Random Pictures

Before....


After...it's looking much better!

Pets?

I <3 the couch.

Pictures of Married Life + 2 Dogs

Ruby is proudly displaying her spay scar. She doesn't seem to be bothered by it, and it looks like it's healing quite well. It's good to know she won't have any more puppies! It was difficult enough to find homes for the three she already had. We also got her microchipped so we can hopefully find her easily if she ever gets lost!

Gary is soaking up some loving and Ruby is jealous! It was pretty cute. She would have laid on top of Gary if he would have let her (he wouldn't). We'll have to try uploading the video of it soon!

On August 25, Chase and I celebrated our 1st month as a married couple. Chase cooked spaghetti from scratch, green beans, and bread. It was quite delicious!

I pulled out the new dishes, wine glasses, candle holders, platter, coasters for the occasion. Aunt Betty donated 2 chairs that actually fit under the table. Haha...we're still finding homes for all of the wedding gifts, and it's fun to start using them! Thanks everybody!

Blog update soon - promise

Meanwhile here is a picture of me, Ruby, and Chase ^_^

ATC catch up?

I have a lot of free time on my hands while Chase works on his thesis. I should probably reread my notes from VM1...but that doesn't sound like much fun. So today I finished cards for two swaps.


Whimsical Kitties

Tim Burton themed.



I think I've used up my creative juices for one day though. I think I'm ready to leave the lab, but Chase is still hard at work.

Flowers and Critters of the Smokys

These are some of my photos :)

Great Smoky Mountains

The first place we went was Clingman's Dome - the highest point in the Smokys. Of course it was foggy and we could barely see a thing.

Then we set of on some trails. Chase looked at birds, and I took pictures of the critters and flowers.

We drove the Cade's Cove loop and visited all of the historic buildings. It's a beautiful drive, even though we had to stop for traffic every time a rather tame deer was spotted (which was often)

Then we set up camp for our last night on the road. The next day we headed home.

August 1 - Congaree, King's Mountain, Cowpens

Congaree was probably my favorite National Park we visited during this trip. It's a beautiful swamp and the largest old-growth floodplain left on the continent. Did I mention it has 2.4 miles of boardwalk? I was rather happy that I didn't have to worry about stepping on a snake!



Is Chase deep in thought, lost in the beauty of the majestic trees? Or is he looking for a bird?

I loved the way the trees twisted and curl as they competed for the sunlight.

Our last two stops for the evening were King's Mountain, where the tides turned in favor of the American rebels during the Revolutionary War, and Cowpens, another battle site in the Revolutionary War. We spent a little too much time at King's Mountain...and arrived to Cowpens just in time to get the stamp before the park closed so I didn't learn as much at Cowpens...

After leaving Cowpens, we set off toward the Great Smoky Mountains. We stayed at a hotel in Cherokee, NC right outside of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Fort Moultrie and Charles Pinckney NHS

The evening of July 31 we went south to the Charleston area to Fort Moultrie and the Charles Pinckney NHS.

Fort Moultrie had a exhibit dedicated to the WAC. Nannie was stationed at Charleston during her service in the WAC. I was hoping to find a list of names, but no luck! Still...I can just picture her in a uniforn not too different from this one.

Fort Moultrie was basically a series of mound with tunnels and such through them. And some big guns...

We arrived at the Charles Pinckney NHS 10 minutes before it closed so we didn't get to spend as much time as we would have liked here. Here is what the website says about the site

"Charles Pinckney was a principal author and a signer of the United States Constitution. This remnant of his coastal plantation is preserved to tell the story of a "forgotten founder," his life of public service, the lives of enslaved African Americans on South Carolina Lowcountry plantations and their influences on Charles Pinckney."

After those two parks we head north west and stayed in a hotel very close to Congaree, the next national park we wanted to visit.

Huntington Beach - South Carolina

Huntington Beach was one of our favorite stops in South Carolina. It had lots of critters and birds. We discovered it one evening, and then returned for half a day the next day before carrying on our journey westward toward the Smoky Mountains.

Beautiful Day - more pictures

Alligators

Roseate Spoonbills in flight in South Carolina

Chase... before the storm

We're taking one last photo before heading for shelter.




Love to all!

Honeymoon!

This is the view from the Enchanting Evening, the cabin we stayed at following the wedding. I would really love to go back and spend some time there!


An Enchanting Evening





This is the Redmont Hotel, the oldest hotel in Birmingham, Alambama. We stayed in the honeymoon sweet on the top floor. Our suite took up a fourth of the top floor ^_^ The Redmont opened in 1925.

The next day we set off in the direction of Mobile. We ate dinner at Felix's Fish Camp (one of my favorite restaurants) and stayed in a hotel that overlooked the USS Alabama.



Huge battleship!




We continued our drive into Florida and checked out some forts along the way.

Here we are at the ruins of Fort Pickens...one of my favorite stops.

Now we are in our resort in Myrtle beach. We were hoping to go to the beach this evening, but a storm chased us indoors. Hopefully tomorrow we can be beach bums. ^_^