Goin' South

Well, here I sit, far from home, in the Deep South. We're traveling this weekend for Adam to preach in Alabama. I've taken a few random photos along the way.
First of all, I've wanted for years to get a shot of this "peachy" water tower. It's just across the state line, as you go from N. Carolina to S. Carolina.  I was about to call it a "Georgia Peach," but I think my South Carolinian friends would be offended at that!

On our way through Georgia, we stopped at Toccoa Falls College, for Anna to visit the school and see what she thinks. One building she truly wanted to see was the library -- her favorite place to be :)  Here, I took her picture next to the library's old card catalog! Remember those? I spent many hours flipping through index cards in these at various libraries.  I was a library fan when I was young, just like Anna.

By the way,  Anna really liked the college.  I think she'd like to attend there;  now we just have to see about the big issue for all families looking at college these days:  the money. College is rather expensive! We're hoping it will work out at Toccoa.  They have a great cross-cultural major that Anna's interested in. The college has historically been very strong in missions/cross-cultural studies.

We stayed overnight on Friday with some great friends in Montgomery, Beth and Win, their 3 kids, 4 cats, and 3 dogs. We took Sandy along, so it was a lively house, and a really wonderful visit -- what a joy to see old friends and enjoy conversation with them! I have to brag on Beth -- she decided a while back (maybe a year or so?) to lose 100 lbs.  And you know what?  She's succeeded!  She has only 3 lbs. to go. I'm so proud of her, and she looks great.  So, if you're someone who longs to lose lots of weight, and thinks it's impossible, it's not! She's used a combination of Weight Watchers, exercise, and a friend who held her accountable.  Beth is a great friend.

As we drove further south, I noticed the Spanish moss begin to appear.  The trees are downright shaggy! It's such romantic-looking stuff. I also saw about a mile of roadside forest, and all the underbrush was these short palm tree/bushes.  I'd never seen them growing wild before! Amazing. I pulled out my camera too late, though.

Our trees in N. Carolina aren't quite leafing out yet, but down here, it's just beginning.  See that early, bright goldy green! I love this look that Nature only has for a few days.

And I had to take this picture -- I haven't seen a Piggly Wiggly grocery store in so many years! I grew up with Piggly Wiggly and Jitney Jungle. Such creative names, don't you think?

We're having a great visit so far.  This is a very beautiful area along the Alabama River, and we've enjoyed driving around. The riverside areas remind me of coastal Carolina, or perhaps Florida. Just beautiful.

Have a great weekend! I'll be sure to post any more fun pictures I come across.