Where we've been...

Over the last two weeks, Joel and I have been doing a LOT of traveling.  We have been talking about going out West for several years now, and we decided to go for it while we have a schedule that allows for a two week trip.

So, on May 11th, we boarded an airplane in Atlanta and flew to Denver.  From there, we rented a car and drove to all of our (many) destinations.  We made a big loop, landing back in Denver on the 24th of May to fly out on the 25th.

So here is the itinerary:

Day 1 – May 11th

·       Fly Atlanta to Denver

·       Travel Denver to Great Sand Dunes (CO)

·       Camp at Pinyon Flats Campground

Day 2 – May 12th

·       Great Sand Dunes

·       Travel to Mesa Verde (CO)

·       Mesa Verde

·       Camp in Morefield Campground

Day 3 – May 13th

·       Mesa Verde

·       Travel to Grand Canyon (AZ)

·       Camp at Mather Campground

Day 4 – May 14th

·       Grand Canyon

·       Camp at Mather Campground

Day 5 – May 15^th

·       Travel to Hoover Dam

·       Hoover Dam

·       Travel to Las Vegas

·       Night in Las Vegas, NV (MGM Grand)

Day 6 – May 16th

·       Travel to Sequoia (6:20)

·       Camp at Lodgepole Campground - This didn't happen because it was around 20 degrees outside.  We stayed in a hotel instead!

Day 7 – May 17th

·       Sequoia (Also didn't happen because the state of California requires snow chains for tires after a snow)

·       Travel to Yosemite

·       Camp at North Pines Campground

Day 8 – May 18th

·       Yosemite

·        Camp at North Pines Campground

Day 9 – May 19^th

·       Yosemite

·       Travel to Carson City, NV

·       Camp at Washoe Lake State Park

Day 10 – May 20^th

·       Travel to Salt Lake City

·       Night in Salt Lake City, UT (Dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse)

Day 11 – May 21^st

·       Travel to Yellowstone

·       Grand Teton National Park

·       Night in Jackson Hole, WY 

Day 12 – May 22nd

·       Yellowstone

·       Night in Jackson Hole, WY

Day 13 – May 23rd

·       Travel to Laramie, WY

·       Night in Laramie

Day 14 – May 24^th

·       Travel to Denver

·       Night in Denver, CO

Day 15 – May 25th

·       Travel Denver to Atlanta

All in all, we drove (once we landed in Denver) 3,851 miles total.  We traveled into these states: Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming.  We saw all but one of the national parks we had planned to hit, and we had a great time.

I'll be posting pictures in the next few posts of each of the places we visited.

More Snow Pictures

On day 2 of being cooped up in the house, Joel and I decided to venture out...on foot.  We got out and cleaned the snow off of the cars, and walked down our long hill to the road (about a half mile one way) to see what life looked like out in the world. 

The main road has one lane cleared (as far as we could see), but our driveway leaving the apartment complex (going downhill the whole way) is still very slushy/icy.  GDOT still says to stay off of the road.  So here we are back inside after playing for about an hour and a half. 

We are very thankful to still have power, and that we are able to enjoy these snow days at home.  There are a lot of people in the Atlanta area stranded at the airport, the greyhound bus depot, and even out on the interstate.  So, we are very thankful to be at home during this crazy weather!

Here are some more pictures...beyond our back porch view :)

Abbi making a snow angel (There is a layer of ice on top of the snow now, so we both had to chop through the snow with our arms and legs to be able to make these!)

 Abbi's snow angel...look closely :)

Joel making a snow angel

Joel's snow angel

 Abbi all bundled up

Joel all bundled up

View of snow across the lake

View across the lake (different angle)

View of parking lot (a few brave people have ventured out as you can see from the tracks)

Joel holding a sheet of ice and snow that came off of the car. 

This was the buildup of snow and ice on top of the car.  (Before)

We made a tunnel on top of the car....The top of the tunnel is a layer of ice.  We scooped out all of the soft snow that was underneath.  (After - see picture above)

View looking downhill (down our long driveway to the main road)

View looking back up the hill

Snow in 2011

Joel and I are enjoying our snow day today.  Thankfully, we were both able to stay home today due to school closings.  We are hoping that it stays as snow, and we don't lose power. 

 Here are a few pictures to document:

Boots in the snow...this is on the porch (I didn't make it off the porch :))

View of the cars in the parking lot

View of our side yard...we got about 4-5 inches of snow.  Joel loves to look at the blanket of snow!

Hope everyone is having a warm and safe day!

Christmas 2010

Joel and I were glad to hit the road last week and head to Mississippi.  We were excited to have some time with our family.  All of our nieces and nephews are growing up so fast and getting big - So every chance we get to see them is great. 

Here are a few pictures from our visit.

This picture makes me laugh.  Sally Sharp had a cute shirt on with a Christmas tree - with a bow on top....she couldn't stop putting that bow in her mouth.  That was her entertainment all day.

