I don’t have to go very far to see beautiful fall color here in West Georgia. All I have to do is stick my head out the back door:
The side yard is looking quite good too:
Looking over by the shed:
Then I went out on the front porch:
Looking out towards the road, to the east:
The driveway:
And, because it was so pretty, another look across the road:
One last look before going back inside:
What does your fall color look like?
Fabgrandpa and I took a short trip up to Cleveland, Georgia to visit his Mom and Dad last weekend. WE haven’t been up there in several months, first due to my own health problems, and then my mother’s Since Mama had been so sick, going to visit and help take care of her had taken up most of our time for a couple of months. I was finally feeling a good enough to take the trip up there.
It also helped that his parents got a lift chair, one of those things that goes up the stairs. The stairway to the second floor is very steep, and I just didn’t think I could make it up there to the guest room. Having that lift was amazing! I just sat on the chair, pushed a button, and up I went!
Nana and Poppa were both doing pretty good. It was great to see them and be able to spend the night so we could visit for a longer time. I hope we will be able to get back up there soon! We got there on Sunday afternoon and left to go home on Monday, so it was a short trip.
On the way home, we decided to stop at The Tomato House. This place has been there for as long as I can remember, on Hwy 115. We have never stopped here before, but I’m glad we did. They sell all kinds of canned things, from pickles to jelly to chow chow. In fact, there were so many things to choose from that it was hard to decide what to get. That picture above is just one wall–there were two or three rooms of things on shelves!
There was a lot of stuff outside, too, which was fun to look at. We bought a bee trap that we hope will work efficiently next summer to trap all those carpenter bees we have here.
They had a lot of fresh produce, but since it was towards the end of the season, there was not a huge selection. I am sure that they have plenty of tomatoes and other vegetables during the summer. The main reason we stopped was to get some apples so I could try my hand at making apple butter.
We got a half bushel basket of Honey Crisp apples. I ate one on the way home and it was so juicy and sweet and crisp! We took Georgia Highway 53 from Dawsonville over to Rome instead of going on I-285. It was a pleasant drive through the country.
The drive took us through Tate, Jasper, Marble Hill, and Calhoun. The trees had not changed much yet, but it was still a beautiful drive.
I want to go back and see The Tate House. It was gorgeous from the road, but we didn’t have time to stop.
Even the elementary school in Tate is made from marble! Have you ever seen such a beautiful school? We got home around 5:00 p.m. I rested for the rest of the week. It still wears me out to take a drive like that, even though I was just the passenger. Tomorrow, I talk about apple butter.
When we started on our way home from Nana and Poppa’s house last week, we decided that we were going to drive “through the woods” instead of getting on I-285 and I-20. I was supposed to be the “Nagigator” but I fell asleep somewhere between Dahlonega and Amicolola Falls. We missed an important turn, and wound up driving through curvy, steep, mountain roads. Aw, well, it was beautiful scenery once I woke up. This was a scenic viewpoint we stopped at so I could take pictures out the window.
Another viewpoint on the other side of the road.
This road was so curvy I was beginning to get carsick, and I never get carsick.
Oh! Sure! Now they tell us!
Once we got to Chatsworth, we were out of the mountains. It took us five hours to get home on a 150 mile drive.
Here is a short video from Highway 52 in Georgia:
When our friend, “Polly”, who lives in Miami, found out she had to go to a meeting in Atlanta last week, she called and asked if we’d like to meet her there. And you know us, we said “Heck Yeah!”. So, off to Atlanta we went.
It was just for one night, and we never left the hotel, but we had such fun!
We stayed at the Hotel Indigo, which is right across Peachtree Street from the Fox Theatre! I love the Fox! And I used to work in that huge building right behind the Fox, when it used to be BellSouth. It seems like forever ago.
Our room was gorgeous! It was not at all what I expected to see in such an old hotel building (built in 1925). It was very modern, very clean, and so nice! Because it is such an old building, the bathrooms were very small, but did all that they were supposed to do.
We chose this hotel because our friend has dogs, and the Hotel Indigo is pet friendly. It was also surprisingly inexpensive to be in downtown Atlanta. We have paid almost as much to stay in a motel chain in Douglasville.
