The First Leg- Part 1 of 4

Well I am finally going to get our big Tennessee vacation photos on here. Lots to share, so I'll do it in several posts. We spent a whole week in Tennessee, and it was one big treasure hunt for elongated pennies. So read and see all the fun places our penny hunt took us!



We left after work on Friday March 19th, and headed over to Cherokee, NC for the first evening, enjoying a stay at our favorite plush casino, Harrah's. No, I don't care to visit the actual gaming floor, but I sure do love their luxurious (free!!) suites. As much as we travel, I still have never stayed in a hotel room that I like more than the ones at Harrah's. I spent the evening relaxing in the massive spa tub, while James had fun at the tables- okay, so the room isn't really "free". The next morning we started off at Peter's Pancakes and Waffles, a wonderful diner that we never miss out on while in Cherokee. We have most of the pennies in Cherokee already. There is one location we haven't been, but we didn't have time this trip.



We drove across the mountains on a stunning Saturday, headed to Gatlinburg. Beautiful skies and the views are magnificent on US 441 through the Smoky Mountains National Park. And a fun treat to find snow on the ground everywhere. It was actually quite warm and sunny out, so it was a surprise. Some areas had giant icicles still hanging from rocks, and small waterfalls frozen solid.



We got to our hotel in Gatlinburg, a very nice Fairfield Inn on the outskirts of town. Because we got there early, we left the truck and hopped onto the Gatlinburg Trolley. We were incredibly lucky because there was a trolley stop right there at the door of the hotel. The 50 cent ride took us right to downtown Gatlinburg. For those of you who have never been (and why haven't you!!!), Gatlinburg is only a few blocks long, but on a gorgeous Saturday like that day was, it was bumper to bumper to bumper cars, with hundreds of people walking along the sidewalks. The trolley was THE way to ride.



And since this vacation was all about the pennies for us, we had lists of all the machines in each of the towns, thanks to our favorite penny website and especially the hard work of James, who planned everything well in advance and had everything organized perfectly. Gatlinburg has several machine locations, and while many were just in shops, there were several at area attractions. So we charted out all the machines and started on our scavenger hunt. One machine took us to the Space Needle, and we were able to get a great photo of downtown from above. Busy little main street!



We also got a great view of Mount LeCounte (in the background), where many hikers- including my sister and her husband (and, I believe, James' sister Stephanie)- have taken the grueling trek up to the top and to the lodge. I would love to complete such a feat one day, but well, if you read my other blog you know I am in no physical shape to do it.





We spent a fun few hours walking through the Ripley's museum. Sadly their penny machine was out of order. I don't know why, but Ripley's has a number of attractions in this area. We only had time to take in one on this trip, and although we've been to Gatlinburg before, somehow we've not made it to their aquarium yet. Next time.





Although there was a bit of troublesome weather on Sunday, we took the chance and headed up the Sky Lift. Because, of course, there is a penny machine up at the top. James and I rode this back in 2004, and as you go up, they take your photo in the chair (the one below was self-inflicted). We have the photos from both trips, and it was fun to compare them. We haven't changed too much over the years...







We also spent time in neighboring Pigeon Forge, where we took in a show at the Comedy Barn. And yes, they had a penny machine in the lobby, so we naturally were drawn there. I'm glad we went, it was two hours of cute fun- from acrobatic dogs, to singing and good music, to puppets and comedic magic, even a ventriloquist. I told someone the other day it was "Hillybilly hokey", but it sure was a good evening. We did a lot of laughing.



We also ate dinner both Saturday and Sunday nights in Pigeon Forge, at The Old Mill. The first night we ate at the smaller Pottery House Cafe across the street. Then the main restaurant (below) the next night. Country cooking at its finest, and I sure did enjoy the enormous pottery shop, although the pieces I really loved were way out of our price range. We found this restaurant because it has a penny machine in the general store attached to it. Of course!





There were plenty of pennies to collect in Pigeon Forge. One was at WonderWorks (above). We only had time to run in and get the pennies, but it is on our list for next time. They told us it would take about two hours to go through the place, and we just didn't have the time that weekend, but we were so intrigued we know we will go there again. And we didn't have time, because "someone" had to go to her all-time favorite Christmas store to do some shopping (below). Yes we collect the smashed pennies, but my souvenir of our travels always includes an ornament for our tree. Of course, the store had a penny machine, so it was on our list already. I would have stopped anyhow, because I don't go to Pigeon Forge without going here!





We had a little extra time in the late evening to find an arcade (and penny machine), and if you read me regularly, you know we are both addicted to the games there. Skee ball in particular. But James gave his hand at basketball and football, and I might add, won enough tickets to get me a stuffed animal. (A gator, of course!) And as we were out driving, my husband's eagle eye spotted a penny machine outside this store, one that wasn't on the website! What an extra bonus! (We only got the penny, sadly no funnel cake as we had just eaten dinner.)



