A River Runs Through it

It wouldn't be a trip to the Smokies without a little fishing. Here's John III standing along one of the serene streams they fished in that day.This shot of Eric makes me think of Mayberry on the Andy Griffith Show.Nana and Paw Paw were sitting pretty, watchin' the fish flop until along came...A rain shower!That didn't stop Eric though, he kept on fishing and here is a big grin on his face when he thought he had caught the big one! It turned out to be a rock fish - if you know what I mean!

On Top of Old Smoky!

We made a day trip to my favorite place, The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Here's Dixie at the beginning of the trail going to Clingman's Dome lookout (about a 1 mile incline from the parking lot).

Even though it was the middle of June, we all needed jackets!As you can see, they don't call it the Smokies for nothing! This wasn't a good day for a good view. Nothing but fog!

Tallulah Gorge

Here's another day trip we took in January to Tallulah Gorge State Park, in the North Georgia Mountians. This hike too, had over 600 steps down into the belly of the gorge and the same back up. Here's the view from the top of the trail, looking down at the waterfall... This was a swinging bridge we had to cross about halfway down, suspending 80ft. above the floor of the gorge. At first glance, you can't tell if you're going up or down on this pic... And...the pay-off. As we stood here, at the bottom, I envisioned what it would look like with a little bit of snow cover. and here is John Jr. heading back up the stairs. We couldn't help but hum the Rocky song!

We're Baa-aack!!

Okay, we're back online after a month off of taking down Christmas trees, playing in the snow, being sick and job hunting! The boys got me a brand spanking new camera for Christmas, and I have finally figured out how to use it! Here goes trying to post a slideshow of our recent day trip to the North Georgia Mountians:

This was our 3rd visit to Amicalola State Park. A strenuous hike of 604 steps up to the top of the waterfall and 604 steps back down. Of course, Eric did it twice without breaking a sweat. Enjoy!

Cloudland Canyon State Park

This weekend we got an opportunity to visit CLOUDLAND CANYON STATE PARK located in Northwest Georgia. This was our first visit and will go down as one of our favorite state parks. The occasion was a birthday trip for Eric who is turning 11 years old! The cabins are very affordable. This one slept 8 in beds with two bedrooms. It had all the perks including a wood burning fireplace and a screened in porch with 4 wonderful rocking chairs. The cabins were perfectly secluded, yet still conveniently close to a hiking trail that led from our cottage to the rim of the canyon. As you can see, there is still some fall color in the area. Here's one view from the edge of the canyon. I guess they don't call it Cloudland Canyon for nothing - It was very foggy during our visit. There were many trails that led to fantastic lookouts. The canyon normally would boast several waterfalls with trails leading to the bottoms, however, with our current drought situation the falls have been reduced to a mere trickle. Just another reminder of exactly how dry we are out here.

Copper Country

• This is the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge, located in Copper Harbor, Michigan. We stayed here the night before our boat trip to the Island. I love the architecture, very Scandinavian or Finnish they might say. I read somewhere that 40 % of the census takers in this area answer to be of Finnish decent. But then, that might not be that many folks since I think there are only about 75 year round residents. LOL! Copper Harbor is Michigan's Northernmost community and it got it's name from the copper boom of the mid-1800's.
• Notice the rock work on the front steps of the main lodge. I wish I had some of those rocks! They would be mighty expensive in Georgia!
• Here's the front of our cabin. Looks like a movie set doesn't it?
• Here are the boys, getting cozy and glad to be out of the truck.
• This is John, working his remote magic to get the dish TV on. Shortly after this photo we lost electricity for the evening. Storms pretty much dominated the night, also causing our cabin phone to go out, and we had to resort to the Manager coming out to wake us up at 6:00am to catch our boat ride the next morning. Little did we realize the sun would actually come up by 5:30 AM!

ENTERING THE U.P.

• Our first view of Lake Superior - the Keweenaw Bay. As we drove our way out of Wisconsin, the clouds gathered up a somewhat irritable rainstorm. We loved it though, because we are, after all, Weather Channel junkies.
• We arrive to Houghton, Michigan - Gateway to the Keweenaw Peninsula. We crossed over this neat elevator style bridge. The middle raises up and down to let water traffic through on the Portage river (leading from open Superior water to the Keweenaw Bay of Superior). But, in the winter the water freezes over. With no water traffic to worry about, they lower that middle section by one floor and the lower passage accommodates snowmobile users. Totally cool!
• Here's a shot of downtown Houghton. They have the enclosed footbridges to use from building to building when snow piles up on the streets in winter. I loved this town! I'm already campaigning for John and I to retire there. At least somewhere in the Keweenaw. If you look closely in the photo they even have mass transit there! I'm not sure why...other than it is a small college town (Michigan Tech).

Happy Independance Day

Here's a little Americana from our recent trip up North. Happy 4th of July to everyone!

A Drive Through Wisconsin

• We had a nice drive through Wisconsin on our way to the U.P. It was only a couple of short hours before the outdoor temperature cooled off from the steamy Chicago heat.
• In Milwaukee, a city that I have visited before, my favorite things are the church spires that dot the skyline throughout the city. Many have copper roofing that has gracefully turned green.
• We drove underneath another weird roadside rest area? This one is actually in a bridge form! There were folks eating lunch inside there.
• These are also some of our favorite barns out of the many HUNDREDS that we drove by. Looks like the cheese cows have a great place to make cheese!

A Bit of Culture

• Our second day in Chicago we took in a bit of culture. First we watched a show of Chinese acrobats called CIRQUE SHANGHAI at Navy Pier. They jumped through hoops, balanced china plates, group rode a bicycle, and twisted their bodies into bewildering poses. Even the youngest performers had six pack abs and after the two hour show we felt as though we should have taken the entire group to the nearest buffet.
• We had an early dinner at a great Italian joint called Gino's East. The atmosphere was inviting. The walls were personalized, graffiti style, by all of the restuarant patrons. We ordered a "to die for" lasagne and their famous deep dish style pizza. The lasagne was so good that John Jr. actually tried it for the first time and liked it. The pizza was tasty but I think we are not fans of having the sauce on the top. All in all, a great place to go.
• We topped off our evening by attending Verdi's Requiem performed by the world famous Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I have no pictures of this event because one is not allowed to bring a camera into an orchestra hall. We've learned, through having John in orchestra, that there is much etiquette that goes into this kind of event. The gallery was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop prior to the first note being played. And, you'd better not clap just because the music stops! There are usually many movements to each piece, best just to wait for others to test the water first! I was proud; there was one instance that a few clapped at an inappropriate time, but not MY family! Good going Autrys! The hall was ornately beautiful, just the setting you would expect. However...we had the nosebleed seats. Whew! And, we barely fit into these nosebleed seats! The fat lady may be singing at the Opera but she sure isn't sitting in the audience! Anyway, the boys played their "A" game at this event...90 minutes of quiet and stillness with no intermission! Needless to say they got ice cream afterward.

A Night On The Town

Our first night on the town (Chicago) was a visit to Navy Pier on the Great Lake Michigan! This is the Ferris Wheel. We rode it after dark to see the beautiful night skyline of downtown Chicago. You had to board and de-board while it was still moving -sort of like a ski lift- John Jr was trying to make our gondola "rock" and his Dad was not too keene on that idea. All of my shots of the skyline from inside the gondola were bad due to the Plexiglas, but these give you an idea of how elegant it was that evening.