After visiting Florida during the winter in the RV, we returned to springtime in Atlanta. It was fun to leave when it was cold and come back to warmth with flowers blooming all around. April brought us together with family on two different trips.
Mid-month, we took the RV for a long weekend visit to Jason’s brother in Hendersonville, NC (near Asheville). Our RV can serve as an extra bedroom so we can bring our “traveling hotel room” and stay in his driveway. The reason for this trip was to watch our niece in Beauty and the Beast. Of course, she was amazing! We were also able to do some hiking in the Pisgah National Forest and saw beautiful waterfalls. After our walkabout, we had to stop at my favorite ice cream joint, Dolly’s Dairy Bar, in the Pisgah Forest. Dolly’s is only open about half of the year, so if there’s an opportunity to go, I always take it. The ice cream is homemade, and they have all kinds of crazy flavors. Most are named after local places and summer camps that bring the children over in busloads.
The other family trip was without the RV. At the end of the month, I flew to Chicago to meet my mom and sisters for a girl’s weekend. We had planned this trip for a while and weren’t sure what type of weather we would see there in April. We were lucky that we saw the sun and it was mild. Much to my surprise, there were blooms all around the city. So many streets had batches of flowers along the sidewalks and in the traffic medians.
We started with laughs by attending the Mainstage 112th Revue at Second City on our first night. Our last day we took the Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) River Cruise Aboard the First Lady. I had done this activity a few years before with Jason, and it was equally enjoyable the second time around.
In between days, we walked around the city and enjoyed guided tours of two museums, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) to see the exhibit for Nicole Eiseman. The Institute was quite large, so it was very helpful to have a guide. The MCA was small in comparison. Both museums were impressive in their own way, and each had restaurants within the building where we ate lunch.
At the Art Institute of Chicago, we were lucky to catch an exhibit that captured the spirit of our weekend together. This intimate series of The Brown Sisters included forty photographs over four decades. Photographer Nicolas Nixon took these pictures each year of the same set of sisters in a similar pose.
Of course, since it was my family, eating was an integral part of the experience. Our first night we discovered About Last Knife, an Italian eatery around the corner from where we stayed. Friday, we feasted on hip French cuisine at Avec. Saturday, we went back to Italian flavors at Quartino, and Sunday, we ate delicious Croatian food at Rose Mary which was our favorite meal. Being Chicago, all the restaurants were crowded, and dinner reservations were necessary. No matter which type of food, all were served tapas style.
We tried to visit the Japanese Garden of the Phoenix within Jackson Park, but it proved to be elusive. Right next to those grounds, we could see the beginnings of a new presidential library for former President Obama. The construction made it difficult to find an accessible entrance to the gardens, and we ended up having to forgo that plan. A silver lining was a picturesque ride along the waterfront back to our Airbnb. All in all, it was a wonderful trip filled with good vibes and sisterhood.
As spring turned to summer, the weather became too hot in Marietta, so we headed in the RV to the North Georgia Mountains for some cooler air. We took our RV to the Mountain View Campground in Hiawassee near Lake Chatuge. It was our first visit there. The small and quiet location had a nice view of the mountains and fun places to explore nearby. The friendly hosts told us about a secret waterfall just down the road. To get there, we put our Subaru to the test, crossing three streams and then walked up a steep hill to discover a lovely waterfall all to ourselves.
While we were in the area, we explored new places we had never been and ate in a few local restaurants. We went to Helen, GA, where all the architecture looks like you are in Switzerland. There we watched the Euro Cup semifinals while I sipped on a tasty pineapple flavored beer from Terrapin Brewery in Athens, GA.
Another day we hiked to Shoals Falls. It was steep but worth the effort. Afterward, we visited Hiawassee Brew to watch the Copa Cup semifinals, and I tasted another yummy blackberry cider from Terrapin Brewery. We also drove through Unicoi State Park, which felt more like a resort with a beach, a lake, a lodge, and cottages.
We relaxed along the river while I read and Jason fished. On the last day, we drove to the top of Bell Mountain, which provided a great 360-degree view of the surrounding lakes. There was a huge staircase that offered an even better view if you were willing to climb it. There we saw something we had not seen before. Most of the rocks and the decking were covered in graffiti. It made for an unusual sight, but it didn’t ruin the panorama.
P.S. Give the gift of career assistance this season or a copy of The Purple Parachute. My book is available in paperback, hardcover ebook, or audiobook formats.
