travel
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Berry College, Rome, GA
Berry College is a private Christian College that was found in 1902 by Martha Berry. The college is located in Rome, GA and has one of the most beautiful campus I have ever seen. Visitors are allowed to visit the campus and just have to have a copy of their driver’s license ready so their information can be noted at the entrance gate. My favorite part of the campus is the buildings that look straight out of England but the woods and trails are beautiful too. The campus is comprised of 27,000 acres of land with fields and forests. I visited once with my brother and another time with my…
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Fall at the beach: packing
This Saturday, we will leave for a week at the beach (I will be taking that whole week off from blogging but will be posting some on Instagram). When getting ready for a vacation where we are renting our lodging, my first 2 tasks are planning some meals and planning my wardrobe. The meals I am planning are instant pot crack chicken (I will prep it before we go so we will just have to warm it up), a vegetable lasagna and we will cook a boston butt when we are there. I love hassle free meals and like to bring most of our grocery so hopefully it will all…
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Rock Garden, Calhoun, GA
Taking advantage of free activities or outings in your area or state is a good way to enjoy family time when you are on a budget. You can hike, go to the park, enjoy free festivals or find special places to discover. A friend of mine often shares places she would like to visit in Georgia on her Facebook page. I often screenshot those places so I can refer to them when we do not know what to do. A couple weekends ago, we had about an hour of free time after church before my son soccer little shoot out competition. I remembered reading about a rock garden in Calhoun,…
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Visiting Rome, GA
Visiting one’s backyard can be provide an afternoon of fun for little or no money. After celebrating my father’s 80th birthday in Rome, GA, we spent a couple of hours walking around town. Rome is built where the Etowah and the Oostanaula rivers meet forming the Coosa River. It is also built on seven hills which inspired the settlers to name it Rome. While still a small city (36,000+ in 2017), Rome has a number of historical places to visit, a cute downtown area and nicely developed area to walk by the river and hosts Berry College which has a beautiful campus. I will share pictures of the campus on…
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Southeastern cowboy festival
A couple weekends ago, I realized that our local Western museum was holding a Southeastern Cowboy festival. The timing was not the best with a busy weekend full of birthday celebration and rain but I thought we could escape and enjoy it for a couple of hours. Since we arrived at the end of the day less than 2 hours before closing, the lady gave us a discount which was appreciated on our part. What we did There was an area set up for children with a bouncy house, a petting zoo and a bubble area. I asked about the secret bubble solution since it made awesome bubble but the…
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Fun on the lake
The last activity on our weekend in Alabama was an outing on the lake. My husband’s uncle owns a pontoon boat and usually takes us on the lake at least once. The littlest pretended to drive while we were still at the dock. And my oldest got to drive for quite a while, slowy than faster as well as make turns. He really enjoyed himself. Once we leave the dock the 3 youngest always wear their life vests which makes them and us feel much more comfortable about letting them walk on the boat. Here, my 8 year old is pretending to be a tour guide. All the boys always…
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Noccalula Falls, Alabama
A couple weekends ago, we spent a long weekend in Alabama. As per usual, I had some outings in mind and one of them was Noccalula Falls. This waterfall cascades over 90 feets into a ravine. There is a 9 foot stature of Cherokee Princess Noccalula at the top of the falls who according to legend plunged to her death instead of marrying someone whom her father wanted her to marry. Now, Alabama has been in a state of drought for the past couple of months so the sight we were expecting of a beautiful waterfall was not what we saw. To say we were disappointed is an understatement. If…
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Horse Pens 40, Alabama
We spent our mini fall break at our uncle’s lakehouse! He is always so hospitable and we enjoy visiting him and finding new places to discover nearby. My youngest is at the age of where it is easier for us if we are on the go when in a place like that so one of the places he suggested we visit was Horse Pens 40. This outdoor nature park is privately owned (it was $8 for ages 10 and up) and is well known by rock climbers as a bouldering sites. It was used at times by native americans to corral horses, by the confederate army to store…
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River rafting
One of the things I wanted to do before the weather turns cold is go down the Etowah river with my family. We usually do it a few times a year since one of the drop offs is down the road from our house and it is a fun, free afternoon activity to do as a family. The adventure is a little different every time even though we always do the same stretch of the river. We bought 2 Seahawk 4 rafts last summer on Amazon and haved used them probably 10 times now. It looks like they have gone up in price but we purchased them for $80 each.…
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Why make traveling a priority?
As you might have noticed with my blog in the past 6 months since I have been writing, our family makes vacations and traveling a priority. Why, you might ask, do we sacrifice in certain areas to make this possible. Here are some reasons why! Making memories Instead of buying big game systems, big gifts or new cars, lots of clothes, we like to save our money to make memories. That might be a trip to the beach, a visit to a new city such as New Orleans, a new country, or a weekend in the mountains. Toys will be forgotten but our children will always have the memories of…