That Monday morning it was time to leave, and we woke up to snow falling. So of course, like any normal people, we went and played miniature golf! Another one of our addictions, like skee ball. The snow had just started when we got on the course. But by the time we finished it was coming down quite hard and starting to pile up. Odd, we were the only ones out there playing... We got all the pennies in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge- all except for the million they have at Dollywood, which was not open yet for the season.







Time to get on up the road and head to our next penny stops. We hit several machines in Sevierville, but just at quick in-and-out stores. No time to take in any attractions that day. On to K-Town!

In Limbo

I realized I haven't blogged from over the weekend yet, so it's time to catch up with a quick post. I am actually smack in the middle of getting ready for this upcoming weekend, but can't leave friends and family hanging about our last weekend. I think our parents rely on this blog to keep up with our life!!

Friday we leave for a long overdue vacation, and I will have plenty to blog about when we get back. But this last weekend, we had a fairly quiet two days, at least for us. Saturday morning we spent running errands around Newnan- and a cat to the vet- then a late breakfast at our favorite new Saturday morning place, The Dwarf House (Chick-Fil-A's full service restaurants). James then had to go up to Atlanta for a fun evening of NBA basketball with his fellow employees at a company sponsored event.

I did a few chores around the house, which included planting new trees. See them below? Yes, this is what you get for donating $10 to the Arbor Day Foundation- 11 tiny little baby trees. I know they look like sticks, but trust me, they are all already blooming with buds. I donated to the ADF many years ago and got the same gift of trees, and I managed to keep them alive for a long time, but eventually things happened in my life back then that caused me to neglect the poor saplings. I won't fail them this time! They are snug in big pots right outside the back door and under the deck, so hopefully the deer will leave them alone.





Sunday was our day to go check on the company trucks at the shuttle sites, since we won't be in town the next two weekends of March. On this trip, the penny machine hunt led us to the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Macon. That was, after a comedic half hour of driving up and down a highway, trying to rescue a big turtle as he crossed the road. I wish I had photos, but I was driving- which makes the story even funnier if you know how badly I drive.

MAS, as it's called, is a small museum, and we think probably geared more for children or families, but we enjoyed an hour or so there. They have a small area with animals (the tamarins were just too cute!), a planetarium, several educational areas, and an art gallery. When we were there, the entire gallery was dedicated to local Macon artist William Segal. It was the last day of the exhibit. Very unique work, and pieces spanning from the 1940's to the 1980's. He had an oddly strange but serene style, and I fell in love with several of his landscapes.



And also at the museum- for those of you who own cats and ever wonder if those silly little furballs actually have a brain in their head- well yes, yes they do......

The Latest In Kitty Toys

We put a small humidifier in the bedroom a few days ago, and the cats have been fascinated with it ever since! When it's on, they stick their little faces over the vent where the air is blowing out. And when it's off, Spider gets frustrated with it and keeps knocking it over just as quickly as I can set it back up. I hope the newness wears off soon, as we would like to actually be able to USE this! Right now it is just a giant cat toy!

My Special Surprise Saturday

So all week long my husband kept telling me he had a super secret treat for me this weekend, but he wouldn't tell me what it was. Wouldn't even give me a clue. Just kept taunting me with it. And of course, I can't just leave things alone, so I tried to figure it out. I had a hundred ideas of what it could be, but I never came up with what it actually turned out to be.

Saturday was a gorgeous brilliant, clear day, and got up into the 50's. We took the train into Atlanta, where we stopped at the CNN center for coffee. While there, we got a bonus as the connecting Philips Arena was opened up for an Atlanta Thrashers game (hockey)- so we were able to sneak over to get the elusive pennies in the machine there. With Starbucks in hand, we headed over to Centennial Park.









Centennial Park is of course the past host of the 1996 Olympics. As you can see, it was such a beautiful day, there were plenty of people strolling, playing, and relaxing at this 21 acre park right in the middle of downtown. The last time I was here, it was at Christmas a few years ago, and during the evening the entire park is decorated with lights and Christmas trees. I don't know which sight is more lovely, nighttime holiday lights or a bright sunny afternoon.







The park also happens to be centrally located around several tourist hot spots, including the World of Coca Cola, and the Georgia Aquarium. We've been to both, but it's been several years, long before we actually moved here. So, that was my exciting surprise. James had two tickets in hand for the aquarium. If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know how much I love aquariums and post lots of pictures, and I have plenty of photos for this visit too. But, for those of you who don't know, the Georgia Aquarium happens to be THE WORLD'S LARGEST!!!





