South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi

We left south Carolina after enjoying good times with family and friends and are doubling back to Mississippi to spend time near granddaughter, Bella, who is with her Navy Reserves unit and preparing to deploy to Kuwait. 

Our time in SC ncluded a trip to Myrtle Beach with my sister and nephew and their spouses and my brother. 

 Mike and I crossed off Helicopter Ride on our bucket list and took a short flight over the beach 

we had a great time and even got to see my cousin, Judy, who has a beautiful gift shop in Myrtle Beach.

 we also enjoyed Lake Murray time with my brother, John.

My college friend, Sandra, got a group of old friends together for dinner at an old hangout and it was so great to see everyone!

After spending good times with so much fun, friends and family 

We spent our first stop in Asheville NC and went into town to check it out and have lunch. Asheville is charming with a very artsy feel.  We enjoyed a

yummy lunch at a local joint

 I stopped into a little general store to get a postcard ( we try to send them regularly to Mike's sister, Sue, at her request. This store is Mast's General Store and I realized thaty father's Grandmother was a Mast. We did some research when we got back to camp and sure enough it was started by her family in the late 1800s and then sold in the  1970s. 

 I'm glad I picked up a postcard and a sticker from the store now!

From Asheville we spent a couple of days in Tennessee and couple of days in Alabama.  We're in Gulfport MS now on the Navy Base and staying until June 22nd. Our oldest granddaughter, Bella, is stationed here with her group, preparing for deployment to Kuwait in  a couple of months.  It's really humid and hot in MS and we had Tropical storm Arthur pass through a couple of days ago. So much rain and puddles like crazy. High winds too, but we were fine.

Last night we  had Bella out to the campground and made dinner for her. We had a good visit and said goodbye before we left for our next stop. Praying for our sweet girl to be protected from any harm and to stay strong and wise throughout this deployment!

Our final destination in Mississippi is this beautiful campground at Wallace Creek, Enid Lake MS

Heading to South Carolina

Our northward trip brought us back to WW Ranch near Jacksonville and we got to see a 2 day old calf and enjoy the barnyard sounds again.

From there we went to Savannah Ga and stayed at a lovely place. Our granddaughter, Bella and her boyfriend Aaron live nearby and joined us that evening for pizza and laughs. 

Next we made it to the midlands of South Carolina and are staying at Cedar Pond CG not far from Jessie  and Mike's family and John (my brother) and Debbie. 

I had to visit my doctor for annual checkup in Idaho in April so I took a flight out of Charlotte NC April 8-14. 

It was nice to check in with friends and see home for a few days. 

i missed getting a photo with Debbie and Brent, but I borrowed a car from them spent good times with their family and am so grateful for their care and friendship!

 The trip was good and I returned to Charlotte and spent the night there to await the arrival of our children, Zach and wife Mandie from Portland,OR, and Elizabeth from Montana. I rented a van and  drove around Charlotte. My great uncle David Sheets lived there when I was growing up. I went to look for his old property and did find it, but it's now a subdivision on a street named for him.

I drove back to the airport and picked up the kids and we headed back to the family in SC.

Charlotte airport:

We are so grateful for their visit since Zach and Mandie are going to be moving to Denmark because Zach is going to be working there as a Lego designer. It's a boyhood dream come true and we're so proud, yet sad to have them so far away. (New vacation location, though!) Also Elizabeth is leaving to work her summer job at a salmon  fishery in Alaska soon and granddaughter, Bella is going to Mississippi with her Navy Reserves unit to prepare for deployment to Kuwait. Lots of changes coming!

Sorry these are all sideways. They came through some other sources than my phone camera and I am technology challenged, so that's what happened. 

The kids have already gone to their next destinations and Mike and I are relaxing and resuming some normalcy now, but we've had a few more visits.   I went to Columbia yesterday and had lunch with some USCarolina band friends. After being apart 25+ years we had lots of fun catching up!

Today, April 29, 2026, Mike and I traveled by car to Charleston SC and had the opportunity to meet a sister from his biological father's side. Jenny is his youngest known sibling, as he has been discovering more about his family thanks to ancestry. She was delightful to talk with and looks so much like Mike! Having been adopted as an infant, Mike has always been curious about his biological roots.  He has made many  connections and has met his biological mom, and her two daughters who are from NV and we stay in touch with them. He now has been in contact with 2 sisters from their father and will meet more sisters and hopefully a brother when we make it to Minnesota. Here's a picture of Mike and Jenny 

His family history, as we are learning is quite interesting... His father was married a few times and fathered children even more times. We've learned some absurd things about him and even crazier things about Mike's paternal Grandfather. None of it, although it is and interesting story, is anything I plan to write more about.

Thanks for taking the time to read!

Heading further south

From Bradenton Florida we moved on to the Highlands area near Avon Park and Sebring. The weather was warm and Mike did a lot of fishing, we swam in the pool, and had a relaxing couple of weeks. 

There's a sea service museum where we enjoyed the tour.

We went by the Sebring Raceway and caught a lap or two. 

Next we headed to Homestead Florida. It's been mixed days of hot sun and cool rain. I visited the history museum in hopes of learning anything about my Great Grandfather who was a settler of the area. I didn't find him specifically, and left info with the guide there who is going to pass along to the curator when she returns from vacation and hopefully get some information on him to me if there's anything. ~Update  she did send me info regarding his death in Miami and burial in Newberry SC

Mike and I visited the Coral Castle. It's a fascinating home of a local legend who built this interesting home and gardens from coral rock. 

We went to Everglades National Park and enjoyed the beautiful scenery, on  boardwalks around swamp and over wetlands. Truly a beautiful place. 

We spent a day driving to the Florida Keys. It was a lovely drive and we went to the southernmost tip of the United States in Key West.

 We visited the aquarium there as well and had a delicious lunch. Stopped at a local bakery too and brought a delicious Key Lime Pie back with us.

We traveled after that to Patrick Space Force Base and camped right on the Banana River and watching the dolphins and other fish jumping. Mike caught and released a pufferfish 

There's lots of pelicans and dolphins to watch as well.

 

This was the sunset our first evening here. 

On our way north toward Jacksonville, Florida. 

Florida adventures

Our first stay in FL was going back to the Jacksonville area at WW Ranch. A beautiful setting where they have cattle, as well as a llama-alpaca cross, peacocks, and goats. It's really peaceful, even with the animals and the Motocross training facility. The owner is so gracious and we enjoyed 2 nights there just taking in the sunshine, watching the motorcycle training and walking around the ranch. 

Next stop was Ocala Florida where we visited the World Equestrian Center and experienced the training facility and lovely grounds 

We went to Silver Springs nearby and took a ride on a glass bottom boat. The day we were there the weather was unseasonably cool and overcast, so unfortunately we didn't get to see any gators or manatees, but the springs and a few turtles and fish and birds were lovely . 

We also went back to a place we'd been years ago, Big Daddy, Don Garlitz's Museum of Drag Racing. 

so many cars, I can't show them all!

This week we're in Bradenton Florida. It's near Sarasota and south of Tampa. We're not sightseeing, but we were able to enjoy time with my great nephew and his partner, plus this owl.

 Having fun, enjoying Florida, and loving life!