Day 3 - July 15 2012 - Rock City Gardens Lookout Mountain Georgia

We began our morning at Rock City Gardens (in Georgia  even though we stayed in Chattanooga Tennessee, the state lines are right there on Lookout Mountain) while it was still cool and the crowds hadn't arrived yet. I had been coming to Rock City since I was a little girl so it was fun to share it with Michael and see his eyes sparkle with amazement and he was amazed...

Checking out the water, he does love water...

 August 28, 1823 two missionaries ascended Lookout Mountain to visit a Citadel of Rocks...

 Squeeze....

 In the Late 1920's Garnet and Frieda Carter began to develop a large walk through garden on their private estate. In 1930 Frieda marked the path by winding string through the giant rock formations. May 21 1932 they opened the gardens to the public.

 At a point and time in my life I use to see these signs painted every where as a child...Not so much anymore but I did buy one to hang at the pool just for old times sake!

 It's a beautiful place with winding walkways and gorgeous flowers...



 Michael thought this bridge was pretty cool...Guess he's not too afraid of heights anymore?

 This was new...A statue of an eagle looking over the valley

 Michael enjoying one of the many overlooks...

Lovers Leap

 And no he is NOT leaping but checking out the waterfall...

 A view back where I was...

 And a zoomed in shot so you can see the overlooks...

 It's actually not possible but they'd like people to think it is...

Tennessee 1/2 mile - Kentucky/Virginia 120 miles - North Carolina 50 miles - South Carolina 80 miles - Georgia right there - and Alabama 25 miles.

 The flags of the states that supposedly can be seen from this point...

 You are here! We do love our maps!

Us!

 My boy!

Mom this is awesome!!

(Lovers leap up to the left on the overhang) It seems blogger juggled my photos around...sigh! 

 Click on the photo to read the plaque

Rock City 1000 ton Balanced Rock...

Hate to see what happens when this balance of nature is disrupted, ekk!!

Yikes, there are 4 of them!! I can't even imagine :o)

Yes we have!! Michael and I saw Rock City together and I loved sharing it with him!!

Sigh...

I had more photos from our trip but blogger was not cooperating tonight....It's late and I'm tired. I'll try to post some more tomorrow!!

Day 2 of our 15 day journey...

Today we drove through Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and into Tennessee.

As we were leaving Vicksburg we saw this Military park....

We were going to go check it out but the line was long to get in and there was a fee too. So as I drove by I took a photo and we continued our journey...

Love the Highways in Mississippi, the big tall trees along the highways made for a beautiful drive.

 At one of the rest areas in Mississippi, he's such a ham!

 Really nice rest area

 Headed into Alabama and a horrible rain storm. We pulled off at the Welcome center and waited for the storm to pass...

 In Alabama I chose a road that had 50 miles of concrete barriers and a speed limit of 55mph it was annoying to say the least. It was beautiful country with rolling hills.

 We drove through a little snippet of Georgia and then Hello Tennessee

 Michael took a shot of a Bass Pro shop during the day, lol...

We finally arrived in Chattanooga Tennessee and stayed here for 3 days...

 Dinner our first night was at a Mexican restaurant, the food was delicious and reasonably priced too.

 After dinner we went for a drive and I found a road and park leading to Raccoon Mountain. No entry fee and no people or houses, it was gorgeous!!

 Beautiful vistas and I left the big camera back at the hotel. Guess that means we'll have to come back!

 Lookout Mountain Tennessee to the Right and Chattanooga to the left.

 Michael enjoyed taking photos of the view

The night time view from our Hotel...we were on a hill and it was a nice view

Stay tuned for day 3 at Lookout Mountain...



Day 1 of our 15 day journey...

We drove for over 9 hours, with stops here and there, through Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi...

(All photos were taken with either the Canon Rebel 3Ti, Canon Power Shot and or the Olympus tough)

Michael spotted this Scissor-tailed Flycatcher at one of our stops and I managed to get a few photos of him...

Houston Texas

Casino in Louisiana

 Hwy 20 across Louisiana

 I found Fred's store :o)

 Fix'in to leave Louisiana and onto the State of Mississippi

 Michael's first trip across the Mississippi in a motor vehicle...he was excited.

 And he was awed by how big the Mighty Mississippi was...

 Hello Mississippi...

We stayed in Vicksburg Mississippi for the night. A very nice hotel and we loved the pool. So nice to chill and relax after a long drive...



Did you Miss us?

We have been on the road since July 13th...We kept it hush, hush as my family didn't know and we ended up surprising them during our trip. The photos I had posted on here were taken in June and it really threw them off as they thought we were home...We spent 3 Days in Chattanooga Tennessee, 3 days in Gatlinburg Tennessee and the Smoky Mountain National Park (Love it). We arrived in Olivet Michigan on July 19th and surprised my Aunt then on the 21st we headed to Fremont Michigan to spend time with our friend Chris and made a trip to Lake Michigan, the water was beautiful. We then went to my Nephews house on July 22nd where we surprised my Sister and Mom for their birthdays. We then went back to Olivet Michigan and stayed until July 26 and visited with friends and family. I really enjoyed being able to visit and see everyone...We left Michigan and made it to Saint Robert Missouri then on to Dallas to see a friend and right now I am sitting in the hotel in Dallas just chilling. I asked Michael if he was ready to go home and he shook his head No and rolled over and went back to sleep. We've really had a great trip and I have so many photos and even a few videos. My Internet was really sketchy in Michigan so I wasn't able to post anything, that will soon change! It's so great to be back in Texas and headed home. I'll bombard y'all with trip photos and stories soon!

Here's a list of the States we traveled through....
Texas (of course, and it took the longest)
Louisiana
Mississippi
Alabama
Georgia
Tennessee
North Carolina
Kentucky
Ohio
Indiana
Illinois
Michigan
Missouri
Oklahoma
and then back to Texas, YeeHaw!!


Take care and have a great day Wendy

Oh my the things he does...

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I recently grabbed Michael's video camera to see what was on it...Oh my!! Over a hundred videos, so I've been going through them (which is taking a long time, sigh)...They start back in 2010, ekk. I hope to get them cleaned up and edit the better ones. This video I found tonight was from Oct 2 2010 and it had me laughing so hard I had to share it! Laughters the best Medicine...All I can say is oh my the things my boy does with his camera. Half the time I know he has his camera I just don't realize what he is doing with it...ekk!

Hungry Horses, Dragons and a Hopper...

 Good Morning Julie...

Then good afternoon down at the property...

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Hope y'all had a great day and plenty of love and sunshine!