On Monday we headed out to Cathy and Tony's in Gainesville Georgia. We got an early start hoping to get one last shot at a clear view from Clingmans Dome but when we got up to Newfound Gap it was socked in so we gave up on that idea and continued on. It almost immediately started raining on the North Carolina side of the gap. All was not lost on our final drive through the park though as we saw elk, a big male elk, as well as some baby wild turkey.
The drive to Gainesville was only about 4 hours or so and we arrived just before noon. We pretty much immediately set up camp on the water with Cathy as we enjoyed an afternoon of playing on the water. We did stand up paddle boards, kayaks and swimming with the dogs, who both loved the water as much as Laura. Cathy took us on a tour of the lake on the boat and then all of us took turns being pulled on the tube. Needless to say we had some tired arms. The girls then tried water skiing. Their tired arms didn't allow them to get and stay up but it's clear they were getting enough of the experience that the next time, with fresh arms that they will get up and be able to do it. We followed that up with another swim, with the dogs, before calling it an afternoon.
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| Alex on the board |
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| Dan on the board |
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| Laura on the board |
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| Em on the board |
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| Laura the daredevil |
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| Alex riding the boats wake, she was getting tossed around a bit. |
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| Alex getting up on the skis |
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| Laura almost up on the skis. |
We went into Gainesville to have dinner, see the town and the medical center where Tony works. It's a nice town with a traditional town square and some nice houses with a southern feel to them. The medical center was also very impressive. We had a great pizza dinner while a thunderstorm with a torrential downpour went through. After dinner we chatted with Cathy (Tony was out of town) before calling it a night.
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| Pool time for Laura, Alex and William |
We got up early to head to Tampa on Tuesday as we had 8 hours of driving before accounting for rush hour through Atlanta. It was pouring in Gainesville but had stopped by the time we hit Atlanta outskirts. Luckily since we hit the loop around Atlanta headed East/ South we missed probably half the rush hour traffic. The rest of the drive up until we got off the freeway in Tampa was uneventful. There was a very bad accident on North I-75 that diverted all freeway traffic onto Bruce B Downs Parkway in the same direction as we were going so the final 10 miles took 45 minutes. On the plus side the boys couldn't get home from school in time for baseball because of the traffic so they were home in the evening to play in the pool with Laura (and me a little). We had a great dinner and evening with Terri and the boys.
On Wednesday Alex, Em and I did a tour of Eckerd College. Alex liked it but didn't love it. It didn't help that it was 90+ degrees and with humidity felt like 100+. After that we picked up Laura and Terri for a final lunch. We are now on the plane headed home.
I will update this post later with pictures.
Sent from my Silver iPhone 5s
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