A Fun Trip

We had a slight change of plans regarding our weekend trip.  My husband, Charlie, is in the financial investments business.  Last Thursday and Friday the stock market was in a scary place, so Charlie stayed at work on Friday to talk to his clients.  That meant no time to stop at Mary Jo's Cloth Store, but that's okay.  

Saturday started out very nice, and we all had fun at Richard and Phyllis's outdoor pool.  Their son Chris had moved the basketball goal from the driveway to  poolside, which provided a lot of entertainment.

Just as I predicted, we started hearing rumbles of thunder.  We got in a few hours at the pool before we retreated to the back deck.  That's Charlie's brother Grady, his wife Sheila, and Dalton.

That ;night, it quit raining, and we took a little drive to South Carolina to go out to eat.  We crossed Lake Bowen, which I had never seen before.

We ate dinner at Copper River, a restaurant in Boiling Springs, SC, that reminds us very much of The Boundary House in Calabash, NC at the beach.

Inside it has tall ceilings and wide wooden beams.  You can see the bottles at the bar shining through the beams.

It was a great dinner!  You might enjoy seeing this gift that sister-in-law Phyllis gave us...red-neck wine glasses! 

They are canning jars, which also commonly serve as the containers for "moonshine,"  mounted on candle sticks!

There were a variety of pets at Richard's, including Sexy Sadie, the normally shy outdoor cat.

That one is outside all the time, but poor CJ has to watch the party from inside.

Our niece Lindsay was there with her little chihuahua, Jasper.

This was the first time we have seen Lindsay as a mama-to-be.  She and her husband Matt will be having a little girl in November.

After leaving Richard's house we saw a flock of wild turkeys getting ready to cross the road.  Only one was brave enough to cross in front of us, and the rest stayed behind.

We stopped in Forest City to see Charlie's cousin, Tommy Mack, and while we were there cousin Linda also came to visit.  These are 50% of all Charlie's first cousins.  I have so many I don't know them all, but Charlie only has these two and their two sisters, Laura and Sissy (Mary.)

Tommy Mack always has a dog named Blackie.  Here is Blackie III.

We were surprised to learn that he also has a new black dog named Delilah, whom he adopted from the local shelter.

Unlike the past two weekends, our trip home from the mountains did not pass through any thunderstorms.  There is some pretty scenery  and hills along 64 from Rutherford County to Morganton,NC, where we get on Interstate 40.

It looks like you are going to run into a mountain when you get to this view.

It was a nice visit with the McBrayer clan.