Happy Turkey Day!

As
we
count
our
blessings
it is
my wish
to all
of you for
a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Cutie Pie Pics and Polka Dots

I warned you. There would be grandbaby pics this post. I took oodles and oodles of photos. But I won't force you to look through all of them, even though he is the cutest baby in the country right now. (Sorry all you other grammies out there, I'm just slightly prejudiced you know!)

It's amazing isn't it, how fast these new little people change! Last time we saw him, he looked a lot like his Daddy and Grampa, but I do believe he's favoring his Mama's side of the tree right now. When we see him at Christmas, he'll probably have changed again! At least there's handsome genes on both sides!

This will probably be one of those photos he'll never live down. But I just can't resist! Can you say "drool"?

He's a happy guy - especially when the little Leap Frog sings the alphabet song in the car!

Okay, I'm done now. If you want more Grandbaby J - just let me know. I probably could find another two or three dozen cutie pie shots, like this one!

On to other things. Guess what was waiting for me in the stack of mail that our neighbor had retrieved for us? My Polka Dot and Rick Rack Swap package! Vickie at 2sistersandme had my name and sent some nice things. I almost forgot to take a photo before ripping into all the goodies!I found a cute polka-dot kitchen towel, polka dot tissues, a journal and cover with rick rack, polka-dot tissues, and a knitting pattern book and knitting needles. Plus some other fun things, including the all important chocolate! Thank you Vickie! And thank you Sharon for being the swap mama! I'm sure it is more work than I'm aware!
Earlier this year, Sharon hosted the cupcake swap too. My swap partner for that one was the wonderful Susan. I've been following her blog since then. She has recently posted that her husband is facing some serious health concerns right now. Please add them to your prayers. For the most part, bloggers (and their lurkers!) are a caring and supporting community. Join us in wishing them well.

Until next time - --

Swap Gifties On the Way

With my Polka-Dot and Rick Rack swap gifties all wrapped and sent on their merry way "back east" to a soon to be blogger friend, I'll let you all have a peek!

I only managed to personally make a couple of the things, but it is surprising how easy it is to find polka-dot themed items in the stores. I hope she likes her goodies. After looking at her blog, (I'll post it after I know she's received the package) I'm amazed at how talented she is so my things will in no way compare to what she can create!This is a close up of the little table-topper. It turned out pretty cute I think and I just might have to make a few more for some Christmas gifts. Lets see, that makes about two dozen different things on my to-do list for gifts!

Back to work on some of those things on the to-do list!

I'm Playing Tag!

With a lack of anything very exciting to blog about today so far I've decided to take my cousin Jo up on the tagging thing.

It is called 6th in the 6th and here are the rules:

The rules…

* Go to your sixth picture folder, then pick your sixth picture.

* Pray that you remember the details.

* Post it on your blog.

* Tag 5 others, and leave a comment to let them know they’ve been tagged.

Luckily I ended up with a fairly decent picture and not one that I should send to the delete file!

Now that I've posted this I'm wondering what I did with the black cat pumpkin accessories that I used last year!

So now I guess I have to tag some of my blogger friends. Susan, Lucy, Sarah, Sharon, Cheryl and anyone else that would like to join in. And ladies, if you don't feel inclined to play along, I promise I will not be offended!

On another note - I finished my Polka-Dot and Rick Rack Swap package and got it in the mail on Friday. I'm not sure if my swap partner reads my blog or not but I'll give the USMail a few days to deliver and then post a photo of the package I sent. Maybe I'll be receiving my own bundle of goodies in the next few days too!

See you later!

Our Vacation - The Last Chapter !

I know you all are waiting for the last chapter of our motorcycle ride/vacation:) So perhaps I should get this posted while still fairly fresh in my mind!

Of course the weather turned beautiful again on our last morning in Savannah. We angled our way up across Georgia through small towns and the back roads. As long as we weren't trying to beat the clock to anywhere in particular, we stayed away from the four-lane roads and big cities. Another scene that almost looked like snow were the cotton fields along the way. In many places they were still harvesting (picking?) it. I wasn't able to get a picture but we saw combines similar to the ones we see harvesting corn and wheat but set up for cotton. This old farm girl stills finds it interesting to see the crops along the way. (Daddy would be proud!) We left the flat farm lands and came into the mountains of northern Georgia. We spent the night in the interesting college town of Dahlonega, a very pretty mountain town that is the location of the first major gold rush in the United States. We browsed through a few of the little shops that were still open then picked one of the several nice restaurants for dinner. The next morning we headed out over some of the prettiest roads we'd traveled so far to Helen, Georgia. It was still early and of course D was anxious to get back on the bike so we only stopped in the motorcycle clothing shop. This little town and the whole area would be worth a trip back. Back in the 60's, in order to bring tourism back to the area, the town underwent a face lift of sorts. Everything was re-modeled as a Bavarian village. Pretty neat!

