Back to Georgia

Saturday morning we were up bright and early to drive back to Georgia.  We had some short hikes planned for the northern part of the state, where I had found some pretty places to see.

After about 2 1/2 hours we made it to Georgia!

We were using the mapping feature on the car, and were a bit concerned when it had us follow this road, but we carried on.

There wasn't much on the road.

I did like this barn though!

After driving on curvy mountain roads, we arrived here.  There was actually a parking area, but this path we were supposed to walk was a bit intimidating.  

Things got worse, there wasn't much of a path and there were tree roots everywhere!  The site I had found this on said it was a "short, easy hike".  But it wasn't!  

However, it was worth it when we got to the end.  This is Minnehaha Falls, a beautiful sight!

Time to head off on the next part of the day.

We drove on the Richard Russell Scenic Drive.  It had nice, paved, 2 lane roads!  And even though many leaves were gone, the views were pretty.

There were no restaurants or places to stop, so at one point we pulled into a scenic drive and had this little treat from the wedding we were at the night before.  It was perfect!

Another pretty spot; but the name of this area is Hogpen Gap.  :)

Soon it was time to get off the scenic drive and head for our next spot, another waterfall.

Once again, we were trusting our mapping app.  It did get us to the last falls, right?  But here we were again, on a dirt, 2 track path in the mountains, praying we didn't meet anyone else.

We were doing ok, until we got to this spot.  It wanted us to cross over, although the path we were on looked even worse on the other side.  So we gave up, Bob managed to get the car turned around and we went back down that crazy road.

We found some flatter land, and this nice scene of grazing cows, which this farmers daughter always appreciates.

Next stop was a swinging bridge.  Guess what?  It involved more twisty mountain roads!  We knew we were on a right track though, there were lots of other cars going through.

It took us 15 minutes to drive 3 1/2 miles through this.  The road was very rutted and was constantly turning.

When we got to where we could park, it was another "short, easy hike" that was not short or easy, but long and hilly.

We made it!  This is the swinging bridge of Toccoa.  It looks solid in this photo, but it really was a swinging bridge.  I made it halfway across and decided that was enough for me.

This is the Toccoa River that the bridge goes across.

This was the end of our adventures for the day.  Some parts were just a little too adventuresome, but we sure will have memories!
Tomorrow we are on to Chattanooga!

It's wedding time!

On Friday we left Savannah and headed back to South Carolina.  We didn't do any sightseeing that day.  We had to be there on time and ready for a special wedding!
My friend Jenny, from I'm having a Thought Here had invited us to her daughter Stephanie's wedding. Since I was retiring, we didn't have to worry about a work schedule and we didn't want to miss it.  So - this vacation was planned around the wedding.
We arrived at the wedding and TG and Jenny greeted us.  We also got to talk to some of their kids that we had met previously and met other family members.
Then it was time for the wedding.

This is Jenny's granddaughter.  I loved that she had a bench to sit on during the wedding, and thought she looked adorable!
Behind her are a SIL, Jenny's son and a grandson.

The bride and groom!  Audrey was absolutely stunning and her dress was beautiful!  And the groom was handsome as well.  :)

The reception theme was Paris.  Look how beautiful the tables were!

The napkins were so pretty.

We all thought this was so cute.  They had 2 little girls who looked like they came right from France.  They were handing out little mandolin cakes for people to enjoy between the ceremony and the reception.

A French inspired cake and petit fours.

We sat with Jenny's friend Marsha and had a great time.  I've stayed in touch with her after the wedding.
Jenny sat us in the family section, which we thought was so special.

Here are the parents of the bride; TG and Jenny.  Doesn't Jenny look beautiful?

And here's our bride and groom!

A photo with the beautiful bride.

They had some photo ops set up to continue the Paris theme:

We had such a wonderful time and were honored to be able to be there and celebrate with them.
Congratulations to Mike and Audrey, and to the whole Weber family; and thanks for letting us be there!

On to Savannah

 From Charleston, we drove to Savannah.

We passed lots of areas that looked like this.

And we had to cross this crazy bridge!

My friend Jenny, from I'm having a Thought Here told us that if we were in Savannah, we had to go visit the Bonaventure Cemetery, so we made that our stop before checking into our hotel.

Bob and I both find old cemeteries so interesting, and this one was beautiful, with live oak trees dripping in spanish moss.

There was a whole section that was Jewish graves, the headstones engraved in Hebrew. Most of them had pebbles on the headstones and around the graves.  Each pebble signifies someone visiting the grave.

I really liked this one.

This is a military section and was very touching.

Such beautiful stones and sculptures.  We could have spent a lot more time there!

The next morning we took a trolley ride through the city.  There are little parks all over.  This little park is the place where Tom Hanks sat on a bench and said "life is like a box of chocolates..." in the Forrest Gump movie.

We saw so many beautiful homes.

The capitol building.  Its dome is covered in real gold.

As we were riding around the rain started and came down harder and harder.

The water was pouring off the roofs and gutters.

We were scheduled to go on a river boat ride that afternoon, but it was obviously not the day for it so we headed back to our hotel to dry out, because even on the trolley, we had gotten very wet. When we got off, the parking lot was flooded and our shoes got soaked.

This is the drive back to the hotel.  We had to detour because roads were closed due to flooding.

Savannah ended up getting 6 1/2 inches of rain in 24 hours, so there was lots of flooding.

We went to the hotel, did some laundry and put our tennis shoes in the dryer!

When the rain slowed down, we made our way back into the city and walked through the Basilica of St John the Baptist.

Look at the beautiful ceiling!

We also checked out what is said to be one of the most beautiful streets in the city.

The brick streets, beautiful old houses and the trees hanging over it really are pretty.

We had supper at The Pirates House, said to be the oldest house in Georgia. It was built in 1734 as a home, but opened in 1753 as a meeting place for pirates and sailors.

We ate in the Captains room, where there was a hidden tunnel that went to the river.  They used to use it to smuggle in rum, and to smuggle out people that would wake up on a pirate ship and have to work on it.  

In spite of flooding, we really enjoyed Savannah.  Next up was a trip to Columbia, SC.