 Joel reading to Avi Grace.  Notice her Cindarella dress up outfit :)

Mimi, Sally Sharp, and Papa

Abbi & Sally Sharp

Harris & Nathan  - You can see Harris' favorite part of the evening in the next picture!

 Can you find Harris?

 Grandma scored big with her project boxes she created for all three big kids.  They all LOVED them, but Rebekah made the most use of hers immediately.  Here she is looking inside for the first time.

 Sanders opening a gift.

Somehow I missed getting a picture of Wynn - he is too busy to pose for pictures :)

Also, you can see that I don't have picture of John Michael & Madison.  We were thankful that they were even able to come.  Madison came down with the flu a few days before Christmas, and only got to come to Starkville the morning of Christmas day.  We were very glad they were able to make it!

Hope y'all had a great Christmas season as well!

Thanksgiving

Joel and I just got home from our trip to MS for Thanksgiving.  We were very excited to see everyone and spend some time with our family.  We are more aware each day how much God has blessed us with our families, and we are very thankful for each and every member.

Here are some pictures so you can see how much fun we had:

 Uncle Joel & Avi Grace

 Avi giving Sally Sharp kisses

 This is one of the good shots I got of Avi while I was trying to coax her to smile for a picture!  She wasn't thrilled to be taking pictures :)

Uncle Joel & Sally Sharp

Sally Sharp's pretty smile

 Harris is so tall!

 Graham, Joel, Sanders, & Nathan

 Wynn, Sanders, Rebekah

 (Notice Wynn's funny face)

Rebekah & Abbi

 After all of our Thanksgiving fun, Rebekah was worn out.  She found her a spot in the den and curled up and went to sleep! 

As you can tell we had a great time with family and friends this Thanksgiving.  On Tuesday evening before we left for MS, Joel and I got to enjoy a Mannheim Steamroller concert.  Joel took me out to dinner before the concert, and we had a great time on our date.  Here we are all dressed up:

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving too!

Georgia Thanksgiving Celebration

Yesterday Joel and I were able to celebrate an early Thanksgiving with a group of friends here in Athens.  We had a good time enjoying all of the food and company.  Here are some pictures to show the fun:

 Our smorgasbord of food...Rolls, spiral-sliced ham, cream corn, sweet potato souffle, strawberry pretzel salad, zipper peas, green beans, macaroni & cheese, dressing, gravy, and broccoli casserole.

Not pictured: Apple pie, Pecan pie, and wassail for dessert

 Another view

 Clay and Marie's beautiful new table worked perfectly for our gathering.

The group

Back Rock Mountain State Park

Our second destination today was Black Rock Mountain State Park, which is about a 20-25 minute drive from Tallulah Gorge State Park.

This state park is at a high elevation, and we definitely noticed the difference as soon as we got out of the car!  I had to put my jacket on, but it was worth it!  We enjoyed the views by sitting and taking it all in.  I hope you enjoy these pictures too.

 This was our first clue that it was going to be a great view from the overlook.  We were treated to these vibrant colors on the road up to the entrance to the state park.

 

  

From this sign you can tell how high we were when we were at the overlook.

 

I was pleased with how the colors showed up in this picture.  It was really pretty to look out over all these mountains and see the vibrant colors among the green.

 

This was the first view we had when we parked after entering the park.

 I love this picture of us with the beautiful scene behind it!

Tallulah Gorge State Park

Today, Joel and I headed up to north Georgia to take in some of the beautiful views of fall.  It was an absolutely perfect day - weather and scenery wise.  We left around 10 this morning and drove to Tallulah Falls, GA for our first stop.

Our destination here was Tallulah Gorge State Park.  We got out and found a nice spot to have our picnic lunch, and then we got ready to do some hiking.  Enjoy the pictures.

This sign tells it all...We hiked down into the gorge to see Hurricane Falls from the gorge floor.  The first "stop" on the hike is a suspension bridge that takes you across the gorge.  It is 310 stairs down to the suspension bridge, and then 221 steps to the floor of the gorge.  Once you go down, you must walk all of it back up - which totals to 1062 steps!  

We had a lot of fun, and really enjoyed all the sights along the way.  We definitely got our exercise in today!

 A view of the steps going down...

 A pretty arbor at the entrance of the trails.  We ate our picnic lunch near here.

We also hiked a trail to Inspiration Point, where you had a good view of Bridal Veil Falls.

 View of the gorge floor from the bottom of those stairs!

 Path on the way to Inspiration Point.

 Suspension bridge - I was a little nervous about this guy, but I went across it twice!  The more people that got on the more it shook. 

 View of another falls at the state park.  This one is called Tempesta Falls.

In the next post, I will show pictures from our second (and last) stop of the day...Black Rock Mountain State Park.

Hope you got out and enjoyed this beautiful day!