2nd Installment of 2020 Fall Road Trip

The first day of our trip, Monday, took us across and down the state of Ohio to the small town of Marietta, GA.  Dick had read a book about the settlement of this area, and was interested in seeing it for himself.

Marietta sits right on the Ohio River and we were able to sit out on the river bank by our hotel and watch several tugboats and a long line of barges being moved down stream.

There was a lovely walking/bike trail along the river that we enjoyed since it had been a long day of travel.

We chose to stay in the historic and romantic Lafayette Hotel built in 1918.  It is a grand riverboat era hotel as evidenced by the furnishings from the lobby to the guest rooms.

When was the last time you saw one of these?  They actually have the three original small phone booths with varying eras of phone designs in the hall way.

We enjoyed walking the streets and met the nicest local ladies who gave us personal recommendations for dinner.

They highly recommended this new establishment, 740 Social and we were not disappointed.

Outside eating was a bit rustic and spooky, but the food was delicious and the weather could not be beat.

Marietta, OH is a lovely, small picturesque college town we were so glad we included this as our first night on the road.

The next day we traveled through both Virginia and West Virginia, Kentucky, and 

Tennessee, where we went through some of the most beautiful country side and saw the prettiest colors of the entire trip.

We went on the look-out when we realized we were in Hatfield & McCoy country.  Thankfully, we did not encounter any feuds.

Source

Our plans were to stop in Jonesborough, TN, which is the oldest town in the state; however, we got there later than we had hoped and there was no room in the Inn.  After riding through this pretty and quaint historic town, we headed on south toward Black Mountain, North Carolina, where we spent a couple nights.

On Tuesday, we drove the Blue Ridge Parkway.  There were too many amazing vistas to share, but these are a few of our favorites.

A waterless water fall.

On the way back to the hotel in Black Mountain, we drove by Ridgecrest Conference Center where we attended several Music Week Conferences through the years.

Our first trip there was in 1967 with a church group.

Perhaps the most memorable was the time we took John as a baby in 1970.

Another memorable trip was when we camped in Black Mountain and took the kids to Grandfather Mountain.

There were so many wonderful memories here and we hate that the center will be sold.

On Wednesday morning we went to the Cove, the Billy Graham Conference Center.  It is truly holy ground.

From here we drove to Lancaster, South Carolina where we spent two wonderful nights with some of our longest couple friends, Bill and Velta Morris.  One thing about special friends is that we picked up where we left off 5 years ago and simply enjoyed each other's company.  Velta is the queen of hospitality and we felt like family around her beautiful Fall table.

She accompanied Dick which brought back so many memories from his seminary days when he was Minister of Music at their church in Kentwood, Louisiana.  It was in their apartment that Dick proposed to me in 1965.

From here we drove to Myrtle Beach, SC on Saturday morning and that's for another day.

Installment 1 of our 2020 Fall Trip

How does one capsulize 4,000 miles through 12 states, hours of fun and celebration with family, not to mention too many hours in a car to count, into a few written words and a minimum number of pictures?

You can't!

In order to be brief yet blog enough to relive when eventually printed in a memory book, it may take some doing.  Then again, perhaps the most memorable and meaningful experiences are those that involve personal interactions that still bring a smile to our face.

As you may recall from previous posts, our destination was Northern Indiana for the wedding of our only grandson on October 10.

When we left on Sept. 30, our first stop was to visit our nephew and his fiancé' in Little Rock, Arkansas.  We always enjoy our time with Lee and Jacqueline and are looking forward to their own wedding next May.

After arriving in Granger, IN, we were so glad we had several days to help John and Michelle do last minute things for the rehearsal supper and the wedding.  I'll show some of that later, but the main thing that being there early accomplished was to help Jackson get some much needed work done in the house he and McKenna are rehabbing.

Many long, late hours have gone into this rehab.

While the men and Michelle did manual labor, I reupholstered the dining room chairs.  Needless to say, it was all a labor of love and we can't wait to see the progress they have made when we go back for Christmas.

It wasn't all work by any means as I found time to enjoy the gorgeous weather, 

celebrate Mary-Elizabeth's 20 birthday,

walk a bit in the neighborhood and enjoy the beautiful geese that make these ponds their home.

I also visited this beautiful home that was all things Fall.  I found the just right pumpkins to decorate Michelle's Front porch and add some fall touches inside as well.

On Friday night, our son and daughter-in-law hosted the rehearsal supper at a local Italian restaurant and it was a lovely and a perfect setting for this fun evening.

I really enjoyed working on this large framed board capturing so many happy moments between Jackson and McKenna in the past two years.  Their story is truly a fairy tale come true.

Michelle made all the flower arrangements that lined the tables and they were absolutely beautiful.

Our daughter Christy with her youngest daughter Ava Grace.

The ecstatic and beautiful bride-to-be.

Three generations of Days

Cousins Mary-Elizabeth and Ava Grace.  These two are our family's rays of sunshine and the most outgoing of the bunch.  You can easily see that, can't you.

So much love!

The wedding party stayed at the Essenhaus Inn in Middlebury, IN, which was near the wedding venue, following the wedding.  We went a night early which gave me some fun time with granddaughter, Ava Grace.

After she posed for this one, we saw the sign that said, "Please stay off cows!"  Oh well, she was so cute and the calf didn't seem to mind.

This is a huge mural inside the Essenhaus Restaurant and Shoppe.

She would have loved to have eaten inside this Amish buggy, but the rest of us didn't fit unfortunately.

And then it was Saturday.

I hope you have had time to see my blog post on the wedding which can be found HERE.  It was such a perfect day for one of the sweetest couples you could want to know.

Early Monday morning, Dick and I struck out for a twelve day extended trip.  We called it our own special honeymoon for elders.

I will cover this part of our trip tomorrow so come back.