Route 60

If you ever want to take the  long way home from the mountains, route 60 is a good bet.  I honestly feel sorry for some of the drivers that get behind Billy and I.  For one thing, we drive very slowly, usually on purpose because we are waiting for the next photographic experience to present itself....and we find some VERY unusual places for sure.

The first place we found was a graveyard, The Sugar Hill cemetary.  It has been around since 1871 and is near Suches.  Let me preface by digressing a bit....there is supposedly a haunted cemetary in Blue Ridge that has a witch buried in it with a heart shaped headstone.  I have wanted to visit it for awhile, but considering it is supposedly cursed and bad luck befalls those who get too close to her grave, I thought I had better not chance it especially since my luck has not been good this year..

Night Of The Living Dead

A lot of Civil War Veterans are buried here

It's funny how Billy and I totally think alike sometimes.  We both blurted out.."oh my God, this looks like Night of The Living Dead"!  I kept expecting to see zombies coming out from the woods.


This cemetary had a lot of graves of infants and children.  It makes me grateful for modern medicine and doctors....

There were all kinds of country stores we passed.  Sadly these are becoming a relics of the past, as Dollar Tree and Walmart stores become more populous ....


I feel more at home in the mountains/country...I like the slower pace of life, the sense of community and the fact that people don't need to drive the nicest cars or live in the biggest houses just for the sake of  trying to impress others. Billy and I will probably retire in the mountains or near the beach...in just a few years Tanner will be in college and we can start planning in earnest but for now, it's nice to just get away even for a weekend and dream.

Smith Station Antiques

If you are headed up to Blue Rige, you owe it to yourself to check out Smith Station Antiques....

This antique store is quiet and unassuming but a treasure trove of photographic goodness.

The owner is a gentleman by the name of Neal Smith and he started Smith Station Antiques 18 years ago with one truckload of eclectic items.  Neal is a former school teacher and was a photography
enthusiast in his college years.

He runs his store with the help of a local man named Blaine.  Blaine does not know his birthday and cannot read or write.  He does however have Neals information memorized in the phone book and can find it immediately if needed.  Blaine sells brooms and walking sticks outside the store.  He is a very sweet man and I was glad to learn that Neal looks out after him .

This mannequin in the bathtub was in a Southern Living feature ...

Tanner 8th Grade Semi Formal Dance

My oldest son, looking sharp!

Chattanooga 2015

I had a very brief overnight stay in Chattanooga with my kids for spring break.  It was a last minute trip but a nice change of scenery.  We stayed at the Read House Hotel , the same hotel Winston Churchill stayed at back in the day...complete with the haunted room 301!