Josh's PSTC Graduation

On Monday Josh had his final test, final physical test, and he turned in his equipment. After 4 months of wearing a gun belt every single day, it felt kind of weird to not have it on! I took my mom shopping around Franklin all day. We hit up my favorite store..Goodwill! Before spending many hours in thrift stores and boutiques on main street. It was a wonderful change of pace for me after spending 4 months around law & nature fanatics :) We ended our "girls day" with pedicures so we would have the prettiest toes at the graduation!! When we got home, we ate dinner and then headed to a local bar to visit with a few of Josh's classmates. My Mom fit right in believe it or not! Everybody was giving Josh a hard time for asking if his wife and mother-in-law could come! By the end, I think they had more fun visiting with my mom than Josh! They truly are a great group of guys (and girls ;) that we will miss when we leave!

Tuesday was graduation day. Josh had to finish up a few last minute things at the school, and then my mom and I came just in time for the ceremony. It was a great ceremony, very inspirational! There were a few speakers, and then they all walked the line to receive there certifications. When they handed over their I.D.'s, they received a Challenge Coin signifying that they have "Been there, Done that". I am sure Josh will have a lot of fun with it in the coming future :) The culinary arts school provided a wonderful lunch spread. We stayed and visited, took lots of pictures, and said goodbye to a few of his classmates!

Easter Sunday

 

The third day my mom was here, was Easter Sunday. We got up to go to 8:30 mass at the Catholic Church here in Franklin. It was a little different than we are used to. The priest was oriental, so he was kind of hard to understand. He used A LOT of incense! Everybody kept coughing throughout the entire service :) The congregation is primarily older folks, so all of the ladies' Easter outfits were fun to look at! After Mass, we went home to get the turkey cooking.

We had rented movies to watch all day, so that we could have a lazy day enjoying each others company. Our couches aren't very comfortable to watch movies on, so we push two together to make a big bed! Once you get in, it is kind of tough to get out :) It was really fun.

Our Easter outfits didn't last long :)

We enjoyed our turkey dinner, stuffing, sweet potatoes, deviled eggs, and green beans out on the porch! I don't ever remember eating Easter dinner outside!! It is always snowing in West, so that was a nice change :) We sat in the grass to eat our pumpkin pie during intermission of the next two movies ;) It was a very relaxing day, and one we will remember forever!

My "famous" rainbow deviled eggs!

Bavarian Village & Tallulah Gorge

 

The second day my mom was here, we had another big day planned. My cousin recommended we visit Helen, GA. It is a Bavarian Village about an hour away from here. They happened to be having a Corvair car show going on. We walked through quickly before hitting the town!

This truck/bus was so cool! We had never
seen one before!!

 It was so fun to walk through all of the shops! We met some very interesting locals :) As we were leaving her shop, one lady told us a story about her trying to quit smoking... Her husband bought her a vapor cigarette. The first time she tried it, she felt like she was doing something wrong, so she was hiding it from everyone! She had a deep southern accent, and made the story VERY animated! It was so funny to watch haha

One of our favorite shops was Windmill Dutch Imports.

For those of you who don't know, Josh is Dutch. His Dad is very heritage oriented (??? I don't know how else to say that!) We love to look at all of the wooden shoes and windmills. Of course the candies are the best! Hoppies and Almond Fingers are a must buy every time we see them :) My mom and I spent some time in a quilt shop looking at all of the beautiful patterns. There was a fun candy shop with amazing fudge! For lunch we found a traditional German restaurant. They had amazing German Potato Salad! (It is made with vinegar and nearly mashed potatoes. Served at room temperature. Yumm!) Before we left, we found a coffee shop that had just roasted fresh coffee! It was so yummy :) The town was filled with so much character! We can only imagine what it might be like during Octoberfest!

Don't we look cute!! Next Halloween??

Wooden Toy Shop
We played there for way too long :)

 

After wearing out our legs, we decided to get back on the road and head toward Tullulah Gorge for a short hike. Everybody sells boiled peanuts and pork rinds on the side of the road here. We don't care for the boiled peanuts (they are like beans!), but we LOVE the pork rinds :) I know the whole concept is kind of gross, but when a local character offers you his homemade goodies, you don't say no :) We had seen a sign on our way into town, so we went back. It was a little shack with something smoking out front. My mom and I went up to buy them while Josh waited in the car. Oh man did we find a character!! My mom could hardly understand him. He offered us a taster of his Brunswick Stew. When he handed mine to me he says, "Ur gramma get a taste uh that she be jealous!" HAHAHA I couldn't help but laugh!! I asked him what came on his rib plate. He rattles off a list of about 5 sides then says, "And if you want some uh tha Brunswick Stew I put sum uh that on top too." This guy was hilarious! He insisted we go inside and take a "tour". We thought it was just a road side shack, but oh boy were we wrong. He showed us the kitchen and little convenient center storage area before taking us out back to a deck with picnic tables. He pointed to an old 5th wheel trailer and says, "Go down there and getcha self a 6 pack. When it gets dark we'll light a fire n you can getcha self another." Please read that line one more time and just picture this old redneck. The best part is... I think this scene is my brothers dream! I bet he could have stayed there all day with that old man :) I wish I would have thought to take a picture with him, but I guess the memories will have to do!

