Southern Hospitality

We started out the summer with a splash! We knew we had to squeeze in a trip if we wanted Jeff to come, so the second I could check out of my classroom, we hit the road and flew to Georgia to spend time with my brother and sister. They sure do treat kinfolk right! They took us on a hike to an old civil war smelter, schooled us in skipping stones (Dan's the man), and taught the kids to wake/knee board. When they had to go back to school/work, they set us on the road to more great sites and fun. We need to move Georgia next to Arizona so we can get together more.

We first hiked through the "jungle" including patches of poison ivy and poison oak to see this cool old smelter from civil war time. The boys climbed to the top - be careful - some of those vines are poison oak!
This is the top of the smelter, so imagine where they were in the next picture.

Memorial Day we went out to Lake Arrowhead and despite a weather report that looked like rain, we ended up having a beautiful day on the lake learning to wake board and playing with cousins.

Sully did a 360 his first time up. These kids are naturals. How much does a boat cost? How bad is Lyman Lake?

It is so incredibly green there. This is the lane to the road in front of my sister's house. Did I mention they both live in mansions? Well maybe not in their eyes, but certainly in ours. My sister Kathleen put us up in the finest accommodations - her beautiful home.

Did I mention the humidity? Sully aka crocodile skin hardly had to put on lotion.

When we left Atlanta, we headed to the coast and hit Savannah. We took a trolley tour through this beautiful city. They have the city laid out in squares - parks -surrounded by the most astounding architecture. Many of the squares include churches whose design range from gothic to colonial. Incredible.

The police station had these restored old cars in front. Estella looks like she's trying to show them her pockets are empty. "Look, I didn't steal it"