Vacation Continued

After our time in Asheville, we headed down to Dalton to spend a week with Kari's mom, Donna. The first adventure was the finding of a lost dog. A cute puggle was lost and hungry, having spent a few days around Donna's condo complex.


Donna, being the care-giver that she is, coaxed the little puppy out from under the car with some roast beef. After a bath and a night sleeping with Donna, that dog had picked its new owner. We drove the surrounding neighborhoods, went to all the vets in town, and called all the animal rescue places, but no one reported a missing dog. Now Baby does not like to leave Donna's side - well, more like her lap.

We also went to Amicalola Falls with Kari's brother-in-law, niece, nephew, Donna, and Baby. We went up a short, but steep trail and then about 175 steps to get to the mid-point of the falls to take pictures. Then Kari and I climbed the remaining 425 steps to the top of the falls.


We had a nice picnic lunch and then let Kari's nephew play on the playground. The swings seemed to be just as impressive to him as the falls!


Our last night in town, we went to see a local production of Hairspray by the Chattanooga Theatre Centre with Donna, Kari's sisters, Allison and Ashlyn, Kari's niece, and Ashlyn's husband, Jon. It was amazing! The talent of the cast rivaled any big production that I've seen. It makes me want to check out any local theater companies in Tampa Bay. Plus the setting was beautiful - along the river, across from Chattanooga's River Arts District.


Then we went to Kennesaw to stay with Ashlyn and her family for a few days. Our first night there, Ashlyn took us to the much-anticipated "The Varsity." It is a local, but way bigger than local, hot dog and hamburger joint. I saw it on the Food Network the summer previous and have been waiting a year to hear them take my order with a "What'll ya have! What'll ya have!" The Frosted Orange (think an orange creamsicle in shake form) was a delightful surprise - thanks Ashlyn!


We went to Ashlyn's in-laws for their annual 4th of July party - the pulled pork that smoked in a Big Green Egg for 20 hours was delicious as always. I also liked just hanging out at home with them. I got to read my nephew a bedtime story and Jon, taught me how to play college football on Xbox (I think it was an Xbox). Those video games are harder than they look! I led my Florida Gators to a horrible defeat, despite the fact that Jon took it easy on me up until the last 2 minutes of the game!


Ashlyn was so gracious in letting us invite some of our friends to her house to hang out. I spent a day catching up with my high school friend, Andy, and a couple hours with my college roommate, Melissa, and her boyfriend. It is such a blessing to be able to see so many people!

Now we are back home and starting to tackle some projects. If you've seen "The Room" before, the one where you couldn't walk in the door, you'll be happy to know you can now walk in and see carpet!