9 Days, 9 States, Family Fun

Robin and I returned home from a wonderful vacation two days ago. We took a long scenic drive to visit Angela, Clayton, Ashton, Juliet, and Callan. We had a great time touring the newly remodeled cottage in the mountains, and loving on the three grandchildren I don't get to see often enough. We were treated to dinner, both at restaurants and at home with Angela's vegan cooking skills honed to perfection. We were offered the master suite and bath with a vase of fresh beautiful peonies. And Angela kicked us out one evening with a gift certificate for a nice cozy dinner for two, sans precious grandchildren.

I'd complain about all the fighting over who gets to sit by Memaw if it weren't so darned sweet.

Our visit with Clayton was too brief since he had to return to the real world and work. But we enjoyed visiting with him and seeing all the sights as he drove us around.

I was thrilled to finally get to meet Erin, one of Angela's dearest friends. As a bonus, I got to meet Karen, Erin's mother. We thought it'd be fun to plan a mother/daughter retreat at the cottage someday. Beautiful ladies.

Little Callan on the drums. Those golden curls and blue eyes just melt the heart. I could hear the sweet sounds of "Memaw, Memaw" every morning when he awoke. Yes, I felt special.

See? I'm actually standing in that beautiful cottage! How I longed to walk those rooms and it was well worth the wait. Saying goodbye to these three little ones was hard.

I am so stinkin' proud of this handsome foursome! I asked if I could take them home with me. Ashton jumped at the offer, saying he'd get to spend time with cousins Jude and Thomas. Juliet politely declined. She's a Mama's Girl and couldn't imagine leaving her side.

We took our time driving home and ended up putting over 2500 miles on Robin's truck. We both love road trips and prefer back roads to interstate. There's so much to see and enjoy. My senses were filled with mountains, water, and lush green foliage. The last time we tried a trip of this length I ended up in the hospital and we both felt cheated. Fortunately, no emergency rooms on this trip.

The above picture is of a natural bridge in Arkansas. It's in a very remote part of a mountain, complete with scary curves in the road. But it was an interesting sight.

This is an old moonshine stile. As I recall, some of my distant relatives knew a lot about this piece of machinery.

We browsed several wood carving shops, purchased rocks and mining bags to pan for our own gold and gems, and some pottery shops and flea markets. We saw two shops whose names were an interesting play on words:

A dog grooming salon - Doggie Style (hmmm, that does conger up the intended image)

A flea market and antiques mall - Fleas & Tiques (I'm guessing that those fleas and tiques could be handled at Doggie Style)

Thank you, Angela and Clayton, for a wonderful time. We so enjoyed your company, hospitality, and those three sweet kids!