I’m writing this from a beautiful mountain cabin in North Georgia.  Tom and I  head home tomorrow, after spending ten wonderFULL days here.  I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve said wOw! over the course of this vacation, but before heading home, I just had to share some of them with ya’ll.  Here ya go:

 1. We left on time;

2. Driving along the Nantahala River;

3. That .first.glimpse of the mountains in the distance;

4.  One of Tom’s homemade chicken salad sandwiches in a church parking lot in who-knows-where;

5.  Sadly, seeing eight dead deer in a nine-hour drive;

6. Mercier’s Apple Orchard (one of the top tourist attractions in GA);

7. Cold, fresh-pressed apple cider;

8.  Stumbling across/almost INTO not one but two parades in small towns we were passing through;

9.  A breathtaking hike at Fort Mountain State Park;

10. The mysterious ancient  (500 AD) stone wall that runs throughout much of Fort Mountain

11.  Learning so much about the Cherokee people, history and culture of the region at the Chief Vann House;

12.  A still underfeted Havelock High School (my alma mater) on its way to a Three-Peat Conference Championship;

13.  Downtown Blue Ridge, GA;

14.  Auburn (Tom’s alma mater) defeating Texas A&M;

15.  An errily beautiful fuul moon in The Hills;

16. Eating pumpkin pie –my sister, Mari’s favorite-  for breakfast in honor and celebration of her;

17. The North Georgia Apple Festival in Ellijay, GA;

18.  Amicalola Falls;

19.  Celebrating that MS doesn’t  have to limit, but it can help me make wiser choices (like NOT taking the 600 steps the the base of Amicaloa Falls 😉 );

20. Spotting the remnants of a 1950 Chevy truck IN a mountain;

21.  Taking the time to notice leaves falling;

22.  Meeting some great Hot Rod Cruisers while looking for a picnic spot;

23.  Spotting a funny sign AND submitting it to the Ellen Show;

24.  Seeing more than 300 pumpkins in perfectly straight rows;

25.  Witnessing children playing among all.those.pumpkins;

26.  The holy result of Tom and my convenant to always fight fair (look for more details in this Sunday’s Learning Blog);

27. That we can find a classic car museum/collection and Goodwill/thrift stores anywhere, as long as we’re willing to look;

28. The phenomenal before/after results of a fire pit after Tom has worked his magic;

29.  The simply perfect joy of sharing boiled peanuts at the end of a day of ‘doing nothing’;

30. The view from atop Brasstown Bald;

31. That Tom wore STILL wore shorts when the wind chill was below 20F;

32.  How great it is when we choose to stay on vacation the whole time we’re on vacation;

33.  Getting to witness Tom (the.man.who.never.stops) fall asleep while reading OUT LOUD TO ME from a hot rod magazine;

34.  The bittwersweet feelings of the.last.night.of.vacation; and

35.  How well the whole world went on without us both – thank.you.very.much.

What’s made YOU say wOw! lately?