Georgia, South Carolina & the Smokies

I'm getting pretty behind in these blogs...sorry, y'all! We travelled to Georgia last Saturday and stayed at the home of some of my good friends from college, the Iversons. They graciously hosted us in their lovely home and we went to church with them on Sunday. So good to hang out again and meet their girls. The kids had a great time playing. We got to visit Phil's vet practice and help a little with a wild hawk he was treating. They drove us by the golf course where the Masters is played but the course is extremely secluded and you can barely see into it.

Then it was on to South Carolina. I should say a little blurb here what this country is like. We were amazed how flat and treed it is in Florida and Georgia. So green -- lots of pine & oak trees. Not the tall evergreens like in Washington, but a lot of trees. Didn't realize it would be like this. It's really very beautiful. Almost everyone in the south here is saying we are getting in on unseasonably cool weather (thank you, Lord). But it's still pretty hot and muggy to us.

In South Carolina we stayed at a state park in Greenville, and had dinner with Mike's cousins, Dan & Brenda & their boys. Such fun for all of us to connect again. We wished for more time, but it was a short, good visit with our kids enjoying air-softing and X-box with the boys. We spent some of Monday restocking groceries and doing laundry at a laundromat. Didn't really site-see much in this area. The state park we stayed in reminded us of home, actually. Heavily wooded and it was raining.

Next stop was the Great Smoky Mountains. These are at the south end of the Appalachian Mountains and the National park is partly in North Carolina and partly Tennessee. This country is so beautiful! We split up with Steve & Loie for the night (they headed to a small town nearby to see friends) and we drove to Gatlinburg, did a little walking around, and then on to Cades Cove for the night. Cades Cove is a charming cove (valley) in the Smokies where an 18th century farming community has been preserved. There are several old churches and farmsteads with outbuildings. We felt like we'd stepped back in time. We camped at the campground and then rode our bikes around about a 10-mile loop the next morning to see the area. We can see why families holed up in these mountain valleys -- so peaceful and picturesque. The layers of green hills rising higher to a purple-gray. We didn't see any bears which supposedly are abundant in the park (Mom & Dad did see one) but we saw some deer, wild turkeys, and a little rattlesnake coiled up in an old barn. That was exciting!

On a food note, we had another great BBQ meal at a place in North Carolina called Fat Buddies. We were all hungry and the ribs were even more delicious than the Texas BBQ -- oops, hope we don't offend anyone with that opinion. And we have all learned to like sweet tea. And boiled peanuts...ok, those aren't everyone's favorites, but we liked them a lot more than we imagined we would. Thank you, Aunt Emily, for introducing us to that southern comfort food.