Next stop, Hiawasee. Located almost to the North Carolina state line, this is another town that would make a great destination. Looks like the lake that is nearby, though it is pretty low, would be a great place for fishing, boating and camping. And guess what! They have a quilt shop!! And my biker hubby let me go in and spend some time here at Log Cabin Patchworks ! Of course I bought a few things that I really didn't need, but might someday (you quilters know how that is!) and I enjoyed visiting with one of the owners.

Back on the road. One of my first posts last year was about our trip to Chattanooga and our foggy ride over the Cherohala Skyway. Since we were in the area again, we decided to try it again so hopefully we would have clearer skies and better views. No such luck. Not quite as foggy, but this year we had the added challenge of light rain. The trees I'm sure were quite pretty as we could tell from the spots where the fog lifted a little.

An interesting addition to the ride were the abundance of hunters in the area. Evidently it was BEAR season! One lucky hunter strapped his unlucky prey on the back of his pickup truck. This guy was huge! Poor Smokey, guess the fog wasn't good enough camouflage for him.

Well, this is all of the highlights of the trip. We made it as far as Cookeville, Tennessee that evening. Then Saturday morning we drove the rest of the way home in the coldest weather of the trip. For the most part we were lucky with the weather. I don't think we could have found any better for this time of year. After the challenge of bike repairs to begin the trip we had absolutely no problems the remainder of the week. We were glad to have made the two major purchases before we left of our new Nolan full face helmets and our new rain gear. The helmets are so much warmer and comfortable (once broken in!) with the integrated microphones and speakers. Of course, our American Legend trailer was great to have along so we could carry extra gear (some of which we didn't really need!) and fill with souvenirs (which we didn't!).

Thanks for joining us on our trip! Back to more quilty posts in the near future. Also, check back in a few days for Baby J pics! With the holidays coming, you know fun times are ahead!

Eating Our Way Through Savannah

Our destination after Florida was Savannah, Georgia. Wandering our way up through Georgia, we saw lots of cotton fields, pecan and pine trees. We spent a night at an un-impressive motel in Valdosta but did enjoy barbeque at Sonny's. By noon the next day we had arrived in Savannah. I kept thinking we would see lines of people waiting to vote at polling places along the way. But we didn't, just some candidates for local offices lining the roads with friends and family holding balloons and banners and waving as the cars drove by. That was the first time I'd ever seen that. Wish I'd gotten some photos! After several warm, sunny days of travel, we arrived in Savannah to find hazy, cloudy, misty skies. So unfortunately my photos of the beautiful architecture and scenery didn't turn out the greatest. We took one of those "hop on hop off" bus tours and were treated to some of the beautiful buildings. Next visit, we'll "hop off" more to explore some of the museums, etc.

One of the beautiful fountains in one of the many parks.

Even through the bus window, this shows a good example of the pretty buildings in Savannah. I'm sure the tour guide told us something interesting about either the church or the house, but I couldn't tell you what it was!

One of several interesting sculptures in the city. This one is of the famous "waving girl". Evidently she waved at all the passing ships for many, many years. Sadly she was probably waiting for some sailor who promised to return, and never did.


Another sculpture that caught our interest was this one of John Wesley. We both grew up in the United Methodist Church but don't remember that we had ever learned that John Wesley had spent time here in Savannah at the request of General Oglethorpe to minister to the Indians. There were rumors of scandal and he eventually left Georgia but his legacy remains. You can read more about him here.

We spent quite a bit of time walking along the cobblestones and steep steps of River St. and checking out the shops and restaurants there. In fact, we ate at three different restaurants on this street. Huey's, Vic's and The Shrimp Factory. All were good, with Vic's winning the top prize.

And here's a restaurant where we didn't eat. The famous Paula Deen's Lady and Son's. I've always heard how difficult it is to get a table here, but we did ask and could have gotten in just about any time. The tourists were pretty sparse in Savannah too. But after looking at the menu and talking to some local folks, we decided to pass on the good ol' country cooking (though I'm sure it was wonderful) and try some of the other local places. But not before we did some browsing in Paula's store.

And guess who made an appearance for a photo op!

Okay, it was just a lovely cardboard cut-out. But she was very friendly, just like I'm sure she is in real life! I don't think she even cared that we wore our Harley gear!

