amma

I lived most of my life across the river from Portland in Vancouver WA. I live about 90 miles north of there now. The drive through the gorge from Walla Walla to Portland is beautiful year round. Apple blossom season is beautiful all through central/eastern WA. My brother lives in Wenatchee and I love it when he brings me care packages of fresh fruits and vegetables. I would not have had your restraint, I would have eaten it all raw and wished I had saved some to cook up in the motel room. LOL We are talking about driving a circle from Louisville to eastern KY to eastern TN around and back up into western KY back to Louisville. I am hoping it works out, I love to travel and see new places. My son's aunt lives in Nashville and we are trying to figure out how we can get there, too. I guess I am being greedy! I guess the next decision is to see it in the spring or fall, LOL.

live2teach

We vacationed in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg in Sevier County. The first year, we mainly went to see Dollywood. This year we went to get in everything else. There is so much to do there. I think we could go back the next 10 years and still not be able to visit all of the shops. LOL. I'd say, without a doubt, we'll be back next summer. :D I live in Sutton, WV, that is in Braxton County. I live about an hour and half from Charleston but go there often. I have been whitewater rafting in Summersville, (WV) it was great, I cannot wait to go again.

OnTheGo

We would have gone right through Sutton on our way to Niagara Falls. I definitely want to go to WV for a whole week. Where do you go to college? I read your profile and wonder, "How do you do it all?" But I wonder the same about our daughter.

And that brings to mind that life is coming at me fast and I may not have much time to get on this site for a while. Our daughter (31 and single ) is trading in the corporate life for one of missionary work in Kazakhstan. At this very moment I should be cleaning out the basement since she has sold her condo in Nashville and will be bringing most everything here on Sat. in a UHaul. She has another week til closing and said she will sleep on the floor til then,....will close on a Fri. and we leave on Sat. for a stress-free wk in Daytona Beach, then another week cruising. She's been wanting to scuba dive in Belize and we promised her a cruise or a week in Belize...she likes cruising, so that's what it is....with a port of call in Belize, of course.

I'll tell you more about this later.

OnTheGo

Oh, I forgot to mention........our daughter went whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River near Chattanooga about a month ago. They had a ball. It's where the rafting venue of the Atlanta Olympics were held. Chattanooga, TN isn't that far from Atlanta. They rented a cabin in Ducktown, TN.

live2teach

Yes, you would have gone right through our small town. LOL. I've been to Niagra Falls twice. Once on the American side and once on the Canadian side, you wouldn't think that it would look very different on each side but it does. I am a senior this year at Glenville State College. I am majoring in Elementary Education with a specialization in Special Education. I am also considering getting another degree (in Accounting)...lol. After this semester currently approaching, I will only have my internship left. Then, on to get my Master's and my doctorate (Hopefully). I always wonder how everyone manages everything in their lives and then when someone asks me how I do it all, I always think me? What do you mean. I always think I never have enough on my plate when in reality I've gone back for seconds, twice..lol. My plate is definitely always full, but I cannot say it is boring.

Wow, that will definitely be a change for your daughter. That is great! You are definitely blessed to have such a wonderful daughter. A stress-free week sounds great. LOL. I have never been scuba diving, it is on my to do list. Scuba Diving in Belize will be amazing. Be sure to post pictures when you get back. Be careful and have fun and definitely much R and R.

OnTheGo

We stayed on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls both times...the last time we were in the Marriott and we were looking out from our room right over the falls. We also found it was closer for us to go a different route...Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Erie, Buffalo to Niagara Falls than going Nashville, Lexington, Charleston, Morgantown, Pittsburgh to Erie and on. Our son, his wife and twins went in July this yr., then went on down to the Poconos for a week and took a tour into Manhattan the day before the underground explosion. I told one of the grandsons that it was a good thing they went the day before, because their dad wouldn't have gone the day after. He said, "You're right. Dad was about to hyperventilate going through the Lincoln Tunnel."

