We left Thursday morning (6/22) and headed to Lake Junaluska. For the first time in 11 years we did not stay with Katie and kids at her parents' mountain house because they sold it. So sad. It was definitely the end of an era. We stayed at the Ramada Inn (pronounced Ram-a-da by Will) where our Palmyra friends, Mike and Janice, always stay. We got up there and dropped Drew off at the lake for his clergy meeting and the kids and I went to check in. We picked him up when the meeting was over and we then met Mike for dinner at our usual, Butts on the Creek. Because of a sick aunt, Janice didn't get to come this year. We enjoyed our dinner with Mike though. I will say Butts on the Creek has been a little disappointing the last couple years but because I want a picture of them by the sign, we keep eating there. Maybe I need to let the tradition go. Will was petting a random cat outside the restaurant and it scratched him. Thankfully he didn't get cat scratch fever and ruin our vacation! ha! Will was relentless about playing putt putt so we found the only place open that evening for him to play. It was just barely raining though so we let the boys play and the girls stayed in the car so he could satisfy his putt putt obsession! We spent the night at the hotel and started the trek to FL on Friday morning.
We took a very long and scenic route to FL. We could't check into the house until 4pm on Saturday so we had no reason to hurry. We took the scenic route through the mountains on our way. We detoured through downtown Franklin, NC just to check it out and then we stopped at the Tallulah Gorge State Park. They had a great little visitors center and within a very short walking distance you could see some pretty waterfalls. It was a nice little stop. We stopped for lunch at a little 50's diner in Clayton, GA. The kids played in the telephone booth - which they had never seen one of before. We finally reached out destination for the evening, Columbus, GA where we met up with my parents. We had stayed there two years ago and discovered Columbus had a really neat downtown area. We got there in time for dinner so we headed downtown where we ate dinner and explored the riverfront. It is such a neat area. They had the coolest playground, a splash pad, great views of the river and just a cool downtown area. It was a fun evening down there.
Saturday morning we set out and then stopped a couple hours later in Eufala, AL for lunch at the Cajun Corner. We stopped there two years ago and enjoyed a lunch there but I think it will be the last time we stop. The food is actually pretty good and the actual restaurant is fine but it's in a really disgusting building. You go out a back door of the restaurant and you are in a hallway that leads to the bathroom. There is no bathroom directly in the restaurant. It's a really old building that at one time had a few different shops in it or was an old inn. You can see some really cool architecture things in some of the old stores but it smells in the hallway. It smells REALLY bad. Like cat urine. Like feral cats had lived in the hallway and used the carpet as a litter box. It was literally awful. We held our shirts up over our noses when we went to the bathroom. So I think we might be done with the Cajun Corner.
We finally got to FL, after leaving home on Thursday! We got to the house just a few minutes early but ended up having to wait a little while to get in while they finished cleaning.
Annual Conference - in Maggie Valley
with Mike!
at Tallulah Gorge State Park
Playing in a new toy - a telephone booth!
Fun in downtown Columbus, GA
No comments:
Post a Comment