5th week of road trip April 1 3 - April 22

North Myrtle Beach, SC

Towers on the Grove
(April 13 - April 17)

Our room here on the beach was a compact one bedroom that was one straight shot from the front door to the balcony.  The bedroom was the first thing when coming in the front door.  Howard rolled our baggage cart through the place to the patio doors and asked "Where is the kitchen?"  He had gone right past it and didn't notice it.  It reminded us of our first apartment in Salt Lake City, the bathroom door opened to the kitchen, just like this.  

South Caroline's Myrtle beach is called the Grand Strand because it goes north and south as far as you can see.  The picture below is looking north from our balcony.


We decided to walk down to the pier, which was a long way away, to see the sunset.  When we got there we discovered it was a fishing pier and you had to pay to get on it to fish.  So we took a couple of pictures and turned around to see the sunset as we walked back to the resort.

 Our resort, Towers on the Grove is the tall building.  A beautiful setting right on the beach. A family was throwing bread up into the air and it didn't take very long until the birds came flying in for their dinner.   Our walk along the beach at sunset was a nice way to end the first day in North Myrtle Beach, SC.

 

 
Live lobsters fresh from the ocean.

A big storm came through on the evening of Sunday, April 15th.  The wind was strong and the lightning over the ocean was beautiful.  The waves were big and white in the light of the night.  As the wind increased we became aware that there was a tornado warning out for the next few hours.  This was posted by the elevators.  Thankfully we didn't have to spend the night in the bathtub or in the stairwells. 

The sun was out the next day, but the wind was still strong and no one was on the beach.  It looked warm but we discovered it was cold when we went to the pool.  The hot tub was the only warm place.  When trying to dry off the towel just slammed into you and stayed there.  Didn't even have to hold onto it.  It was a good thing we spent some time in the pool area and beach the 2 days before the storm hit.  We were the only ones in the lazy river.  We played hide and seek and learned how to use it as a resistant pool as we swam against the current.  Very fun!

Our last night in North Myrtle beach we went to a dinner show, Pirates Voyage.

Sevierville, TN

Great Smoky Mountain Lodge

(April 17 - April 19)

It was a beautiful drive to Tennessee.  We were on rural, country roads the whole time and it was fun to travel on the roads that went up and down and twisted here and there.  Lots of farms and animals.  We only had a short, under 3 hours to drive and arrived at the Great Smoky Mountain Lodge in the early afternoon.  This resort had a water park that we could view from our window.  But it was closed until Memorial Day weekend.  The inside park was open and we enjoyed spending a few hours there and getting away from the wind.  The ceiling was created to let the sun in so that you could get some sun while playing in the wave pool or just sitting and doing nothing.

Great Smokey Mountain National Park
Cade Cove Drive 
Number 1 most visited National Park
(April 18)

Off the side of the road, a group of people were standing with a couple of forest rangers.  We stopped to see what they were seeing.  In the distance was a mom bear with two cubs.  Zooming in with the camera we were able to get this shot.  While we were observing them, the Mom bear got startled and stood on her hind legs as the two cubs scampered up the tree.  Close enough to see but far enough away not to be worried.  Nature is amazing everywhere .


Our Hike to Abrams Falls

  Abrams Falls  is named for a Cherokee chief whose village once stood a few miles downstream from this 20-foot beauty of a waterfall. One of the reasons that this is one of the Cades Cove waterfalls that stands out is though it is only 20 feet high, massive amounts of water goes over  the edge of this waterfall. Then underneath Abrams Falls, the long, deep pool provides visitors of this waterfall with a gorgeous view.

The bridges were made out of fallen trees and very fun to walk across.





The highest point of the trail.  This
was almost half way to the falls.

The spring flowers were gorgeous and the water was running swift.  Trees were just starting to get leaves.

We met this little green guy crossing the trail.  He had the right of way so we stopped and let him pass.

The view was worth the hike.  Loved it.

Pigeon Forge, TN 

Driving out of the park we noticed people sitting in lawn chairs along the sidewalk as if waiting for a parade.  Wasn't a parade of floats but a parade of cars.  A huge car show was happening and there were cars lined up all along the street on both sides and into the business parking lots for at least 5 miles. What fun to join in and talk to the people and check out the cars.  We couldn't walk the whole way so joined in with the line of cars driving up and down.  We were told that this is an annual event that happens the third week of April.  The North and the South all meet here with their antique cars.  We got to experience Tennessee living at its best!

Crossville, TN

Fairfield Glade

(April 19 - April 20)

This stop is the shortest one of our road trip.  We only stayed one night of the two night reservation so that we could get to Atlanta Georgia and go to the temple.  We arrived before noon and had the whole day to do whatever.  Our research showed that this area was famous for walking, hiking and biking trails.  Since it was only 40 degrees and windy those options were out.  Plus, our calves were stiff and sore from the hike the day before.  We spent the time at the community pool, hot tub.  Was a very relaxing and healing the muscles kind of day.  Fairfield Glade is also know to be one of the favorite places for people to retire.  Didn't take us long to realize this was a reality.  While at the pool we felt like we were in the movie, "Cocoon" a movie about a retired community and a group of the old people trying to find the fountain of youth.  The community center had games and all kinds of activities for those in the adult community to participate in.  Pickle ball, chess, tennis, checkers, corn hole etc.  A mall that had a beauty shop, grocery store, bank, church, variety store, restaurants, everything but a funeral home.  LOL.    Not the type of retirement community we are looking for.  We want to be around family, the most important thing ever!

Villa Rica, Georgia

Fairfield Plantation

(April 20 - April 22)

First time to Georgia.  This is a beautiful part of the United States.  We enjoyed the trees and water and all the spring flowers and scenery.  Spring time is a great time to visit for we did not have the high humidity while visiting.  We loved the decor of the resort and had a short, comfy stay.

 

            In the early 1990's my Mom and Dad served a mission at the Atlantic Georgia mission.  This is the first time that we were able to go to Georgia and visit the temple, the temple grounds and the surrounding area where they lived and served for about 2 year.  We attended April 21st, the day before Dad's 25th anniversary of his death and I felt such a special warm feeling inside the temple testifying to me of their love for me and that they were close by.  It was a wonderful experience to walk the temple grounds and be in Georgia in the place where they enjoyed good times together. 

Downtown Atlanta, Georgia where we went to the to the Coke World at Olympic Park

A room with all the Coke Cola advertising slogans and memorabilia.

The vault where the secret recipe for Coke a Cola is kept.

We walked through the production process and saw the machinery used for mixing and packing the drink.

Drink stations to sample the coke cola products available in different areas of the world, which included India, Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, North America.  Lots of flavors and names we had never heard of that were fun to try.  Learned which ones were nasty and would never buy.

Historic Indian Mounds

(April 22)

Gold Mine Museum