If you're interested, here's the website our daughter, Victoria, is building to keep us informed from Kazakhstan.

http://www.foresthillsumc.org/custpage.cfm?frm=4951&sec_id=4951

This should open to her page and you can click on "more" in each section to get the full story. The church is constantly having fundraisers to fund her mission and a lot of other churches invite her to speak and they give her an offering and most pledge future support. The children at her church are collecting a "Mile of Pennies". I'm glad I don't work in the bank that will eventually get them. LOL

Gee, here it is 2 a.m. I should have been in bed hrs. ago. More later! :roll:

B_RGuest

OntheGo, Are you familiar with any of these cities: Dixon, White Bluff, or Baker's Works? My dad is from Baker's Works, which is a very small town. There is a state park in Baker's Works called Montgomery Bell State Park. My Grandfather used to be the carpenter there. My dad attended school in White Bluff. We would visit my grandparents there every year when I was growing up, and my mom's parents in Arkansas. I loved both areas. I grew up in Michigan. As a newlywed in 1970 I lived in California where my husband was stationed in the Air Force. When he got out of the Airforce we returned to Michigan and moved to Georgia (near Atlanta) 7 years ago.

B_RGuest

OntheGo:
Sorry-I forgot to mention this-my husband is originally from Windsor, Canada, and we spent our 10th anniversary in Niagra Falls-also on the Canadian side. We walked across the bridge just to say we had been to New York.

OnTheGo

B_RGuest......Yes, I have been shopping in Dickson today. White Bluff is a little further east toward Nashville. I never heard of Baker's Corner. It must be a small community. I do know of Montgomery Bell State Park...it's right on the hwy between Dickson and White BLuff.

Windsor, Ontario across the river from Detroit was the first city in Canada I ever visited...that was many years ago..either in my teens or early 20s. I have lots of relatives scattered all over Michigan. We finally made it to the Upper Peninsula in 2005 and drove back across the the Mackinaw Bridge on Labor Day when they had the bridge walk. That's one of the places we want to go again and also to the far north of Wisconsin and Minnesota. We went on a boat tour through the Soo Locks. We stopped at Frankenmuth on the recommendation of a friend and went to Bronner's Christmas store. That store is amazing. We bought apples around Petosky and again around Traverse City. My cousin used to bring us Michigan apples and I believe they are the best.

There is a lot of difference between traveling on I-75 in northern Michigan and on I-75 in Atlanta. Wouldn't you say? Sometimes in either direction, we were the only vehicle in sight in MI as compared to 4-5 lanes in each direction of bumper to bumper traffic for 45 min. getting through Atlanta. I have inlaws in the Atlanta area.

B_RGuest

There is an entrance to Montgomery Bell State Park in Baker's Works-but I actually never remember seeing a sign that said you were in Baker's Works-so you might have been there at some time and never knew it. ha ha.

I could not believe it when I saw the pictures of Bronners and The Bavarian Inn. That is mine and my husbands very favorite place to go in Michigan. We lived downriver in Taylor, and my mother and dad lived (my mom still lives there) in Lincoln Park. Detroit borders Lincoln Park on one side. I graduated from Lincoln Park High School, and my husband graduated from Kennedy HIgh in Taylor. When we got married we visited Frankenmuth on the last night of our honeymoon, and visited it at least once a year every year thereafter except when we lived in California during my husbands Air Force years, and since we've moved to Georgia. I miss going there. I have a very dear friend who lives in Bridgeport-10 minutes away from Frankenmuth. It's a very small world isn't it. It sounds like you do a lot of traveling. My husband and I hope to do a lot more traveling when I retire from the school. My husband injured his back and shoulder while working at Great Lakes Steel in Michigan. He worked there 30 years as a carpenter. He had to take an early retirement because he tore his rotator cuff. When he was almost recovered from that, he started having a lot of back pain from all of the years of very hard work. He ended up having to have a disc replacement because of a deteriorated disc. I don't think there is any pain worse than back pain. We love to travel, and don't even mind all of the extra stops we have to make because of his back stiffening up.

You are so right about the traffic on I-75 in Michigan and Georgia. I thought that traffic was bad when driving in Detroit. It doesn't even compare to Atlanta's traffic. We live about 30 or 40 minutes West of Atlanta, so we don't have to put up with that traffic much, but when we do have to travel to Atlanta, we try to avoid traveling during rush hour. Rush hour is very bad term to use because during those times of day, the traffic is barely moving on the freeway.

Linda