But I now have a new appreciation of cheese grits. Thanks to Uncle Bubba ! If anyone can tell me Uncle Bubba's secret, I'm willing to try to make these on my own. (If you aren't familiar with Bubba, he is Paula's brother)

A short motorcycle ride from downtown Savannah to Uncle Bubba's. No crowds here either. I guess everyone stayed home this week to vote!


More on the food journey. We had ice cream at the famous Leopold's Ice Cream shop. Check out his website for some interesting facts about the shop and it's owner. I can recommend the Chocolate Chewies and Cream!


Finally some blue skies for our visit to Tybee Island Light House. Can you imagine the challenges of being a light keeper at this lighthouse? They must have had some awesome muscles after climbing several times a day!
We made it to the top. All 178 steps! The sun had come out enough to cast a shadow of the lighthouse across the parking lot. Can you find our motorcycle way down there?
Can you tell we like to eat? That's not really all that we did. But we do enjoy finding interesting places to try the local flavors. There's more to be blogged about our journey home, so if you aren't totally bored, come back again and I'll continue with more photos. No more foodie pics though! See you later!

Toes in the Water and Beyond!

We made it home safe and sound. A week together and almost 2100 miles on the motorcycle and we survived!

Luckily we were blessed with good weather for most of our trip and once the repairs were made to the bike at the Bowling Green Harley Davidson dealership, it operated flawlessly the rest of the week. If any of you guys want the details on the warranty issues, I'm not the one to explain but I believe it had something to do with a flawed "o" ring and the oil pump. After almost six hours of repairs we were finally on our way and made it as far as Athens, Alabama the first night. We had no traffic through Nashville but riding in the dusk and dark to our first stop made me a little nervous. It didn't help that several deer vs. motorcycle stories were fresh in my mind! The next morning was brisk but we warmed up quickly and stopped to take off our heavy riding gear at this rest stop. Alabama was a new state for me and this is pretty much what I will remember of it. Lots of trees! By late afternoon we made it to Destin. We had heard about the white sand beaches but had no idea the sand would remind us of a midwestern snowfall!

With so many condos and beautiful beaches, it is easy to see why so many of our neighbors enjoy vacationing here in the spring. But there certainly were no crowds or traffic to contend with at this time of year and we probably would not have had any problem finding a room at any of the hotels. I don't know if it was just because it was election week or because it is typically much cooler at this time of year.

Have you ever heard of a "toe in the water ride"? Evidently there are some motorcycle riding crazy people who ride all the way to the coast, dip their toes in the water, get back on their bikes and ride all the way back home without any other stops. We couldn't be called crazy could we? After all, we did stop several places!

After a night in Destin with a sunset visit to the beach, dinner at Pampano Joe's and a pleasant stay at a Holiday Inn Express near the beach, we ventured on down the coast line on Highway 30A. We drove through the pretty town of Seaside and other beach communities. We were amazed at how dead everything was and how few tourists seemed to be around. This looked like a wonderful place to spend some time on the Gulf and there were lots of cottages and condos for sale. I suppose the economy has affected this area but we did see some building still going on. (Thanks Lucy for the travel tips! I see why you enjoy rv'ing here!)

We stopped for lunch in the quaint town of Apalachicola.

This was probably one of our favorite stops along the way and one we would return to in the future. We saw the Boss Oyster and chose to eat here.

Here's the food photo of the week! One of their specialty po-boy's!

Guess who enjoyed this mound of seafood! Can you tell his mouth is full? Guess he deserved it with all the driving that was ahead of him!

We took a few minutes to browse through some of the cute shops nearby. The Sponge Company was quite an interesting place. This old diver guarded the entrance and a cute three-legged rescued kitty greeted customers inside.
Tripod is the kitty's name!
Thanks for tuning in for this portion of the trip. I'll post more in the very near future. Right now it is time to continue with the mounds of laundry that came home with us and change from my pj's to something suitable for the much needed trip to the grocery. D is headed out to wash the bike and trailer. Fall weather has returned and life will have to return to normal, whatever that is ! See you later!

Notes From The Road

Sunday evening on the Gulf Coast near Destin, Florida. We finally made it! Not without a little drama from the Harley though. But all is well now and we are cruising right along. Tomorrow we head to Savannah, Georgia!

I'll post more on the details of the trip when we get home. The guys at Bowling Green, Kentucky Harley Davidson are the heroes so far! Thanks to them we're covering lots of miles and enjoying ride.

Have a great week everyone. Vote tomorrow, if you haven't already!