I loved the chandelier in the lobby, and the modern decor. They were very gracious, and called me by my name whenever I had a reason to be in the lobby, asking if they could be of assistance. They even called us in the room after we got settled in to tell us to let them know if we forgot anything. Polly forgot the dogfood, and they were very helpful in giving directions to the closest place where she could buy some.
Look at this decor in the cafe:
And look over there:
And of course Fabgrandpa and I enjoyed every minute of it!
Oh, and the food! delicious and beautiful! There wasn’t a lot of stuff on the menu that was gluten free, but I did notice that they had a fresh mozzarella, tomato, and basil flatbread, and after a discussion with the waitress, she asked the chef if he could make me a caprese salad, which he did. I felt so special, and was very thankful that they would work with me like that.We had this for an appetizer:
Fabgrandpa had the Fried Chicken Tacos with blackeyed pea relish and jalapeno slaw:
Polly ordered a Steak and Roasted Beet Salad:
And I had the grilled salmon:
After dinner we all went up to our room, and talked and laughed until time to go to bed. We ordered dessert via room service! Fabgrandpa and Polly had Chocolate Cake with Strawberries and Cream, and I had plain vanilla ice cream. My ice cream tasted sooo good! I forgot to get pictures of the desserts, but trust me when I say they were delicious!
Too soon, it was time to go home, and say goodbye again to our friend, Polly. I know it won’t be the last time we see her, but it is always sad to leave. We are hoping to go back to Atlanta in April to see the Aretha Franklin concert at the Fox, and if we do, we’ll stay at the Hotel Indigo again!
Fabgrandpa and I have been so busy over the Thanksgiving holiday that I just haven’t had time to tell you about any of it until just now. On Thursday, we went to my Mother’s for dinner. She was not feeling well on Tuesday evening last week, so my sister called 911 and took her to the emergency room around 11:30 p.m. They kept her until about 4:00 a.m., then sent her home. They never did give her a diagnosis for her ailment, but she was feeling very tired and spent the day in bed on Wednesday. My sister wound up cooking the meal for Mama, which was a very nice thing for her to do.
We saw my sister and brother-in-law; my niece and her new husband; my brother and sister-in-law and one of his sons. I made the pecan pie and sweet potato casserole as my contribution to the menu. It was a very enjoyable get together. However, when Fabgrandpa and I went home, I was not feeling well. I went to bed at 8:00 p.m., which is very very unusual for me.
I stayed in bed under the covers and still freezing for most of Friday. My younger brother and his wife were in town, visiting my mother, and I just didn’t feel up to driving the 36 miles so I could see him. I am really sorry that I missed them, because I haven’t seen them in about five years. I got up and dressed long enough to go out to eat with Fabgrandpa, but went right back to bed as soon as I got home. Again, very unusual for me.
On Saturday, I was feeling somewhat better, so we packed our suitcases and headed out for a short road trip. The first stop was in Cornelia, Georgia to have dinner with our daughter, Becky, and her husband Rafe, his parents, and his aunt and uncle. Rafe’s mother and I hit it off the first time we met, a few months before the wedding last year. I really enjoy her company–we seem to have quite a bit in common. She cooked a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with a stuffed turkey, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, cranberry sauce, and sauteed green beans. It was quite delicious, and the company was great. We had a wonderful time with them.
We spent the night in Cornelia on Saturday night, then drove up to Cherokee, North Carolina on Sunday to meet our friends, Rob and Terry, and go to Harrah’s Casino. While we were there, I got separated from my three companions, and spent about an hour and a half looking for them. At one point, I decided I would call them, but when I started looking for my cellphone, I couldn’t find it so I thought I had lost it. I was so disheartened by that thought that I went to the bar and had a “few” margaritas. I figured they would show up at the bar eventually, and I was right! We went to Paula Deen’s Restaurant at the casino for dinner. It was ok, but I was kind of disappointed in the shrimp on the seafood platter I ordered. They tasted like some of those precooked ones you get at the grocery store had been rolled in cornmeal and fried. Not so good for such a famous name.
