The smell of warm gingerbread evokes memories of Christmas and holidays. During this season, many love to decorate gingerbread houses. Imagine if you could design one that earned $25,000?
The National Gingerbread House Competition does just that. Held annually at the Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, we were fortunate to see it on the way home from snow skiing at Beech Mountain in early January.
Located just an hour north of Atlanta, Gibbs Gardens opened to the public a few years ago. However, not everything is newly planted. Jim Gibbs, founder of well-known Gibbs Landscaping, spent over 30 years creating these gardens on his 300-acre property.
We arrived during the early part of November to see the fall colors. Volunteers directed us to a parking spot and we entered the welcome center and gift shop. Presenting the tickets we bought online, another volunteer gave us a map and told us to head to the Japanese gardens. During the walk, we passed the Waterlily Gardens and Monet Bridge. (more…)
Readers might remember that we had an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving in North Carolina last year. This year, we repeated it, but with a twist. First we had my in-laws with us and we added a quick trip to Greenville, South Carolina to the itinerary.
Thanksgiving morning began with our traditional watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade on TV and brunch. We jumped in the car and drove to Highlands, NC. This time, we walked the 1/4-mile path to Dry Falls. Because the large amounts of rainfall, the falls were anything but dry. Water roared fiercely down the cliff and a rainbow reflected from the water.
We arrived at the Main Street Inn in Highlands for a scrumptious Thanksgiving buffet. Just like last year, we drove over to Cashiers and visited High Hampton Inn. Then on to Greenville. (more…)
It was Day 3 of our “Wild, Wacky Adventure” to Arkansas and Oklahoma. You can click here to see our complete trip itinerary.
The original plan was to see the University of Arkansas and then head to Oklahoma. Since we had driven around the college the previous evening, we had extra time in the morning to do some more exploring.
I read all about the Wal-Mart Museum and decided it would be fun to see since it was small and only took about 1/2 hour.
But then I realized the Wal-Mart Museum was close to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. I read that it was great to see not only for art, but for its architecture – similar to the Getty Museum in L.A. When I found out it was free (thanks to the Sam Walton family), I felt we had no excuse not to visit. We’d go and stay about 30 minutes. Well an hour and a half later, we finally left and I’m so glad we visited it! (more…)