The Novel and the Poo

The Franks family had a random roadtrip last night because fall is in the air and Scottie got the urge to explore mountains.  Now that we have two children in two different schools with two different release times, we can't get away until much later (bummer.)  But we took off anyway.

And we got lost.  Of course.  But not before we found the Curl Up and Dye beauty salon.  You can get some good Georgia har in thar.

GPS?  Scott don't need no stinkin' GPS.  This is a Montana boy we are talking about here, and he can sense mountains and trout with his fabulous nose.

Luckily for the girls and me, I can sense Sonic with my fabulous Okie brain.  At least the girls and I had a brown bag special to tide us over.

We turn around, stop, consult useless maps, then Scott opens up a book on North Georgia Trout Fishing.  Darby's astute and ironic comment was, "You're getting our directions from a novel?"  Yes people, we were looking for a fishing hole mentioned in Scott's book where the specifics included:  turn left on main street and follow the road straight until it turns to gravel.  No street names, no road side markers, no comment about how there never was, nor never will be a straight road in all of Georgia.

We figure out that we have actually driven in a scenic circle, so forged ahead and found our fishing spot.  It looks pretty good, so I think we will fish there sometime when the sun is up, because at this point it was gone.  We attempted to skip stones - I am hopeless at this skill and the girls have never learned it either, but we do enjoy looking for rocks.  It is at this part of the evening that Darby mentions that something stinks.

It was worse than a stink, as a matter of fact.  When we got to the car, it was the worst aroma possible.  After everyone looking at everyone else, I shout out, "Check the shoes!"  And the award went to Darby, who managed to plant her all-terrain shoes in something unimaginable.  I must say, it was very dark and damp and there is no telling what possessed her to step where she did.  We are still dealing with her shoe of poo, but hopefully after getting soaked in the creek and left out on the porch in the pouring rain, all scent will be gone.

And so the roadtrip ended.  Don't you wish you had been there?

Roadtrip Sans Snapshots

I woke up this morning to a day of nothing - no schedule, no imperatives, just Mount Laundry. Darby and Roxy made French toast for everyone. Simply a great way to start the day. Scott has now decided that he does not want to spend the day at home, so we are off on a road trip. I like these days when Scott spends it with us, and I love finding small towns, so we are off. The camera was dead, unfortunately, so I will give you the highlights.

-We headed to Rome, GA, which is maybe 45 minutes from our house. It is the closest I have ever been to anything European. There is a private college there called Berry College and we checked it out. We told Darby that she had to decide in the car if she wanted to attend there because she was going to be tested upon arrival because you have to figure out early if you want to get in. The place is so gorgeous - it has some comparisons to the Biltmore Estate. It is a school the size of OC, but looks nothing similar and it feel like many thousands more students attend it. Berry College sits on 30,000 acres with multiple hiking trails, a mountain, a historic mill built by the students in 1931, a wildlife preserve, lakes, and just turn after turn of beautiful buildings and herds of deer and swans and everything you would dream of seeing outside your window. The girls wanted to do the ropes courses and the sky ropes courses, but we were pretty sure that drop-ins were disqualified. We hiked and explored and we are looking into retreats at the retreat center, which is located on top of the mountain. Insert ooh and aah - it was good.

-We continues on to Cave Spring, GA. This place was pretty tiny, but had a decently thriving downtown with lots of gift shops and antique places. There are old codgers sitting in rocking chairs in front of the businesses - and they are for real, wearing their overalls and truckers hats that they have owned since the days of Smokey and the Bandit. We ate at the cafe, which was good, and we were completely not locals but they were friendly anyway. Cave Spring is known for their cave and their spring, so we checker that out too. The cave was not open, which was a bummer since we told Roxy they served Bat sandwiches there. The cave is 65 degrees all year and we wish that it was open. They have a spring where you can get free water, and we saw many people filling up jugs. We fed the ducks and the trout that live downstream and just poked around the town, soaking up the culture.

-Darby was our book on tape. That girl loves to read. After we vetoed Calvin and Hobbes, she read to us Phantom Tollbooth. When she got quiet, I started reading my book out loud, A Little History of the World. Darby was immediately addicted because it fills in so many blanks, so many details that she has not yet learned. I love this book because it covers Western Civilization stuff that I cannot remember and it does it on a 10 year old level (of course my 10 year old has not been able to establish her level yet.)

-Roxy was perfectly Roxy, sans stuffed animal. I don't know how it happened, but she managed to leave the house without Asia, Lady, or anybody. She continually begged for us to buy her an animal, but no dice for the Rock Star. Roxy's jaw dropped when we stopped at a grocery store for a snack and she found a table with four chairs set up for a valentine party, and all four chairs had life size stuffed animals sitting in them. Someone at Kroger understands Roxy's secret fantasies...

One Nice, Cozy Family

Highlights from our day of togetherness:

1.  The girls belting out "Ring of Fire".  It would make all rednecks proud.

2.  Endless games of "Would You Rather...".  Purchase of this book was a mistake, I must admit.

3.  Not one clean bathroom.

4.  A major wardrobe issue for Scott.  So sorry, babe.  You really looked like you belonged at that truck stop.

5.  Toe Socks for the uncoordinated.  Roxy made an executive decision to wear them, but not over her toes, so they shoot out in precarious angles through her Crocs.

6.  Dang cold weather.

7.  Two smoking vehicles and one gas leaking vehicle - all in dang cold weather.  So glad our vehicle is solid, comfortable, and almost new.

We made it!