Winter In The South

I WON'T TRY TO PUT CAPTIONS FOR EACH OF THESE PHOTOS, I'M SURE YOU CAN GET THE POINT. THIS IS WHAT I DROVE HOME IN TODAY, WHAT A WAY TO END THE WORK WEEK. I KNOW THE FOLKS UP NORTH WILL LAUGH AT US DOWN HERE, BUT THIS IS A LOT OF SNOW FOR SOUTH OF ATLANTA. AND WE HAVE MORE ON THE WAY SUNDAY AND MONDAY. IT'S ABOUT 30 NOW, BUT WILL BE DOWN TO 20 TONIGHT.

WE WENT FROM NOTHING TO THIS IN ABOUT FOUR HOURS. UNFORTUNATELY MY HUBBY STILL ISN'T HOME YET, HE WILL BE AT WORK FOR QUITE SOME TIME THIS EVENING, UNTIL ALL HIS DRIVERS ARE BACK SAFE AND SOUND AT THE WAREHOUSE. I LET THE CATS OUT AND THEY DIDN'T QUITE KNOW WHAT TO MAKE OF IT. THEY ACTUALLY STAYED OUT FOR LONGER THAN I EXPECTED, AND I HAD TO LURE THEM BACK INSIDE BY SHAKING THE TREAT CAN.

I TOOK THESE PHOTOS ABOUT AN HOUR AGO, AND IT IS STILL SNOWING HARD OUT THERE. THESE PHOTOS DON'T DO IT JUSTICE AT ALL. I WISH I COULD SAY I WAS GOING TO HUNKER DOWN AND STAY WARM INSIDE FOR THE WEEKEND, BUT ALAS I HAVE AN APPOINTMENT TOMORROW MORNING THAT WILL SEE ME BACK OUT ON THESE ROADS. YUCK. I AM NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT AT ALL!

ENJOY THE PHOTOS!

Happy Birthday!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY VERY HANDSOME, SEXY, LOVABLE, WONDERFUL, PERFECT, AMAZING, CARING, THOUGHTFUL, DEDICATED, KIND, YOUNGER HUSBAND! I LOVE YOU! HOPE THIS YEAR IS A GREAT ONE FOR YOU!

Happy Anniversary!

James and I took Friday off from work, to have a nice long weekend for celebrating our anniversary. As soon as five o'clock hit on Thursday, we were out the door and on the road, where we relaxed for an evening at our favorite hotel in Chattanooga (above). It was a cold rainy night, and the fireplace was very inviting for two weary travelers. The rain continued into the next morning as we made our way to the small town of Dayton, to finally- successfully!!!- get the pennies from the general store. Across the street from the store is the county courthouse (below), the location of the famous "Scopes Monkey" trial in the 1920's.



We headed through the nasty weather to our destination for the weekend- a cabin on the lake at Fall Creek Falls state park. Our fun little cabin (below) was right on the shores of the lake. As you can see from the photos, the back end of the cabin is built up over the actual lake itself, so that the deck hangs right over the water. Had it been more convenient weather, we may have brought along our fishing gear. Still, we were able to enjoy the unimpeded views across the water. And it made it easy to feed bread to all the ducks and geese who just swam right up to our back porch.









The cabin was cozy and quaint, and luckily there was a large and readily available supply of firewood to help keep us warm over the weekend. We knew we were in for a cold few days, which we were okay with. We brought plenty of snacks and drinks, reading material, and even Boggle and Scrabble. I know it was rough on James because his Blackberry did not get service, and his laptop's air card did not either, which meant no internet (and no work!). The worst part of the weekend was no working remote control for the TV! Although James and I are old enough to remember life before cable and remotes, it's been a long time since we've had to change the channel manually, but James took the task seriously. After all, Saturday night was the first NASCAR race of the season!



We woke up to light snow and temps in the 20's on Saturday, and I'm not sure if it even got up beyond 29 for the day. While deciding what to pack earlier in the week, I actually watched the weather channel for forecasts and expected 40's. Thankfully we brought plenty of warm clothes, because we had no intentions of staying cooped up in the cabin, especially when the whole park lost power for several hours that afternoon. It snowed all day on Saturday, but it was only faint flurries- exciting for us in the South, but probably not even noteworthy for all those folks getting bombarded with snowstorms along the northeastern coast right now. I do admit as much as I love the flurries, I do not enjoy the iced up sidewalks and roads. Even the running boards on the truck were covered in inch-thick ice, and James had to help boost me up into the truck every time.





Originally we were going to spend the whole anniversary weekend in Chattanooga itself, playing tourist at all the attractions. But we decided we wanted a quiet few days together, and what better way to be alone with each other, than to get outside in the freezing cold and take in some of Mother Nature's beauty. We were actually surprised to see how many people were at the park for the weekend, although I suspect most of them stayed snuggled up inside because we saw very few people while we were traipsing outdoors.





