We stayed in a hotel in Cool Spring, TN for spring break which is just 10-15 minutes from Franklin, TN. What a cute little town! The area around Franklin is lush and green with beautiful pastures and fences and rolling hills. The town itself boasts a nice square and boutiques and several restaurants. We first found a place for coffee which led us to the Factory. The Factory used to be a furniture factory, but now houses trendy shops and restaurants. We stopped for coffee, but returned for lunch. The sculpture outside was really neat, so I had to share it here. We passed by that evening after dinner and…

A few months ago, my husband and I took an overnight trip about an hour and a half from our house to Historic Banning Mills. It is located just a little south of I20 on the west side of Atlanta. The area offers trails to walk with swinging bridges, waterfalls, ziplines as well as a few other activities you can book. The mill has a lodge, cabins and some treehouses you can rent for just a couple or a family. In the summer, there is a pool, mini golf and camps for children. We rented a treehouse for one night: I thought is was pretty overpriced as the accommodations were…

Many friends were surprised that even though we have lived in the Atlanta for more than 20 years, this fall was the first time that we visited Ruby Falls Ruby Falls is located in Chattanooga, TN and is about 1 hour and half from our house. We have gone many times to Chattanooga for day trips and overnight trips, but we had never visited the falls. We have visited other caves and caverns in the past, and this was the most expensive one to date. We visited the Tuskaleechee Caverns, TN and I share them here, and I share caves we visited in the Republic of Georgia here. What makes…

We are nearing the end of my posts about our trip to the republic of Georgia! Today, I am sharing our visit to the Gonio Fortress which is the oldest fortress in Georgia. It dates back to the Roman times. The fortress is 15 km outside of Batumi and 4 km north of the Turkish border. The oldest reference to the fortress is in 1st century. You are greeted at the entrance with 2 large statues. The outside walls of the fortress all remain and it is quite impressive to behold. I have been to medieval castles in France and seen some old ruins in Italy, but never something of…

We rented a car for a week in preparation for our trip to Batumi and took advantage of having a car with AC to take a trip a couple hours out of Tbilisi. My husband wanted to visit the monastery of St. Nino and we booked a horseback ride nearby. As usual we used the Maps.Me map, but we still had to ask for directions! On the way, we saw a small fortress near the road and stopped for a bit. We can never pass up a fortress! There are a lot of lookout fortresses and towers throughout the country. Georgia used to be part of the silk route and…

With life’s recent challenges, I have had to make sure to take time for myself to recharge. Last week, I shared part of my husband’s and I day date (in Marietta, GA) and today I am sharing the first part of our little outing. We decided to hike Kennesaw Mountain since it is about 30 minutes from our house, it’s a fairly short hike and it was a beautiful cold winter day. We brought along some snacks and water as we originally planned to walk this trail with the boys. One of the local vendors of our summer farmer’s market has been holding a small table/booth at a store downtown…

Last weekend, my sister in law came to the house to hang out with her mom so I could get away for a longer period of time without worries. My husband and I decided to go to Kennesaw Mountain and since our boys decided they would rather play with their neighbor friends, we ended with a day date of an afternoon away. After our hike (which I will share next week), we went to Marietta which is just a few miles away. We pass under this bridge every week on our way to church and since we parked on the other side, we got to walk on it on our…

We’ve lived in our town for almost 6 years and I have loved living here. From past blog posts, you know that we are within 15-20 minutes of different places where we can hike, there are some historical places to visit and there are pretty spots for blog pictures. The park, the Indian mounds, a couple ponds are some of the spots I like to take pictures when I do not want to use my house and backyard as a backdrop. I’ve taken pictures a few times downtown but now as often as I should (it is only a 10 minute drive). So earlier this week, I took about 2o…