It was extremely crowded. It could just be the locals enjoying such a perfect day out and about downtown. Or it could be that the NASCAR race is here this weekend (go Tony!), and these were visitors. But, it is still wonderful for the local economy to see SO many people out discovering the joys of the aquarium. Not to mention for us, the three penny machines scattered throughout the building. We were able to see the latest additions to the aquarium, the lionfish (top), the amazing and enormous whale sharks (above), and of course the return of the aquarium's beloved beluga whales (below). The whales temporarily went to an aquarium in San Antonio, then Maris (in photo) was brought back just last week along with a new whale named Beethoven.



Of course there are plenty of non-fish cuties to look at, including the penguins, gators, snakes, turtles, poison dart frogs, and otters. A dolphin exhibit is currently under construction at the aquarium and will be open later this year. Sadly the sea lions are no longer there, and I remember them from our last visit, but their old home is being renovated for the dolphins. We caught the otters at nap time apparently. They reminded us of the fuzzy piles of sleeping kitties we have at our house.







Although many of the fish are in smaller exhibits so you can get right up close to them, there are several enormous displays as well. The one below looks like a gigantic movie screen, but it's not, it's a six million gallon saltwater tank.





There were also plenty of overhead tanks as well. Pretty cool as you don't always get to see this "side" of the fish.



The Georgia Aquarium has every aspect of marine life, from local and global rivers to the tropics to the deep cold oceans.













I wasn't able to get as many sharp images with my camera as I normally do at aquariums. The glass here was quite a bit thicker than what I've ever seen before. Plus, with it being so crowded, sometimes it took a patient wait of several minutes before I could get up to any of the displays. And then of course I had a line of eager visitors waiting for me to move out of the way.





After the aquarium, James and I walked around downtown for awhile. It was actually very quiet out on the streets as we made our way up to a different train station. But so pretty out that we weren't ready to go home yet. We stopped and had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe (bottom), one of our customers. Although we don't actually "live" in Atlanta (we are the next county down), when we were asked where we were from, I said "here" because I know we looked like tourists with our souvenir bag from the aquarium, and my camera out taking pictures of buildings!





When we got home later in the afternoon, it was still so warm out, I let the kitties have some time out on the back deck. Spider stayed out until the sun started going down. They love it out there, and the birds where busy at all the feeders and the sun was shining on the cats. After all, even the kitties deserve a special treat every now and then!

3 Days, 3 States, and 3 Sites

This past weekend was a long one, especially for driving. We left work on Friday and headed towards our old stomping grounds in the Carolinas. We stayed in SC that evening then got to Charlotte, NC in the late morning on Saturday. We were there for the wedding of James' best friend of twenty years, Ron, and his beautiful new bride Zoila. There was a small ceremony at the home they will be sharing together now, and afterwards we all went out to eat at a very authentic Latin American restaurant in honor of Zoila's heritage. They served more food than I could have eaten in a whole week...... Best Wishes to our dearest friend Ron and the lovely Zoila, we hope you have many happy and wonderful years together! And we can't wait for them to visit us soon.







Instead of heading back home, we left Charlotte later that afternoon and drove once again through SC and back into GA, where our GPS found a nice little hotel for us on Lake Oconee in Eatonton. Off the beaten path, and we never would have stumbled on it without the help of the GPS. Our room overlooked the lake (view from our window below), and the hotel was right next to a wonderful seafood restaurant that we just walked over to. Sadly, we were both still so full from the wedding luncheon, we barely touched our dinners, as yummy as the food was. The lake was gorgeous, and the area had a small resort feel to it, and since it isn't that far from home I have put it on the list of places we should go back to one weekend.





On Sunday we headed to south GA to check the tractors and trailers at three different shuttle sites for work, which you may remember I blogged about a few weeks ago as being part of our monthly routine from now on.

In our last city on the tour, we stopped at the National Civil War Naval Museum because, of course, they have a penny machine. We spent almost two hours there, enjoying both replicas such as the USS Water Witch (the ship outside), and the real deal. We could have spent all day at the museum, there were so many articles and documents there to read. Even a short movie which we enjoyed.







The ship above is so large, this is only half of it, I couldn't fit it all in one photo. This ship, the CSS Jackson, was burned during the War, but almost a century later the remains were brought up from the water. This part of the museum was actually constructed around the ship, because of the ship's size. Also in the museum were hundreds of pieces from all sorts of Civil War vessels- authentic weapons and ammunition, photos, letters from soldiers, even the flags that were flown on the ships during the War. A very interesting place, and another stop that we would never have made without the lure of the pennies to add to our collection!