RTT & Spin Cycle - the countdown is on

Our vacation starts Friday at 5pm or as we like to call it:

4 days, 10 hours, 50 minutes and 54 seconds away

OR

384,654 seconds

OR

6410 minutes (rounded down)

OR

106 hours (rounded down)


We are driving to here:

 Where we will ride the rides until our heads spin. Sit by the pool at our resort and drink fru fru drinks (defined as drinks that contain one or more of the following items: fruit, veggies, olives, straws, or umbrellas), and I'll watercolour paint.




We are going to eat and drink our way through here:

I will post all about my vegetarian trip through Disney. I'm sure it will be thrilling.






We are going to visit:


Casey and Jen and Sprite


And, I am so excited that I can hardly contain myself. Let's call it a dream date!






I have fears about being leaving. They are (in no particular order):

My plants and their continued greeness without me for 12 days.
My dogs and their continued breathing without JR and I for 12 days.
The housemates that aren't going with us and their continued eating.
My house and its bust bunny accumulation.
My car and its ability to make the trip (though my mechanic says we are all good).
Whether I should bring my laptop.
Whether I will forget my camera.
Whether I will lose those last 5 pounds.
How much my bank account will suffer.
What clothes should I take and will it all fit in the car. 


I know all of these things will not be a problem but I can't help myself. I worry.




We plan to make a big loop: our travels will take us from Orlando to Savannah, GA, where we plan to look at old houses that we couldn't possibly afford and dip our toes into the Atlantic. 

From there we will make our way to Chattanooga, TN along as many back roads of Georgia that we can find. We are back roads kind of people. Freeways are boring. We may get lost. That is not a bad thing because that is where we find all the coolest places. I will probably find enough places to post at least one, "We could afford this" house post. If you haven't read on of these posts you'll find few here and here. 


From Chattanooga we will take a couple of days to drive home through Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Once again, taking as many back roads as time will afford. I think of it as more opportunities to visit the local talent. We may have to hot foot it through Louisiana but since we've seen a great deal of it I'm okay with that. 


All in all, my butt will be sore from sitting in the car, my feet will be sore from walking through as many museums, battlefields, old houses, nature trails, amusement parks, junk shops and old bookstores as I can squeeze in, I'll have gained weight and our bank account will be empty but my blog will be full of pictures and stories.


Want to come with us?


Love,
M


PS: visit Stacy for others participating in RTT. You'll be glad you did. Also, check out some of the Spins this week at Jen's place. It's all about dream dates.

RTT - Whoever thought this decorating scheme was a good idea must be on some pretty good drugs.

It's Tuesday so it's random. Here's my offering for today. Click the purply button to get to other random stuff. Keely will warmly greet you. Okay, maybe not warmly since she lives in the frozen north.

I believe this is a store outside of Vicksburg. I know it is Vicksburg I just don't remember the details about this place. If I was a really good librarian I'd find all the information I could get and spew it all out to you but nothing says I'm a good librarian.


Anyway, even in my wildest decorating moments I would not do this to my place of business, house or car. Though, since it made it's way to the visitor's guide I guess the crazy motif is working for them.

Busker on Beale Street in Memphis, TN.
I just liked the look of this photo.
Thought I'd share.
Wish I'd thought to use the video mode on my camera so you could have heard it also.
I'm lame.

Our cat has taken up sleeping in our bathroom sinks.
In the bathtub and
Also, on top of the toilet lid.
Thank God I have a put the lid down policy.

Top searches. Seems fairly normal. Food, food, blog title, more food...huh? Witor's noir? 3 times. I'm just not sure how that made it to my blog. First off, witor's? If we can assume that this is a poorly spelled version of the word "writer" than how they made it to my blog is beyond me. I ain't no writer. Scribbler of silliness, maybe but writer, not so much.


Okay, that's it for me. Head on over to Keely's for plenty more random posts. Have a great day.

Love,
M

Walking the Dogs in Natchez, Mississippi

After we left New Orleans we drove to the sleepy little town of Natchez, Mississippi. (Why is it that I always do that little sing song voice in my head when I spell the Mississippi? Miss Iss I pp I)

Our hotel was right along the Mississippi river so at 8 am when we took the dogs for a walk we naturally headed to the river. It seemed like the perfect place to walk them.

There was a lovely little park.
We were the only ones there.
What more could we want?
Maybe less of a breeze off the water would have been nice.
Oh maybe 30 degrees warmer would have been even better.
Because It.Was.Cold.
And not it was cold to a Southern 40 degrees cold.
It was in the 20s cold.
It was teeth chattering cold.
We were not prepared cold.
Icy winds cold.
I'm a great big baby cold.
We decided to walk in town hoping it would be warmer or at least less windy.

This giant Christmas Tree sits smack in the middle of the two major cross streets in town.
When I took this picture we were sitting on a bench with our hands cupped around a hot cup of coffee. My butt may have been cold but my hands were warm.

I love love love the rockers on the front porch.
And the tiny little wreaths in the windows.
And the boxwood hedges.
And the double porches.
And that the house was built in 1793 and had to be quirky as all get out on the inside by now.

This is not a family home or a bed and breakfast like most of the old places in town.
You can tour this place.
We didn't.
We had the dogs in tow.
They wouldn't have appreciated the tour.
They weren't so much interested in the architecture as we were.
Mostly, they peed on all the signs.
Or at least Tripper did.
It's a guy dog thing.

It was at this gorgeous old place that I tripped.
Fell.
Sprained my wrist trying to break my fall.
Scraped my left hand, my left knee, and my left hip.
Good thing it was cold.
It stopped the swelling.
Did I mention this house was on the main street coming into town.
Oh yeah, that is the way I roll.

Beautiful fountain in the park in the middle of town.
The dogs liked the opportunity to have a drink.
JR liked holding Nessa back from jumping in.
Poodles (shakes head)
She wouldn't have liked how cold that water was.
We still had a fair piece to walk back to the hotel.
She would have had frozen paws by then.

Big old church.
As with most of the buildings it started out small and was added on to as the town and the congregation grew.

For a Monday morning the town was pretty quiet.
There were a few walkers, like us.
A few joggers, not us.
A couple of dogs to make friends with, including another Corgie.
She was beautiful. Tripper wasn't that into her though.
I guess that is what happens when you get them neutered young.
Good thing I waited to have JR done when he was over 30.

Anyway, there is a brief photo tour of Natchez, Miss Iss I pp I.
If you are ever in Miss Iss I pp I
head over to Natchez.
It is a lovely quaint little town of about 17,000 people.
With big old houses.
Tons of history.
And very uneven sidewalks.

Love,
M