, attended a terrific stage show, did a little sightseeing, went to an outdoor festival (in February!!), sat in on a harmonica workshop (Some things just happen spontaneously!), saw a movie and put together our obligatory jigsaw puzzle (In record time, I might add. some traditions can't be messed with.) I'll slip a few pics and comments about the trip in here and there over the next few days.

Now, it's back to everyday life at home - in the snow. Yep, we left the warm, sunny South and came home to several inches of snow. Thank goodness for wonderful neighbors. We came home to a perfectly clear driveway and steps which made coming in so late and tired last night really easy. Thank you, Tony!!!