Home Sweet Home

Tuesday 6/30/2015

Monday was a driving day to get from Savannah to our (airport) hotel in Atlanta. There was no time to try to tour around Atlanta as we returned the rental car after checking in to the hotel, took the shuttle back and had dinner at the Ruby Tuesday across the driveway from our Sleep Inn accommodations. We took advantage of a relaxed evening as we would rise early for the shuttle to the airport.

We arrived home on Tuesday afternoon and were both happy to be home. It was a great vacation and we had a good and fun time.

Starting out with the family reunion at Lake James in North Carolina was a fine way to launch us onto our trek of the southeast. My friend Lynne calls the family reunions "summer camp", and this one lived up to the name. Flyfishing, swimming (and for Jaydon, learning to jump off a high deck), biking, stand up paddling, kayaking, pedal boating and a little water skiing rounded out the agenda for camp. Let us not leave out the fine family time gathered around scrumptious meals, porch rocking time, family story and slide showing time, and restful reading time. A warm and loving, active family to share time with is a special time indeed.

 

Family

 

Our planning for this trip was really good, and the tips we got from Uncle Bill, Aunt Carol and Sally added a lot to our exploring. There were so many highlights that I am reluctant to chose one (or more). I must say that the tea room in Asheville, NC was a treat. I am so pleased that Susan, who does not normally like that kind of thing, indulged me in this delight. Biking around Hilton Head Island is way up there as well. But I don't want to take away from any of the other things we did, so let it be said that the entire trip was a highllight.

Though hot (and HUMID) we did ok with the weather. That is helped by joining every one else by living from one AC to the next (car, stores, cafes, hotel room). We had at least 5-6 heavy thunder and lightning storms (one, you will recall, I rode my bike through), and a few light rain moments. The storms seem to simply roll through and within about 10 minutes it is sunny and hot again. Except for that bike ride, each time we had a storm we were not out in it so storms did not deter our activities. The light rain felt really good to walk in due to the heat we were in.

 

Uncle Bill knows how to stay cool

 

We notice that there seems to be a lot more cigarette smoking over there. A lot of smokers do so when walking down the street or standing on a street corner (with no apparent need to stand clear of public buildings). But -- I didn't see cigarette butts crushed out on sidewalks or in the streets, so they seem to be "neat" smokers.

Except for a very few, the people we encountered -- on the street, in shops, restauarants, hotels, tourist attractions -- were friendly and helpful. There was REAL Southern hospitality and charm for the most part.

With this trip I got to bike in two new states (SC & GA) even though the ride in GA was short, I did ride on Georgia soil (or pavement as it were). We did not bike a whole lot, but we did walk a ton of steps each day which added up to be quite a few miles on our feet.

We wouldn't want to live there ;'-) but we sure enjoyed visiting.

That about wraps up this adventure. Most likely there will be more posts as we travel through the summer.

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