When we left the casino around 9:30 p.m., it was raining. We went to bed as soon as we walked in the door of the motel. I didn’t even get my laptop out of the bag! This morning, we got up and dressed, and headed out the door around 9:00 a.m. After breakfast with Rob and Terry, we started on our way to Cleveland, Georgia, to visit with Fabgrandpa’s parents. It rained on us all the way from Cherokee to Cleveland! Nana and Poppa looked like they are doing pretty good. The last time we saw Nana, she was in a rehab facility after having had surgery to repair a broken hip from a fall last spring. She looked so much better this time!
We had a very nice visit, but we had to be home for an appointment in the morning, so we left around 4:00 p.m. It was still raining when we left, and rained on us all the way to the Alpharetta exit off of Georgia 400. It stopped raining abruptly, and the sky turned a gorgeous golden glow!
Traffic at that time of day in the Atlanta area is atrocious! We got on I-285 at 5:30 p.m. and it took us until 6:00 p.m. to get to the I-75 interchange, and until 8:00 p.m. to get home. Round trip was ab out 480 miles, but we enjoyed seeing all our friends and family along the way.
We got back home on Tuesday night. We couldn’t stay long because we had an appointment on Wednesday morning in Carrollton, but we had a really really good time and a great visit with “Polly”. I hope we get to see her again soon!
Today, I learned how to embed a Powerpoint Presentation in a blog post, so I am experimenting with that newfound knowledge. Here are is the story of our drive home from Brunswick: (I think you have to click on it to make the slides move)
Both nights that we were in town, Polly came over and spent the evening with us in our room, before heading back over to here school for the night. We had a laugh-fest, that’s for sure! We talked about everything and anything, just as you would expect when getting together with friends. She told us this story:
“I decided to make some home made biscuits, and I thought they turned out pretty good. I munched on biscuits for several days while sitting at my desk. A few days later, I happened to notice a line of ants marching down the kitchen cabinet and through the dining area towards my desk. I thought the ants were going over there to eat up the biscuit crumbs I dropped on the floor under the desk, but NO! They were eating up a dead roach bug that I had swept over by the door and hadn’t picked up yet to put it in the trash. Can you believe that even the ants wouldn’t eat my biscuits?” That had us laughing even harder than before.
The last night we over to St. Simons Island to Barbara Jean’s for dinner. I forgot to take a picture of my food! If you have never been to Barbara Jean’s you have to go. Fabgrandpa had squash casserole and buttermilk fried shrimp. I had a “Coastal Platter” that came with a grilled fish fillet, grilled shrimp, and a crab cake with no filler on a bed or rice. Polly ordered the chicken fried steak and a baked potato. All of it was sooooo good! You can order crab cakes from their website and have them shipped anywhere in the country, so guess what I am getting for my next birthday (which I am changing to next week!)
After dinner we walked down to the pier. It was so nice down there, it was hard to believe it was the first week of November. The view at night is awesome, too. This photo doesn’t do it justice:
The evening was over much too fast! We went back to the motel and said our goodbyes. I missed her as soon as she walked out the door.
While our friend, Polly was in class the next day, Fabgrandpa and I drove out to Saint Simons Island and Jekyl Island. I never knew you could go crabbing in Georgia! Now that I know, we are planning a trip down to Jekyl Island sometime soon.
Look at that beautiful sky! and the water!
That bridge is awesome. Can you tell I love bridges?
Wonder what the catch of the day is?
Waiting for the fish to run.
Look at that jungle foliage. It is quite different from the Arizona desert.
It was a cool 75 degrees with a gentle breeze. Nice!
Oh, how I love this view!
We shared a cup of rainbow sherbert. Yum!
Now I know for sure we will be back! They said they catch 20-30 a DAY!
I wish I had a better picture of this bridge! Those huge cables hold it up.
This is a very nice campground, with spanish moss in those trees. $32 a night gets you full hook-ups and access to the public pier. We are definitely going back to spend some time there with our RV.
Fishing, crabbing, and chartered boats can be found at this public pier.
We drove back over the bridge, and back to our motel, where we waited for Polly to get out of class. More tomorrow.
