Hanging Out in Georgia

After staying with Felicia (some of you read her blog Stare if You Must) for many days, we headed back home, but we stopped at my son Adam's house in Georgia on the way. Since it's "all about the journey" with us, we also stopped in Augusta, GA, and I previously posted about that.

We were really excited to swim in Adam's pool because we figured it would be much warmer than Felicia's. Swimming did not happen!

Both of Adam's houses were hit. The one in Panama City by Michael at Category 5 winds and the one in Albany, GA by Category 3 winds. He had to leave for Norway before he had time to deal with it.

We drove to the Zoo, but it was closed due to hurricane damage, so we went to the Riverquarium instead. I don't have pictures because it was mostly tanks of fish that live in the river.

Ray Charles plaza was nearby.

The next day we went to Pirate's Cove Nature Trails, but it was more like an obstacle course.

The following day we went to a small science museum.

Then it was time to go home and face real life.

This is what real life looks like now:

House

Side of the house

Two of three of our sheds survived.

Our back yard
These pictures don't really show the damage well, but in some areas there are too many trees blocking the way.I also think some of my pictures are on my newer computer that is getting some work done on it.

The flea market where our shop was at.

And this is what it looks like in general down here. But these are right after the hurricane. It still looks like this, but imagine mountains of trees and furniture piled so high along the road that you no longer know where you are, and you can't even see the entrances to the smaller side roads.

Most of the students here have been out of school since October 8th.Jessica started back in her nursing program today. My twins started back at their own middle school starting today. Jasmine starts next Tuesday. Her high school will meet at a middle school from 7-12 and the middle school students from that school will go 1-6. It's not ideal, but it will work for now.

We are looking at housing option. We are having issues with the insurance company. They want us to fix a double wide with holes in the roof, siding off and black mold everywhere. I want a real house on a foundation not in a flood area. I had wanted to live on the water, but housing is in short supply now and people can charge whatever they want. We looked at the "perfect" house for us yesterday, but competition is strong. I don't know if we can finance it.

I hope I'll have happier news in my next post.

Augusta, Georgia

Today we left South Carolina for Albany, but since my motto is "It's all about the journey," I had to find at least one cool place to stop. Augusta had many, but stopped at the Riverwalk because it was right on our way.

Jasmine was really fascinated with this. You stand on the month of the year that it is, and your shadow falls on what time it it. And it was accurate. It was 1:00 at the time.

All we really did was walk along the river area for an hour. There is so much to do there, but we needed to go on to Albany.

Anyone live near Augusta,GA or visit it?

Fun Friday: How Many States Have You Visited?

How many states have you visited? Follow the link to create your map, then tell us in the comments how many states you've visited.

Map here

Here's mine. I didn't include states where I have only been in the airport (Alaska and California) or ones I just drove through but didn't stop to do anything or just drove through a corner of it.

 I am missing the West Coast, East Coast and New England states. Rick and I are talking about where to go for our 30th anniversary in 2018. Maybe the New England states. Or East Coast. Not sure. We will only a few days and a limited budget. We'd talked about a cruise since you get everything included in one price as far as meals and a place to sleep, but I'd like to see some of our country I haven't seen before.

I am posting this same thing on all four of my blogs.