travel
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Atlanta Botanical Gardens: Yellow Color Search
A couple weeks ago, I took the boys to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens in hopes of the tulips still being in bloom. However, they had just pulled them out and tilled the area where they had been, so we decided to focus our visit on a color search. Since I was participating in a color challenge with some friends, we look for two colors, yellow and pink! We renewed our membership to the gardens, so we will be back in a couple months when the new sculpture exhibit is installed. Searching forĀ blooms of a color is a fun way to make a visit to the gardens more interesting. We…
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Tellus Museum: Old Tech Alert
A couple months ago, we decided to take advantage of the 1st week of the month free museum entrance with your bank of America card perk to visit the Tellus Museum newest exhibit and building. Only card member get the free admission, so we still had to pay for our children it still gave us a break. We spent the most time in this Replace by the Smartphone gallery (which I am sharing here), but we did visit the temporary Journey to Space Gallery. We are hoping to go back and visit that one before it is rotated out, but I am not sure we will have the time. I…
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The Lost Sea: Underground Lake in Tennesee
Earlier this year, my husband came across an advertisement for the Lost Sea Underground lake and caverns while on his phone. He mentioned it to me as a possible destination and after realizing it was only 2 hours from home, I decided it would be fun to visit during a school break. It is located 140 inside a mountain in East Tennessee and includes large caverns and an underground body of water known as the Lost Sea. It is listed in the World Guinness book of records as the largest US underground lake. During our tour we also learned of another cavern of an unknown size that is completely submerged…
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Sweetwater and Fort Loudoun, TN
The boys had just under a week for their winter break, so I decided that we would take just an overnight trip as our vacation outing. We settled on going to Sweetwater, TN because it is the town where the Lost Sea Underground caverns and lake are and it sounded like a fun destination. It is only 2 hours from our house and there appeared to be more things to do in the area. When we arrived, we went to the visitor’s center which gave us some ideas for lunch and dinner, and also made us realize that there was a fort nearby to visit. We first had lunch, then…
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Biltmore Estate, Asheville, North Carolina
A couple days before the end of our Christmas school break, we took an overnight trip to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. It is about a 3h45 min drive from us, so we spent the night in Asheville before heading to the estate. The Christmas decor was still up, but the admission price had gone back down after the increased prices of the Christmas season. It was still expensive ($75 per adult 17+, ($45 for children, but free for the 8 year old), but much more affordable. I definitely do think it is worth visiting while all the trees and decor are up because it created a very…
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Georgian Corner, Roswell, GA: Restaurant Review
We stayed close to home during the Christmas break and had a couple overnight trips and one day outing to Alpharetta and Roswell (GA). We wanted to visit a couple antique shops and eat an the new Georgian Restaurant in Roswell. The restaurant opened in December and my husband brought some food home for us then (it was delicious), but since it was before Christmas, we were not eating meat, so I wanted to return and get the full experience. We were not disappointed. Let me first preface with the fact that we have been to the republic of Georgia 3 times in the past 10 years and we love…
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Hike at Pine Log Creek Trailhead
It was December 29 and while most of my family was recovering from a nasty cold or the flu, I did not relish the idea of staying indoors despite the cooler day. It felt nice and brisk, the sun was shining and while we didn’t want anyone in the cold air, I needed to get out. I walked 3 miles with my friend that morning, but the afternoon was beautiful, so I posted on our gals’ running group-me thread to see if anyone was interested to hike a new to me trail. One of the gals I hadn’t seen in a year responded, so I picked her up and we…
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Horse ride and Overnight Trip at Brasstown Valley Resort
My husband and I spent a few days at the Brasstown Valley Resort for our anniversary last October and we really enjoyed the resort and location. I share about our trip in a post last month and while we were there, I thought that my boys would like coming over the Christmas break for a short overnight trip. I knew the decor would be pretty and I thought the boys would enjoy the amenities too. Decor I was right! The decor was beautiful! The lobby with its fireplace in use was very cozy, and we spent some time there playing Scrabble. I woke up early that morning and brought my…
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Bethlehem Walk
One of the things on my bucket list for December was to take the boys to a Bethlehem Walk in Marietta. I had taken my two oldest years ago (maybe 10+ years) and had really enjoyed it. So we made time on our schedule and after trying to go the first night (it was too long of a line and wait), we went on the closing night which was a Monday. The drive is about 35 minutes from our house and the Bethlehem Walk takes place outdoor on the grounds of a Methodist church. Everyone is dressed in the time period of Christ, and you walk through the “city” stopping…
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Bike Rides at the Beach
One of my favorite activities at the beach is to go on bike rides whether solo or as a family. It is always a little difficult as a family as my kids range from 8 years old to 19 which means we do have a younger one in tow who gets tired before everyone else. With that in mind, we still went on several bike rides ranging from 8 miles to 16 miles. Bike Ride to Topsail State Park This was a fun ride with the 3 older boys. We decided to go to one end of 30A (the closer end to where we stayed, which meant that the State…