As I was driving northwest through Tennessee I came across the Cherokee Removal Memorial Park at Blythe Ferry. It is a very moving testimony to the tragedy of our treatment of Native Americans in the 1800's. Mostly...
Unicoi State Park is in the mountains in Helen, GA. It is a beautiful scenic area, with lots of recreational opportunities. We spent a week staying in a cabin in the park, and despite a lot of rain, managed to have a wonderful time. Helen is in the northeast corner...
I know I've said before that one of my favorite parts of travel is the unexpected. I was dubious as to how much I would enjoy a "cowboy museum" but I found a wonderful museum with so much more than I expected - all in a beautiful building, with everything beautifully...
Oh, yes, I've found another Indian Mound site to visit. What can I say? Yes, there are a lot of similarities, but there are also differences. And I really enjoy walking the sites and imagining the life that used to go on there. This was an active village from...
Did you know there was a Hindu Temple in Atlanta? Neither did I, until someone put a picture on Facebook, and I knew I had to visit on my next trip to Atlanta. Well, here I am, and I spent Wednesday morning visiting the Mandir. It is only 10 years old. It is a...
Founders Memorial Garden is in the heart of the University of Georgia campus in Athens, Georgia. It was created in 1936 to honor the 12 members of the very first garden club in the United States, which was called the Ladies Garden Club of Athens, founded 1891. Garden...
After living in Savannah for 10 years, I'm still finding new places to explore! Last week Jacob and I visited Old Fort Jackson, just 2 miles south of the city of Savannah. It was the last line of defense on the Savannah River. It is a National Historic Landmark, and...
Jacob and I paid a visit to the Railroad Museum in Savannah this week. It is a National Historic Landmark site, and they have a large collection of steam engines in their Roundhouse. This is the site of the workshops and terminal of the Old Central of Georgia...
My final stop on my way home from Indiana was a visit to the State Botanical Gardens. I had been there once in the middle of summer, and wondered what would be blooming during an early spring visit. Athens is quite near Atlanta, if you need an orientation,...
One of the things I like best about staying off the Interstates and traveling on smaller, less busy roads, is that you never know what you may discover. Some of my stops are planned, but some of my very favorite stops were unexpected surprises. Fort Southwest Point...
Berne, Indiana is a small town south of Fort Wayne, Indiana with a Swiss Mennonite background. They came in the early 1800's seeking religious freedom and a place to farm and make a new life for themselves. There is a strong Swiss influence in many...
Last week one of my Garden Club friends took me for lunch at Miss Sophie's at the Mighty 8th Air Force Museum in Pooler, and then we toured the museum. An important fact about Savannah is that it is a military town, especially the South Side. Hunter Army Air Force...
On all my visits to Amelia Island, I had never visited Fort Clinch State Park. The park is huge, with campsites, beaches, and miles of biking paths. It is an idyllic setting, and I saw many people taking advantage of it when I visited on Sunday. It...
Fernandina Beach is the northernmost city in Florida with a population around 12,000. It was founded in 1811, and named after King Ferdinand of Spain. Because of the railroad it had a building boom after the Civil War. It is such a nice little city that I have...
Amelia Island is the northernmost barrier island in Florida, and therefore quite close to us in Savannah - just 2 hours drive away. I've made many trips there over the years, and last weekend had the happy experience of taking a watercolor painting class at the...
After a few days in Atlanta seeing some of my retired UCC Ministers (a job I do with the Pension Board) I headed south to Americus, GA to visit the site of Habitat For Humanity's Global Village. Habitat For Humanity has so far built affordable housing in 70...
Visiting Grand Bay Banks Lake was one of our evacuation activities during Hurricane Matthew. We evacuated to Valdosta, GA and all five of us shared a hotel room for 3 nights. My son, daughter-in-law, and 2 grandchildren shared this "adventure". Why,...
I was very interested in the exhibit in the Blowing Rock Art Museum on Junaluska, an African-American community on the outskirt of Boone, NC. Boone is quite a large mountain town, and is named for Daniel Boone, said to have spent time in the area. It is the home of...
This is going to be a "starting somewhere in the middle" kind of post, because I thought I had posted last year's trip, and I see I haven't, mainly because I didn't actually make it last year! I was at Blowing Rock two years ago, before I started keeping this blog....
We all know about the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, but we may forget that it was first of all a mission of the Catholic Church. There were 6 missions scattered along the San Antonio River built in the 1730's, and the missionary priests had two main objectives: to...