The park is an astounding 20,000 acres of forest, gorges, waterfalls, rivers, and stunning rock formations. A smaller, greener version of the grander canyons out West. Although there was the occasional sightseer out and about, we felt as though we had the place all to ourselves. Us and the three or four dozen deer we saw meandering throughout the park. There were several suspended bridges right out over the water, and very little of the park was off limits, so we felt as though we were able to get right up close to everything.





The formation below was called the George Hole, although I'm not sure why. Most of the signs posted at all the scenic spots were actually frozen over with snow and ice. It was beautiful, that's all I can say. You can see how enormous the rocks are, and how tiny James looks beside them. The day was so gloomy, I had my flash on the whole time, and most of my photos are "dotted" with snowflakes falling just as I would snap the picture.







The highlights of the park are the many waterfalls (Fall Creek Falls, Piney Falls, Cane Creek Cascades and Falls), all of which were thunderous with all the extra rain the South has been receiving lately. They were all quite spectacular, and thankfully they were all easy to get to. I'm not up to much hiking these days.















We had a wonderful weekend getaway, but as all good things must, this also had to come to an end. The park has a super early check-out time (1oam!!), so no sleeping in for us on Sunday morning. We got up fairly early to beat the crowd, as all the cabins at the park were rented out and plenty of folks were staying up at the inn as well. We left in the early morning and had the roads to ourselves. The only eyes that watched us leaving the park were the deer on the golf course.





We left our weekend winter wonderland and headed back to our real lives, where my husband didn't even get to come home with me. He had to go directly to work, to oversee a Superbowl party for the Sunday night crew working in the warehouse. But, I am sure he went in very rested and relaxed, and hopefully very happy.

Fish For Sunday

Sunday we made our first of what will become monthly visits to one of the shuttle sites for our company's transportation department. Although our warehouse is located right outside of Atlanta, we deliver to not only the entire state of Georgia, but to the surrounding states as well. To cut down on driving time, we have multiple shuttle sites all over the state. The shuttle site James will be checking every month is about 160 miles south of Newnan. When we were in SC, James was over the warehouse, but since moving to ATL, he is in addition over the transportation department as well.



He will have to go to this site at least once a month and check the trailers and tractors, recording anything he sees out of place. (Below, he is checking the temperature of the unit on this trailer, since it has groceries on it.) And since it's such a long drive, I will be going with him, and we will try to make a day of it every trip. We mapped out all the locations in southern Georgia where we know there are penny machines, and we will pick one machine for each month.



For our first trip down that way, we went over to Albany, where we visited the Flint RiverQuarium and got their pennies. It's a small aquarium right on the river and also right in downtown. I told James I will be glad when winter is over because I am tired of always putting gloomy photos on the blog! We haven't seen the sun in a long time it seems. It was cold and blustery that afternoon as well.



For a small facility, they had plenty to see and do there. These were some of the biggest fish I've ever seen, including lots of catfish and a few gigantic sturgeon.



We were able to get up close and personal with a wide variety of critters. I know James will probably say, if you've seen one aquarium you've seen them all, but I happen to love them and I can spend 10-15 minutes in front of just one tank. And yes, I talk to the animals and the fish, and no I'm not expecting them to answer. Although one little baby gator tried desperately to snap at my camera as it was up against the glass. I don't think my husband is quite as enthralled with wildlife as I am, but he is very indulgent and never lets on if he is bored.















They even had a bird sanctuary outdoors. Most of the birds seemed to be those of the water loving species, because the aquarium is supposed to mimic life on the river. But there were a few song birds in there as well. I'm not sure if they were supposed to be there or just snuck in through the netting to feast on the free buffet. There was a sign at the entrance saying that most of the birds were people friendly and to not be alarmed if they landed on you. But, it was so cold out everyone was just fluffed up and huddling to stay warm. I was sort of disappointed no one paid us any attention, because I was hoping to make a new feathered friend.







Across the way, we checked out the second building which features rotating displays. For now, it's alligators. And here is James, right where any good UT Vol belongs- getting chomped and eaten alive by a Gator!



This little guy was giving me the evil eye, but he was just so darn cute for such a scary little fellow.



We finished up the visit by walking down to the river, where it was swelled with the recent rains. I don't know if you can make it out in this photo or not, but if you can see the tall street lamps down near the trees- well, that's where the sidewalk was. The water was muddy and rushing quite strongly.

We ended the day with a great lunch at Fuddrucker's (oh-so-yummy burgers) and will find another hidden gem and penny machine to visit on our trip next month. It was a long day, we left the house at 8am and got home after 6pm. But it was fun, and if my husband has to make this long drive for work anyhow, we might as well spend those days together and do something fun along the way.