It's been some time since i last posted. My main reason for that has been that I was dreading uploading all of the photos I'd want to put in this post! I was just going to make one post about our vacation, but it was a doozy of a trip, so I figured I'd better split it into two posts: for my own sanity as well as your own.
When we were searching for a place for our vacation this year, we really only had a few stipulations.
1. It had to be a place that wasn't covid-crazy.
2. It couldn't be in PA in the Poconos, since that's where we've gone the last two years.
We used the same vacation rental/time share/ministry leader discount that I've mentioned in years previous. The catch with their program is that you have to check their website CONSTANTLY because the inventory changes daily. Some days in March/April, I was checking it daily and the only places fitting our desires were in TX and Nevada.
Finally, one place opened up in TN. Resort looked to be older, and not in the best of condition, but I booked it after we called them and they told us their policy regarding Covid was chill.
Our trip down south began Oct 14th. We drove down to PA where we stayed one night with my parents. Then we continued our drive the following day.
We stopped at Cyrus McCormick's home and the place where he invented the harvester in VA. As we pulled up to the exit, I told Dan I was craving fried chicken. He was in the mood for barbeque though. How awesome was it that the exit had a truck stop with both of those things at their restaurant!?
We took our meals to eat on the grounds at the McCormick farm.
Then we explored the old buildings.
Stopping there and one other time caused us to make it to TN when it was already dark. We managed to find our resort "home away from home" even though the office was closed when we got there.
Like we'd already expected, it wasn't anything fancy, but it was clean, welcoming and warm. So that's all I cared about.
The kitchen
Island and dining table
Living room
The next morning on Saturday, we woke up, ate breakfast, and then of all things, stopped at a yard sale, where the lady told us about a town we should go see, as well as invited us to her church's fall festival that evening.
We drove to the town, Dan dropped me off at a church thrift store while he took the girls to the park.
Then after perusing for a bit, I walked to join them.
Then we drove to the fall festival and enjoyed listening to Gospel music, and seeing the vendors and old cars (they had a car show).
That evening, we went back to the resort and made dinner.
On Sunday, we went to two different churches. One on Sunday morning and a different one Sunday evening. It was appalling to me how many Baptist churches there were even in the somewhat remote area where we stayed!
On Monday morning, I went for a morning jog down to the lake, which was very pretty.
After breakfast, we set off on our adventure for that day!
We first went to a mini golf place.
The girls rode on this little train and enjoyed it even though it only went around and around in circles. :-)
Eliza and I
The Hydrangea were beautiful and reminded me of our wedding!
The little golfers and Dan
I thought it was pretty neat that at each little hole, there was a plaque with Bibl verse on it. The whole place gave the gospel clearly. We later met the owner.
We went to a state park after, for some hiking.
Dan took Lucie and I had Gwen (and was carrying Eliza) and were went different ways. Gwen kept sitting on every rock asking me if I wanted to take her picture. :-)
The bridge also served as a dam, which I thought was neat! All built by FDR in part of his "new deal", we later found out.
That evening I made supper again at our resort.
Tuesday morning:
We went to the model train club to see the awesome scenes they had set up. The men there were super helpful, fun, and easy-to-talk to. They even brought out this cart for the girls, so they could see better.
On the sides of the displays, there would sometimes be little buttons to push that made different trains go or helicopters fly. The girls loved it.
Walking thru the mall, Gwen asked if she could ride the horse.
Honestly, I havent seen one of these in a long time! First time ever, but I let her ride the thing. The amount that it moved was pretty pathetic, but she enjoyed it. :-)
Then we went to this historic tower. It's funny, but the history there in TN didn't date back very far. This was the only historic landmark near where we stayed, and it was from when FDR made his "new deal" and built 200-some houses for low income families. This tower was built at the same time and of the same materials. 200 or so of the houses were still standing, so Dan and I had a fun time pointing out the houses we thought were part of it.
Since it was right by a school and school had just finished letting out, we spent some time on the playground.
Dan, reading to the girls.
Wednesday:
We woke up, ate breakfast, and got an earlier start to our day. Drove to the Ozone Falls and hiked to it.
Then drove to a scenic overlook.
Then we went to another playground.
I was so happy to see that the asian buffet was open (we haven't eaten at a buffet since 2019 because NY state has basically killed them all). We went there for lunch and it hit the spot!
Happy Eliza
We went to two churches on Wednesday evening. One at 6PM and one at 7. :) If you couldn't tell, we like to visit as many churches as we can in a trip!
Thursday:
In the morning after eating, Dan went to the main office and did our laundry (since we'd be checking our Friday morning). I took the girls for a little walk in the rain down to the lake, where they enjoyed collecting nuts and throwing them in the water for "the fish to eat".
Then around lunchtime, Dan's brother, his wife and kids, and my mother-in-law arrived from driving up to see us from GA. It was nice to spend time with them! We ate lunch, went to a park, then that evening it stopped raining just long enough for us to go to the campground where they were going to stay and have a bonfire/dinner.
It was very nice.
The rainbow after the storm.
It was a great week in Tennessee!
Knowing Dan, he will probably want to try somewhere different next year, but I would go back! I didn't get photos of everything we did, but the main office of the resort also had a large indoor pool that the girls and Dan used, and also a library, mini golf course, and foosball and lots of other fun games. We played those all one day too. I just forgot photos.
Well, stay tuned for Part 2 of our exciting adventures down south!
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