The drive to Boone, NC is such a picturesque drive. It takes you through Ellijay and Blue Ridge in the North Georgia mountains and through the Nantahala Gorge. We often stop at the NOC (Nantahala Outdoor Center) for the pretty views and to have a picnic by the river when we head to North Carolina. We’ve gone white water rafting nearby before (before kids) and have also taken a train ride that turns around there. There are many activities you can do and I am thinking we might make it a destination this summer since it is only 3 and half hours from our house. It also might be cooler…

Well, we technically were not snowed in at all! However, we were very excited that the ever changing forecast during our stay actually did stay true and we did get 3-4 inches of snow. The predictions kept changing and ranged from less than an inch to 8 inches. so we were grateful for what we got. For all of you Northerners, us Southerners do get excited when we get snow. The last time it snowed near Atlanta was 6 years ago and we drove 5 and half hour to Boone, NC in hopes to see snow on this short winter break! I went on 3 walks in the snow and…

I don’t always get up early enough to see the sunrises at the beach but I can always catch the sunset. When you go to the beach in the fall and winter, between the time zone and it being in the central time zone, sunsets come early. In fact, it is all the way dark by 5 PM. I have taken so many pictures of sunsets that this year I tried to focus on trying to compose the pictures with interesting pieces whether nature or man made. The picture above is my typical sunset picture. Beautiful sun and beach! The following picture is compliments of my oldest! I like how…

One of the reasons we have been choosing to rent on 30A on the gulf is the beautiful beaches as well as how quaint and pretty the towns are along that 17 mile stretch. Many of the pretty towns like Seaside, Rosemary and Alys Beach are way out of our budget but there are small ones like Blue Mountain where you can find less expensive rentals. One of our favorite thing to do is rent bikes and go for a bike ride. We only rented bikes for a day and while it was not the most budget friendly outing, we really enjoyed our ride. We only rode from Blue Mountain…

Did you enjoy Wednesday’s post about our visit to the Doka Coffee Plantation? Today is a continuation about how the plantation works. My husband and I really enjoy the tour and we have been loving the coffee we brought home. We love it so much we are having his best friend bring us some back when he goes. Doka Coffee Estate is the oldest wet mill still working. The water is 12 feet deep and separates the good coffee beans for the lesser quality ones. The good coffee has more density and sinks to the bottom. The big red box above can hold 10 cajuelas and it takes 2 hours…

The day we visited the La Paz Waterfall Gardens was the same day we visited the Doka Coffee Plantation. When looking at tours, these two locations are usually grouped together but after realizing that a tour would requite us to be on a bus for quite a while picking up people at different hotels we decided to visit these two places on our own. It was cheaper this way and gave us more freedom on getting up later and having our own timeline. The Plants This tour was really interesting and we learned a lot about coffee production. We were lucky to be the only 2 on the tour and…

Well, I wish I was back at La Paz Waterfall Gardens! This week has been a long one with lots of time spent on the phone to resolve different things, and family members taking turns not feeling well. We visited La Paz Waterfall Gardens our last full day in Costa Rica. I thought the price was excessive at $50 but I will say the waterfalls were amazing and the grounds well taken care of and quite gorgeous. The Animals After seeing animals in the wild at our resort earlier, seeing the enclosed animals was not as awe inspiring! However these are all rescue animals. There were monkeys, butterflies and felines.…

When planning this trip to Costa Rica, I had to make the decision of which coast to visit: the Pacific side or the Carribean side. The pictures I saw actually did not help the decision. I ended up basing my decision on the location of the Manuel Antonio National Park which we ended up not visiting. However the landscape where we stayed is very similar to the park. We stopped in a couple of spots for pictures on the way to Quepos from San Jose but were a bit hurried as I was ready to reach our destination. The first thing I will say is that none of the pictures…