Tullulah Gorge is in Tullulah Falls, GA. It is where the Tullulah River cuts through the rock dome forming a giant waterfall. The series of 5 falls drop 460 ft. in 1 mile! We walked down over 1,000 stairs to get to the bottom of the falls. The Gorge floor was closed due to water release. We crossed a suspension bridge in the middle. It was kind of freaky but completely sturdy :) Josh took some awesome pictures as always! It was the perfect end to another great day in the mountains!

Mom's arrival & Biltmore Estate & Gardens

My mom flew into Atlanta on Thursday April 17th. Josh had school all day, so I made the 3 hour drive by myself. It was so pretty and peaceful! All of the trees were sooo green and some were blooming :) I am really bad about enjoying the scenery in the car. I either knit/crochet, read, or sleep haha I can sleep just about anywhere, so the second I get in the passenger seat of a car, I start to doze a little :) Anyways... Her flight was scheduled to land at 3pm, so I left early enough to find parking and get inside. I finally navigated construction and made a few laps before finding parking. I got inside at 2:45, and I found out her plane was delayed :( I was so anxious to see her! It had been 3 1/2 months... the longest I have ever been away from either of my parents!! I stood at the arrival gate looking at the board every ten seconds to see if it had landed. It took forever to say arrived after having said landed. I was literally at the front of the line scanning every single head that came up the escalator. (Side note..I did some awesome people watching during this time! You see all kinds coming off planes at an international airport ;) She was finally able to call me and say she was making the 5 mile trek from the plane to the arrival gate since the train was completely full! I finally saw her coming up the escalator, and it was all I could do to stay behind the security line! That first hug was the best feeling ever! I'm sure we looked crazy blocking ALL of the traffic and hugging and smiling and hugging and smiling more for like 5 minutes straight :) Once we finally decided to head to the car, I got lost! I am terrible about figuring out directions. I knew exactly where I was parked, but we could not figure out how to get there! Everyone we asked directions to told us to get on the bus, but I knew we did NOT need to get on the bus. Finally a nice maintenance worker pointed us in the right direction to the escalator! I was so excited to see my mom I had completely forgotten I took an escalator haha We stopped off for a quick dinner so we could drive home in the daylight. My mom picked the perfect time to come, because it is absolutely beautiful this time of year!! My mom was in awe at everything. It was so refreshing to be with someone seeing this place for the first time. We have gotten so used to everything, that I forgot just what we have surrounding us :)

The first night we stayed up visiting for a while. The next day we made plans to visit Biltmore Estate in Asheville. It is America's largest home built my George Vanderbilt in 1895. The estate is 10 square miles, and the home is 178,000 sq. ft. There are 250 rooms in the mansion plus a 70 ft. swimming pool, bowling alley, billiard room, and a 2 story library. There are synchronized clocks and an intercom system throughout the entire house. Even though it was built in the 1800's, it was fully plumbed and wired for electricity. They also had a full time staff with living quarters in one wing of the house. We chose to take a behind the scenes Butler's Tour in order to see where the crew worked and lived. It was very informative and amazing to see! The maids slept right next to the kitchen, and the men slept above the barn. A lot of times, the crew worked from 6am to midnight keeping the house running smoothly. It is now owned by Biltmore Company which is controlled by George Vanderbilts grandson William Cecil. It was opened up to the public as a tourist attraction to raise money during the depression, but family didn't stop living there until 1956 when it was officially declared a house museum. However, one of the families still lives on the estate, and works at the mansion daily. It is truly amazing!

Grand clock above the barn for all of the synchronized clocks

Men's quarters and service entrance

Outside view of the spiral staircase

 

In addition to the amazing mansion with shops in the old barn, there are amazing gardens, a greenhouse, and a winery in the old dairy barn. They have live music down by the other shops at what they call Antler Hill. We were there ALL DAY! We were tired by the end, but it was so fun :) 

 

Selfie in the Greenhouse :)

Rare car: cost $5,000 in 1904 = $110,000 in 2014