Merry Christmas from the Deep South!
We are enjoying the cooler weather after another hot summer. For as hot as it was, we did not break records for extreme heat the way much of the rest of the country did. We had more days with temperatures at or above 90 degrees, but only a few days in the upper 90s and no 100s.
We spent Christmas 2022 in Rincon. Even though it was colder than usual there, it was a lot warmer than it was in Roswell. It was great to see everyone again. Our plan to spend New Year’s with Eric, Amber and the boys literally did not get off the ground. Even before we left Rincon, we had been seeing news on TV of Southwest Air’s nationwide cancellations. Our flights to and from Dulles were booked on SWA and were among the thousands of cancelled flights. Eric suggested coming up at the end of January when Ethan had a long weekend with no school. This time our airfare was booked with Delta. We had a wonderful time.
In mid-March we made a weekend trip to Macon, Americus and Plains-Archery. In Macon we stayed at the restored art deco Hotel 45, so named to honor Macon’s rich music history and the 45-rpm record. We saw quite a bit of the historic downtown area on foot, including the Harriet Tubman Museum. We learned a lot about her and Macon. We had a full day in Plains. In February the Carter Center announced that Jimmy would no longer get medical care; instead, he opted for hospice care. At the time, most people wondered whether he would make it to his 99th birthday on October 1st. He did! Archery, on the outskirts of Plains, was an interesting side trip. This was Carter’s boyhood home and family farm. We had extensive coverage of Rosalynn Carter’s three day funeral at the end of November. A number of years ago the four of us made a trip to Plains. We stopped at a historic marker that afforded a view of the Carter’s home. We saw Rosalynn drive off with her security detail. She waved to us as she passed by.
In May we went to Cape San Blas, FL for a beach vacation. This area and a large part of SW GA was very hard hit a few years ago by hurricane Michael. This area has some of the nicest beaches in all of FL. Since tourism is vital for the area, major recovery efforts have been made. This area is part of FL’s “Forgotten Coast” which spans Apalachicola to Panama City. It is also known as the “Redneck Riviera”. This part of the coast is not known for upscale resorts, rather, people come for the great beaches and fishing. One day we drove to Panama City. Along the way we went through many nice beach towns like Rosemary Beach and Santa Rosa Beach. Another day, the 11th, we went in the opposite direction to Apalachicola for our 49th anniversary. We walked the downtown area and had dinner at the Gibson Inn.
In June we hosted the family reunion trip in the NC mountains. Mike found a great house online near Waynesville, which is fairly close to Asheville. A branch of the Pigeon River ran through the property. There were also two ponds for fishing. The house was large enough to accommodate the eleven of us. The kitchen was equipped better than mine! The one downside was bad weather. There was heavy, almost non-stop rain except for one day. There was some flooding nearby from the 8” of rain that fell over the week. Yet, we weathered the rain and did sightseeing in Waynesville one day and visited the Cradle of Forestry on another. The grandkids were able to do some fishing and Ethan caught his first fish. We spent many damp evenings by the firepit. I packed a duffle with puzzles and games for all ages, so we managed to stay busy indoors and out. After all of us checked out, Mike and I stayed an extra night at the Chetola Lodge in Blowing Rock on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Fog and rain followed us there. The next day we drove to Valle Crucis to shop at the original Mast General Store as well as the Annex. Perversely, enroute home, the sun came out when we were on I-26 in NC.
At the end of September, we spent a week on Kiawah Island, SC which is very close to Charleston. This time we had “variety” weather – a few cloudy days, one rainy day and sunshine for the rest. We stayed in one of the many villas at the resort. Ours was oceanfront. The beach was beautiful. There was also a very nice pool. We had not been to Kiawah since Kristin and Eric were very young. Mike had planned a trip there in March of 2020 – right when the world shut down due to covid. So, that trip was cancelled. This time we took a day to see Folly Beach, then headed to Charleston. We covered a good part of the city on foot, which took us by many churches, which have given Charleston the nickname of “the Holy City”. It is hard to miss the church bells! There are also many historic homes near the battery and inland. There are also a lot of great restaurants. We had a nice dinner in Charleston before driving back to Kiawah.
As soon as we arrived home from SC, Mike started planning our trip to Israel – or not. A week later, Israel was at war with Hamas. Quite possibly, this is one trip that we may never get to do.
I still go to the gym for Silver Sneakers. Unfortunately, the yoga teacher left earlier this year. Over the summer we made good use of our club’s pool where I did a bit of water aerobics. By mid-September it was cool enough to resume walking. One way or another, I have stayed active. It has not been so easy for Mike who has some issues with peripheral neuropathy.
“Old Faithful”, my 2000 Ford Explorer Ltd, is still on the road at age 23 ½. On October 4th it had driven 53445 miles. Now it has 53756 miles on the odometer.
We made our first trip to Truist Park on October 4th to see the Braves play an exhibition game with their AAA team, the Gwinnett Stripers. The weather was perfect. Our time at Truist was a great experience. The stadium is state of the art. The Battery, which is where all of the shops, restaurants and fan experiences are located, is very fan friendly. The game was limited to seven innings. At the bottom of the sixth inning, I got on the “fan cam”. The only problem was in getting there because of the never-ending construction on I-285. It was also rush hour. The second issue was how long it took to get out of the parking deck. We were happy that the Braves made it to the postseason again. However, “there was no joy in Atlanta, as the mighty Braves have struck out” - for the second year in a row to the Philadelphia Phillies. For their outstanding regular season record, we felt that the Braves would get beyond the NLDS.
We are disappointed Dawg fans as they lost their first game in three years to Alabama. GA was also not one of the four teams selected to play in the BCS. Instead, the Dawgs will play in the Orange Bowl.
We have a few local holiday events to attend before we travel to Savannah for Christmas and Chantilly for New Year’s. Living here for as long as we have, we have just about seen it all - some events multiple times. However, we had not been to the relatively new Garden Lights - Holiday Nights at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Our church arranged a group trip to the ABG for December 5th. There are many displays with a total of 3M lights. It was quite a sight to see. We had ideal weather - not too cold, with clear skies and no wind.
We hope that you are doing well. Happy Holidays.
