Monday, February 8, 2010

South Into Spring

Where were we when we were last together? Ah, yes, the EconoLodge. Right.

Well, after we checked out, we continued driving south.

South through the snow . . .

. . . because in this new, upside down world, it snows in the south and it's sunny in the north.

(I love runaway truck ramps)

But none of that is important right now. Because on Wednesday we arrived in Asheville NC.

And a beautiful woman ran down the sidewalk toward me, to give me a giant hug.

I don't know about you, but this does not happen to me very often.

I felt like I was in a movie.

Aw, Julie-Girl.

By the way, I have inches on my sister Julie. She was walking home from work in her work shoes, though, which outheighted me in my sneakers. Harumph.

We continued on our merry way, for a lovely late afternoon sunny walk.

Mistah was with us too, in his capacity of go-to-photographer-pit-man. The walk was a great chance to catch up, and stretch our legs after days on the road, and revisit the lovely Montford section of Asheville.

Julie's kids are pretty lovely too. I mean really. But we did miss Chapel Hill Girl -- it was our first visit to Asheville without Herself.

We had a great visit to Asheville, and there will be more Ashevilleness forthcoming, don't you worry about that for a second.

In the meantime, though, we had to leave town before another huge storm hit.

Oops, too late.

Because we were in the south. Where it always snows.

We drove through the most harrowing 20 minutes or so of ice storm, heading down the mountains, south on I-26.

Mistah handled the driving with aplomb, as usual, but I was actually nervous, I really was.

It was beautiful, but it was nerve-wracking.

And then? Bam. Out of the snow, out of the snow-covered south, into the pine trees and snowless ground of northern Georgia . . .

. . . to one of our favorite Georgia state parks . . .

. . . and our first night of camping. We immediately got right to our usual tasks: I got everything set up . . .

. . .and Mistah shot cool nighttime photography.

And when we woke up in the morning we finally, finally, felt like we were in the real south, with a warm day and the sun shining.

It was a gorgeous drive south through Georgia on Friday.

And Westy?

She had herself a banner day that day too.

And then, 1315 miles from New London CT, there it was, the sign we've been looking for. The symbol of our Vitamin D tour.

The Sunshine State.

We headed straight to our beloved Gold Head Branch State Park, home of the long-leaf pines . . .

. . . and our first campfire . . .

. . . and our favorite campsite in northcentral Florida. Where we're unexpectedly and most delightedly picking up a rogue wifi signal while camping under the Spanish moss.
.
This Vitamin D tour is working out just fine.....

13 comments:

Pat Wahlen said...

Welcome to the Sunshine State!
Pat

Lisa S said...

This post is great escapism on a wintry Monday morning in Ohio. SO envious, er, happy that that you are there!

Mom C said...

Jealous - happy for you Mom

Anonymous said...

All well & nice, but where are your perfect jeans? With the perfect fit and break at the ankle?

Julie said...

I love it. For the record, I was not wearing heels, only clogs that give me MAYBE half an inch. Maybe. You just act tall.

Love you. So jealous you're warm and I'm still cold.

julie

Me, You, or Ellie said...

Yahoo! You made it. You found the sun and a rouge wifi signal.

And Ellie, you should be in a movie :-)

beth

Me, You, or Ellie said...

Aw, I love seeing all my peeps! Sorry to hear that you are shrinking, Ellie. Congrats on reaching the sunshine, may it continue for the duration of your trip!

Jacquie

Me, You, or Ellie said...

Maybe it was the combo of my un-perfect jeans and geeky sneakers, but I am NOT shrinking, and I am *so* much taller than Julie. I'm not even *in* that constant Julie-MB-Jacquie-Jane-"Who's Taller" argument, for the love of pete.

Har-umph.

Ellie

Me, You, or Ellie said...

you are now!

lol at the theory that your jeans take away height.

j

Springer Kneeblood said...

How is it that you and Mistah can just up and take off like that? I wanna BE you people!

NucMEd is Hot said...

Ahhh Ellie I love your traveling posts, it almost takes me out of my frigid wind blasted nightmare!

XUP said...

I feel better just looking at this! Thanks. And who knew there was such a serious problem with runaway trucks down there?

Unknown said...

Yeah! Lucky you...as I sit in my living room, infront of the fire, during a blizzard!

So jealous but soooo nice to see your photos of the warm!
Miss you!!