Home Again, Home Again

Hello and happy Monday. I just got back from a week long trip to La Crosse Wisconsin. What a beautiful city La Crosse is. La Crosse is located on the banks of the Mississippi River in the southwestern part of the state. I was there for a work trip. I foolishly thought I could churn out a blog post or two while I was there, but people, it just didn’t happen. There was no free time.

It all started last Monday morning when I left my house at 5:15 AM. I had about an hour’s drive to the airport and my flight left at 8:00. I was very concerned because I only had a 45 minute layover in Chicago O’Hare airport. I considered only taking a carry-on but I was going to be there for a week and I just couldn’t do it. So I had to check a bag and then I was worried my bags wouldn’t make it.

Luckily, All of my flights were on time and getting through O’Hare was a breeze. I have flown through there several times and I am getting very familiar with the layout of the airport. Even my bags made it to La Crosse. The hotel has airport shuttle and they picked me up outside the airport. Easy peasy. Remember my post a few weeks back about travel? If not you can check it out here. I did follow a lot of those suggestions but sometimes I think it is just the luck of the draw when dealing with time zones and flights.

I got into La Crosse at noon on Monday. There was a one hour time difference. I took a little rest in my room and then met one of my friends for lunch. She had arrived for the meeting the day before. We walked into town and found a neat little restaurant, Bodega’s. We then spent some time walking through the town and visiting some of the little shops. We went to an amazing book store that was connected to a coffee shop. There was a young man playing a piano inside the book store and singing softly. It was just precious. We also got Ice Cream at a shop called The Pearl. It was so yummy. Oh and I almost forgot to tell you the temperatures that week were mid 60’s F. It was lovely. The trees were golden and had changed color much more than here at home.

Monday night we had an opening reception. This is an annual meeting so I was reunited with some of my friends that I don’t get to see often. It is always so much fun catching up. The following days were filled with meetings, seminars and a day trip into Minnesota where we toured two different caves. More on those in my next post. Let me tell you it was an exhausting, exhilarating, learning, and sharing week. Whew.

Before I knew it, it was Friday morning and my flight left at 6:00 AM. I was okay with that. I like early flights because that means I get home early. I did cringe a little when the hotel told me the shuttle to the airport would leave at 4:15 AM. Oh well, who needs sleep?

***Bodegas. A nice little brew pub with up to 400 different bottled beers and 20 taps. There were even games to play if you wanted.***

***The hotel was centrally located so lots of things to do within walking distance.***

***After being in a chilly meeting room all day a couple of us enjoyed a drink by the fireplace.***

***There was a beautiful park across the street from the hotel. People were walking their dogs and riding bikes and enjoying the chilly fall weather.***

***We were awakened early Tuesday morning by a fire alarm. Luckily it was a false alarm. Still a little scary.***

***Reuniting with great friends is priceless.***

How was your week? I had a great time but as I always say, There’s no place like home!!!

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

A Devastating Week

Hello friends. I have been so sad this past week. Hurricane Helene hit some of our surrounding areas really hard, devastatingly hard, life changing hard. Fortunately for us, our hometown was spared. But I feel so much for the people who are without a home and some without loved ones. It’s just too unbearable to think about.

Last Tuesday my sister, niece and I headed out for our annual three day Sister trip. We always go to Gatlinburg Tennessee and rent a condo. We don’t really do a lot we usually visit a couple of attractions and read and eat and work jigsaw puzzles. You get the idea. It is always a lot of fun.

We arrived on Tuesday and the rain started early Wednesday morning. Early Wednesday morning we decided to drive over the mountain to Cherokee North Carolina. It was about an hour drive and it rained the entire time. We didn’t stay long because visibility on the roads was so bad we wanted to get back. We did see some beautiful elk along the way and a bear.

By Thursday the rain had intensified. We knew a hurricane was about to make landfall in Florida on Friday. We decided to cut our trip short and get home. I am so glad we did. The Gatlinburg area did not have a lot of flooding but it was still a lot of rain and that caused a lot of standing water on the roads. I think we all felt better getting back home. Cutting our trip short was nothing compared to what so many people experienced.

Parts of East Tennessee, only about an hour from us, and Western North Carolina was hit really hard. A few weeks ago I was at a meeting at Chimney Rock Park in Chimney Rock, North Carolina. I did a post about it here. Now the downtown area is gone. The streets are mud. Most of the shops are gone. The roads are gone. People are stranded in their homes. It’s bad.

***Downtown Chimney Rock*** ***(This was the road through Main Street)***

I apologize for the blurry pictures. Some of them were taken from Instagram, FaceBook and TikTok.

One thing I know is that these people are resilient and they will rebuild and stand united with each other, and help out in any way they can. People in our area are packing boxes of food, supplies and clothes to be taken to Asheville and other parts of Western North Carolina.

