Going home - and leaving again

It's time to leave North Carolina again. Linda and I went to breakfast before I left.

This time it was my turn to clean the snow from the car! After our breakfast together I left to drive to Tallahassee. It was still a 8-hour drive and I stayed in a hotel in Tallahassee overnight. The next morning I woke up Patrick and we had breakfast together, then drove back to Tampa. It's Spring Break for FSU, and Patrick plans to sleep most of the week!

On Saturday Drew and I went to Fort DeSoto for tomorrows Tour De Cure ride. We stayed at the "Postcard Inn", a cute, old-fashioned Florida hotel. Unfortunately it is way overpriced and thanks to all the kids here for Spring Break, VERY loud! We were lucky that our room was so far away from the beach, but other riders had problems sleeping that night. It was really cold and the Tour De Cure party on the beach meant we had to bundle up! But it was still fun.

Brevard and Hendersonville

After yesterday's snow fall we wanted to leave today to look at more Yarn Stores. But with all that snow it was not easy to even get to the car, much less driving anywhere! Linda had cleaned the steps to the front door all day yesterday and it was fairly easy to get to the driveway.




Making it all the way down the driveway to where the cars are was another story. We finally made it, only to find the cars covered in several inches of snow.

It's funny to see the car with the Florida license plate, covered in snow!

Looking around at the street and the trees, I was very happy! So much snow, it was quiet and calm and so beautiful. The whole world looked clean - at least until the snow plow went through and the snow started to melt!

Linda had to clean the car before we even could get in. I, on the other hand, had to look around at the beautiful snow. Separation of labor at it's best - at least for me! :)

We finally made it out of the driveway and to the stores. Another good day in the snow.

It's SNOWING ! ! !

It was snowing when we woke up this morning! Of course we knew that we would be stuck in the house all day if it snowed a lot, but we were prepared. We had our knitting, some wine, and oh yeah, we had food! Bring on the snow! I took pictures of the snow all day, but of course I took those pictures from inside the house. I like to look at snow, that doesn't mean I'm actually going into the snow. It looks so much prettier from the warmth of a cozy house.

This was "my" bedroom, at least for a few days. The balcony was slowly filling up with snow.


The bird feeder was busy all day long and it got covered in snow more and more.

The kitchen - a room we only go to when we get hungry, because it has no fireplace. We had muffins for breakfast and chocolate cake for lunch, leftover past from yesterday's dinner as a mid afternoon snack and pizza for dinner. Ah, healthy living at it's finest!

Ziggy is the master nap-taker. He has taking naps down to a science! Occationally he woke up and stalked a bird that came too close to the window. But since he was on the inside and the bird was on the outside there was no danger to the bird. But please don't tell that to Ziggy.

Linda thought she had to clean the walkway and steps in the morning. And since I'm not about to argue with her, I let her go outside. I even went out on the balcony to take a picture of her. I think that was as close as I got to physical labor (Linda's) today.

I love pictures of snow, so I took lots of them. There is nothing wrong with that.

I even went upstairs to see the path Linda had made on the driveway so we could walk. We did not really have a place to go, but after she made the path, we could have - if we wanted to. At least for the next 30 minutes, because after that it was all covered up by snow again.

Here is a picture from the top floor, the driveway is on the left and the street is on the top and right. Obviously, the snow plow has not been here yet.

The bird feeder, still crowded and getting covered in snow.

Around 4pm it stopped snowing and the skies cleared. It was beautiful! We had gotten about 7 inches of snow. Life is good!

After it cleared we could see the mountain again!

We did get a lot of knitting done today since we couldn't go anywhere.

It was time to take the bird feeder back inside so the four-legged wildlife wouldn't empty it during the night.

Cashiers, Franklin and Highlands

Linda and I went to "The Daily Bread" Diner in Cashiers this morning for breakfast. But first we had to make our way down that driveway, all the way down to the street to where our cars were.


The driveway doesn't look all that steep from down here, but it is.



So, off we went, we had breakfast and then we drove to Franklin where we spent some time at "Silver Threads and Golden Needles". Off course we bought some yarn there, 'cause neither Linda nor I have enough yarn. We bought handpainted sock yarn and because I wanted to start right away to see what the colors would look like, I also had to buy knitting needles. 'Cause I don't have enough knitting needles. We spent a lot of time at the knit shop, but that was to be expected. It was fun, we knew these are our people. We walked around Franklin and then drove to "A Stitch in Time", a quilt shop. We are not quilters so it didn't take us long to walk through the store.

The next stop for the day was Highlands. We went to the "Old Edwards Inn" for a late lunch. I had the trout wrap because I love trout! Afterwards we walked around town but most of the stores were closed because it is not Tourist Season yet.

The area we are in was expected to have some snow over night and we were not sure if we could get out the next morning, so we went grocery shopping and then went back to the house to rest and start knitting. Ziggy kept us company and we spent some time just relaxing.

Linda and I then went to dinner at "Mica's" where I had Trout Almandine. What can I say, I love trout. We spent the rest of the evening knitting and talking and drinking wine. So far, this has been a wonderful trip. It would be perfect if we really did get snow tonight! I probably won't be able to sleep tonight, wondering if it will snow.

North Carolina

After coming home very late last night and not being able to go to sleep for more than 2 hours, I went on a 10-hour drive to visit Linda in North Carolina. I thought it would be really bad but it was not really a problem. I didn't get tired at all. I was on the Interstate until Macon and then drove towards North Carolina on Highways. I think it would have been a bigger problem had I stayed on the Interstate (boring!), but the variety of the Highways kept me alert. And once I got close to North Georgia the road started to twist and turn and the mountains kept me interested.

Linda told me that there was snow in their driveway, but as I was driving it was 54 degrees outside, way too warm for snow. But during the last 30 minutes of my drive, as I got higher in the mountains, the temperatures dropped almost 20 degrees. And the I saw it: SNOW! 100%, genuine, honest-to-goodness SNOW!

I had not seen snow since 2001 and it made me very happy! Even if this all the snow I'll see on this trip, I will be happy.

When I arrived at Linda's there really was snow in the driveway. The driveway is VERY steep and there was no way I was driving up there. Both Linda and I parked close to the street and walked up to the house. Did I mention that the driveway is very steep? Well, it is . . . and by the time I got up there, walking in the snow, packed down with my clothes and stuff I would need for the next few days, I was sure I'll have a stroke or a heart attack - or both! At least Linda knows where the closest Emergency Room is :). It turned out that we didn't need anything that drastic, so after a little while we went down the driveway and drove to dinner at the "Sapphire Mountain Brewing Company".

When we came back after dinner we settled in close to the fireplace and knit for a while.

WICKED!

Today was the day we saw the musical "WICKED". I was very excited to see it.

First we met for dinner at J Alexanders. Daisy, Dale, Paula, Amanda and I had a good time and good food, and we even shared a dessert!

After dinner we all squeezed into Dale's Beetle Bug and drove to the Tampa Bay Performance Art Center to see "WICKED".

The curtain on the stage was actually a map of the Emerald City,

and the dragon was huge, presiding over the stage and the musical.

The musical was amazing and I loved it. It was over at 11pm, but it took us another half hour to get out of the parking lot. That's what happens if you go to the theater with 2500 of your closest friends!

What happened?

Apparently nothing happened since September when I made my last entry. Or maybe it happened but was never written down. I'll try to do better.

Well, Linda and I went to the newest tea room in South Tampa again. It's called Kittridge House and is one of our favorite tea rooms at the moment. The food is sooo good and there is plenty of it. Good food and good company - what more do we need?