Another L.O.N.G. week.....but FUN and all good!!!! We left Mt. Airy, N.C. on Monday morning. My cousin, Mary Goins Wall, wanted to see us before we left town. The only way that was going to happen was if we stopped by where she works as a cook (a little local diner in Pilot Mountain) and let her fix breakfast for us! And we did just that....she called to see when we were going to be there. We told her 10 minutes. She asked what we wanted to eat. We told her. When we arrived 10 minutes later.....there it was. Fixed and ready for us to eat. Now, that is what I call service WITH A SMILE!!! Good to see her.
I asked Mary where I could get some good stone-ground self-rising cornmeal to make good cornbread. She told us the Mill was just down in King.....(King Milling Co.). And guess what? We were going to drive right pas there. We stopped and bought a 5-lb bag of cornmeal. I just may have to order more of this good stuff!!
On our way to the Great Smoky Mountains and over to the Tennessee Knoxville Mission, we drove past Winston Salem. I love that skyline. I grew up with that skyline!!! I never tire of seeing it.
It occurred to me that we have acquired a 'science' with our checking in and checking out of hotels. We do it a LOT. And, here is what our routine looks like!! Simple, efficient and gets the job done.
We made it to the CHEROKEE INDIAN RESERVATION!!! Again....LOVE coming here.
We have passed this TOWER several times. This time we stopped to climb it and take a real birds eye view of the Great Smokey Mountains. It really didn't look that high, but guess what!! It WAS high.
A view from ON TOP OF OLE' SMOKEY!!!
At the tope of the Great Smokey's is the NC/Tennessee State Line. We got a foto last time.....and we got another foto this time.
We stopped again in Cherokee....We love how they have 2 languages on the road signs.....English and Cherokee.
And spotted in the mountains was this mama bear and her 2 cubs. They were enjoying a little lunch. They did not seem bothered at all with the crowd of people watching them. But, MAMA made sure nobody came close to them!!
Hampton Inn is our 'choice' of hotels. This night was a sleepless one for me though. We found out earlier that day that we had been charged an extra $150 because 'we had smoked in our last hotel room in High Point, N.C.!!!' True story folks!!! And for 2 people who have NEVER IN OUR LIVES smoked anything, we were appalled and floored that we had been charged and we never even got a phone call to tell us about it. Fortunately, I 'found' the charge on our credit card and called the hotel to see what was going on. Upset!!! You are darn-tootin' I was upset....and still am a week later. They eventually took the $150 charge off our charge AND gave us a free night (we stayed there 3 nights). I am still not completely satisfied!!! Stay tuned for the 'rest of the story'!! :-(
We love the Zone Conferences we get to attend. And in the process, we get to visit a LOT of different chapels. They are all so pretty and are for the most part in beautiful locations!! This one was especially pretty!!
This collage tells a whole bunch......from the sack lunches prepared and served to us, to a ginormous spider the elders found outside the building to our meeting Sister Roberts. She was the sweetest little thing. She joined the church just 10 months ago at age 83!!!! And she is just thrilled. She was 7th Day Adventist prior to joining the church. She is planning a trip to the temple in December. I made her a little Atlanta Temple cross-stitch hanging. That is the temple she will be going to.
President Griffin just fell in love with Sister Roberts and the feeling was mutual for her toward him. EVERYBODY loves Sister Roberts.
As we finished Zone Conferences in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission on Thursday, we headed south to the Georgia Macon Mission. It was honestly good to be back in Georgia again after being gone for 2 weeks. Unfortunately, we drove right through the heart of downtown Atlanta and right past our home in Peachtree City and kept on going......to Waycross, GA!!
More views of our Zone Conferences.....this one in the Georgia Macon Mission. Elder/Dr. Allgaier gave presentations everywhere we went. And a different one in the Macon Mission.
We stopped for gas somewhere past Atlanta. Couldn't help but chuckle about this sign....apparently, Barefoot is not something to do with shoes (or no shoes) but rather an alcoholic drink. Who would have thought!!
And those COTTON FIELDS!!! We LOVE them.....and they are in full bloom right now. Can't wait to see them at harvest time.
After Zone Conference in the Douglas/Tifton Zones, we drove an hour or so to VIDALIA, GA where we spent the night. We were just too tired to drive another 3 1/2 hours home.
When we got home we had lots of mail.....2 weeks worth!!! One of the fun packages was from David that he brought to the U.S. and mailed to us. How fun was that to get!!! GREAT variety of cookies from Ms. Shen!!! And a 'specially made just for me' purse fob!!! I love it! Somehow I lost the one I got when we were in Hong Kong last September (2014) and I was just sick about it. He had this one made.
Not only were we greeted by lots of mail on Saturday afternoon, BUT the Elders showed up to greet us AND to bring some clothes they want me to repair for them....pants and shirts!!! Oh my!!
I sat for a few minutes to get a bit more work completed on an afghan I am making for a special friend of Becky's who recently had one of their sons pass away at the age of 17 years old. I am honored that I can make this for her. Almost done!!
that tower in the smokies looks like a great place to visit! glad you guys stopped to enjoy that view, and share it with us... what a beautiful part of the country.
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