The Friendship Tour

As much as we love Bertha, sometimes we take to the road in our car and actually accommodate ourselves in a few hotel rooms or by taking advantage of the hospitality of family and friends. We recently took just such a road trip which led us South to Georgia, northeast to Virginia and home again. The sole purpose of this trip was to visit friends and family along those routes. We touched base with people in 5 different states and 6 different cities. All along the way we were greeted warmly and  enthusiastically.

We first planned this trip as always over a long week-end between Illini football games to spend some time with our children and grandchildren in Atlanta. Thank you Illini for being so utterly and definably awful this season (the worst EVER!!!!). They were so bad we chucked our season tickets and decided to make a road trip of this visit and do a few things we have had on our list for awhile.

I was reticent to phone the people we planned to visit as some of them we hadn't seen for a lot of years ( I mean a real lot).  I was so pleasantly surprised when they all said happily to come along and all were actually excited to have us visit. Each one had at some time over the past several years offered an open invitation as people always do. Our philosophy to any invitation is that you better mean it because we rarely refuse one.

One of my all time dearest friends whom I have seen very very infrequently since our children were very small once said that the test of a real friendship like ours is that we may go  for years without seeing each other, but when we do we are able to take up exactly where we left off as though the years had never passed. Well I believe we found this to be true along our way and I learned a valuable lesson. Friendship is a precious thing and it doesn't necessarily diminish
merely because of the absence of contact due to our busy lives.

Of course, we did take the opportunity to visit a few new places along the way. Our first old friend, Anna, lives in Louisville Ky. so before we left town we spent a memorable morning at Churchill Downs. After soaking up the history of this place, I have a new appreciation of that once a year event the Kentucky Derby. I picked up a few recipes of traditional Derby food at their museum and am telling my friends to save the date next May for a Derby party.

In Nashville we met up with friends who had been our neighbors for many years before job opportunities took them elsewhere. We spent the evening with them over dinner catching up on how our families have grown and changed over the years apart.

We spent a happy week-end in Atlanta where Don celebrated his 70th birthday in high style. We were treated to a very elegant meal by Elizabeth at the Sun Dial Restaurant, which revolves at the top of the Westin Hotel in Downtown Atlanta. We were lucky to arrive while the sun was still shining and leave after dark which gave us splendid views of the city with and without lights. It was such fun to get dressed up to go out. Our current life styles are such that we just don't take the opportunity to do so. When Ollie saw his mom in this lovely little black dress he asked her "Why are you wearing your bathing suit?" Mike definitely has to take this girl out more often.

Of course the other highlight of the days spent in Atlanta was bonding with two of the sweetest boys on the face of the earth. Drew's current favorite games are "My ---- is better than yours", Where did the ball go?, and Let's sneak things from Pa. Ollie is so happy go lucky he just likes being around everyone.



The boys practiced their scary faces while waiting for their lunch to arrive



Believe it or not this is Ollie's scary face

 

After leaving Atlanta, we headed for Ashville to drop in on the Vanderbilts for a brief visit. Unfortunately they weren't in residence that week but we were treated to a tour of their luxurious estate, Biltmore and spent a few days enjoying the hospitality of some new friends that we met in Florida who live in Mars Hill.

On the way to Charlotte, home of our niece Amy and her lovely family, we stopped to climb Chimney Rock State Park. It felt great to get out and do something so physical after so much sitting.

Last stop but certainly not the least was Western Virginia, home of sister Carol and her husband Jim. We were given an added treat when our Nephew made an appearance for Sunday dinner with his little family.  We had a nice visit, attended a Glass Harp Concert, had more than a few laughs and I received some quilting lessons before the long but satisfying ride home.



This is one happy Grandma