Category On the Road Again

Last weekend we went to the Mississippi Coast. You see we were supposed to go see Elton John a few weeks ago in Birmingham. Rob and Teenager had tickets on the 8th row and I along with another friend of ours had tickets not so close, but Elton ended up sick. So we got notification 2 hours before leaving that it was cancelled. So bummed! Rob’s been keeping an eye out for Elton concerts within driving distance that had good seat available. He found some in Biloxi on the 16th row. It was a bit pricey, so I told him that we could make it a family trip, but that Monkey and I would stay back at the hotel and save us $400.

Saturday morning we got up at 4:30am and headed down that way. We stopped at Krispy Kreme for hot, fresh donuts.

We got there in time to do the first trip out of the d...

It’s not like I don’t have enough to do, but I find these little things that irritate me that become my obsession until I do them. One of which is going through my old Xanga posts namely Travel posts and reposting them with pics and more cohesiveness. The first one I found after talking to some of my student workers about going to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. I looked back at my post from them and was like “GAG!” So here’s my first post recreation.

In January 2005, Rob and I went to Louisiana for the New Year. Auburn had gone undefeated that year in football and was playing in the Sugar Bowl. We decided to make a trip out of it, so we went a few days earlier and stayed with Rob’s family in Baton Rouge...

Today we enjoyed our last morning in the mountains with our friends. I’ll be posting many more pics from the weekend soon. I capture this one right before we left for our drive home.

                    

I feel like I haven’t blogged in forever! I am so far behind and with each passing day, I get farther and farther behind. It’s so frustrating, but life has been so busy. Although, it’s summer, it sure doesn’t feel like except for the HEAT outside. Sometimes I think life would be easier if we all had a pause button, so I could get caught up! Never hurts to dream, right? Well, I’m going to do my best this week to get caught up on my pictures and my blog.

Friday July 20th, we picked Teenager up at the end of Sweat Week and headed to Baton Rouge for a long weekend. Rob’s Grandmother passed away on July 16th and Rob’s Dad and Uncle were nice enough to push the funeral out to the weekend. After a fairly uneventful drive down, we arrived at Candi’s house (Rob’s cousin) about midnight...

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.

We didn’t get to spend a great deal of time there, because some of us were starving as soon as we got there. We took off and went to Papa’s Pizza To Go for a lunch buffet.

After that we went for a swim at the Clay County Recreational Park on Lake Chatug...

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. Everytime we left the cabin, we passed this place and it peaked 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 and restaurant. Lots of fun “junk” to take pics of! I was in heaven.

We enjoyed some ice cream.

There were chickens just hanging out…everywhere! It was so cool.

Tubing made us quite hungry, so when we got home the boys lit the fire and go the steaks going. YUM!

We, finally, ...

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 small fish caught and thrown back in.

After an hour or two of fishing, lunch was in order, before our next adventure. We ate pulled pork sandwiches with mac ‘n cheese and beans back at the cabin.

Then we went to Young Harris College for a private tour and cosmic concert show...

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.

Daisy loved it!

If I’d only had had my video camera. As we were walking along the trail, Daisy spotted a squirrel and thank goodness the squirrel was running up on the left hand side of the trail, because Daisy took after it...

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 dinner.

After dinner and some relaxation we headed back out for the fireworks in Blairsville.

Then back to the cabin for a snack and some sparklers.

Day 1 Pics

In case you missed it, here is the p...

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 I was horrified every time we made out way back up the mountain is an understatement as I cringed, holding my breath with my eyes squeezed shut as our Honda inched it’s way up the road.

Front Porch

Living room

Beautiful kitchen

My in-law’s room upstairs