I guess I have been into myself this week thinking about loss. If you pray please send up a prayer for all of these people. All of the people and places who have been affected by this tragedy. Hug your loved ones close and tell people that you love them every chance you get.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

Hello Monday

Hello friends and happy Monday. I am stalling. I need to be packing. I am going with my sisters tomorrow on our annual Sister Trip. We always have such a great time and I love going but I absolutely hate packing. It is a short three day trip. I really don’t have to put that much thought into it. So why am I stalling and not getting to it? I have no idea. Actually I do have a couple of ideas and they are, that I don’t like making decisions, and I don’t like summer clothes and we are still having summer weather. So I guess I will have to resurrect a few summer things to wear. And here I thought those hot days were behind us. I should have known better. Wasn’t yesterday the first official day of Fall?

Can we talk for a minute about September? How is the month almost over? What is going on? It seems like it was April last week. You know, that might be a sign of aging. I have heard of these things.

I actually had a fairly slow week. I had a lot of catching up to do at work last Monday. The rest of the week was pretty much the usual things. I have slowly been adding some fall decor to my house. I don’t decorate a lot but I do love the fall colors. I didn’t do a lot of work on my projects. I did work a little on the Witches’ hat cross stitch. I guess I have been a bit lazy. I did spend some of Saturday with a good friend and two of her sisters. We had pizza and talked for about two hours. I felt like I was at Ms. Truvy’s Beauty Parlor. Steel Magnolias, If you know you know. We shared stories and solved all the world’s problems.

I finished this book, First Lie Wins, I guess that is where some of my time was spent. It was so good. It kept me guessing until the very end of the book. I had gotten it through my Libby app so I had only a few days left to finish it. Turns out I didn’t even need all of the days. I finished it about five days before it was due.

***So good you won’t be able to out it down.***

A couple of weeks ago I was driving down my road and a deer, I am pretty certain it was a deer, ran across the road right in front of my car and I hit it. Well I grazed it or it grazed my car. I screamed and looked back and it was gone. I felt so bad that it was probably injured. I felt bad because my car was injured. It wasn’t too bad, the car, but enough that you noticed it. My left front bumper is slightly out of kilter. I made my husband go back and search the area for a deer or blood or whatever, and he could find nothing. The deer in our area are abundant. When you drive down our road, you have to creep down the road because the deer will run across the road right in front of you, and there’s usually several of them. I have been planning to get a new car and I know this will hurt my trade in value. Oh well some things you just can’t prevent.

I got a picture of this guy this morning on my way to work.

***Looking so innocent. I still love them and it breaks my heart to hit one of them.***

We have been doing a lot of decorating at work for the fall season. A farm center near us had the most beautiful mums. One of the ladies at work and I loaded 25 into my car. It was a tight squeeze but we managed to get them all in.

We also bought several pumpkins and placed them around the property. We had a lot of fun. It was however over 90 degrees F and we got a little warm. I think cooler temps are expected later in the week.

So I am off to start packing. I will leave you with a picture of one of my outside baby girls. This is Izzy. She is ditzy, unpredictable, and a bit lazy. She loves mama cat and barely leaves her side. But here is a rare picture of her alone enjoying the sunshine on Saturday.

My Izzy. Her coloring blends well with the concrete color.

Have a wonderful week!!!

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Visiting Chimney Rock State Park

Happy Thursday I mentioned in my last post that I recently had a work trip to Lake Lure and Chimney Rock North Carolina. If you missed the last post about the Lake Lure Inn and Spa you can check it out here.

One of our days was spent visiting Chimney Rock State Park. I have been several times. I love it and it is absolutely beautiful. The weather was perfect. Chimney Rock State Park in North Carolina is located about 25 miles southeast of Asheville.

Over 500 steps lead to the Chimney. Luckily we were able to take the elevator. After a quick elevator ride we stepped off of the elevator into a nice gift shop and cafe. This led to a walkway outside and to the chimney. I can’t describe the view that you have when you step off of that elevator. When you exit the little cafe there are tables and chairs along the walkway to the chimney. A great place to relax after you visit the chimney, I said the day was beautiful and clear. You could see for miles. After spending some time at the chimney our group decided to walk down the 500 steps. You have an option of walking or taking the elevator back down. Oh my knees!! And my calf muscles were so sore the next day.

Three men were instrumental in developing Chimney Rock into a beautiful attraction that’s natural beauty would be preserved for millions of people to enjoy. These men were brothers, Dr. Lucius B. Morse, Hiram Morse and Asahel. They pooled their money and for $5000 purchased a 64-acre tract that included Chimney Rock, Hickory Nut Falls and surrounding cliffs.

The Morse family owned and operated the Park for ten decades. When the family sold the land to the state of North Carolina in the early 2000s, many dedicated employees stayed on. It is just a wonderful place to visit. So much history and dedication in this amazing place.

We got a quick report from one of Park Rangers. He had some great advice about visiting the park and some suggestions about different things to check out. Again, it was an absolutely beautiful day.

The views were spectacular.

***I had to show you this picture to give you an idea of how many steps are involved. This is just a very few of them.***

I hope you enjoyed your quick visit to Chimney Rock at Chimney Rock State Park. For additional information check out their site here. http://www.chimneyrockpark.com

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!