Mothers are special and I miss mine every day. I wish she was around to share this adventure with me. I love you Mom! I also miss my kids! I am usually with at least one of them on Mother’s Day, but if we do our jobs right, they grow up and move on to live their own lives. I will always love them, no matter what, to the Moon and Beyond ……

Now, on with my travels. Volleyball overload, BUT I love it!

Clearstapa people – it was so wonderful to see Denverites here in Clearwater!

Volleyball at Linda’s.

That’s probably it for Clearwater for a while, but I have REALLY enjoyed my time there! Next stop, Fort Walton Beach, FL for the Fudpuckers tournament.

I didn’t play in the tournament, but had a great time with pick up and this gang

I stayed at Navarre Beach. Nice campground; clean facilities; Melanie joined me again and stayed in a tent! That was different. I made a new friend

The picture doesn’t do it justice. I was actually pretty close. I was talking to Shyla while I snuck around him, hoping he wasn’t going to peck my eyes out! He just stared me down and let me go on my way.

Next stop on this volleyball binge – Gulf Shores for the NCAA beach volleyball championship!

My friend Dave put all this together AND allowed us to share his room! He is amazing! He even built a court ‘just for us’. Although, we did share it with the coaches and college girls 😉

I was cheering on TCU because why not? They shared our hotel and were very nice, they are purple, they are Christian and they are from Texas, and I thought the message in the sand was appropriate. And yes, they won the whole dang thing! Yay!

That should be the last of volleyball for a while – it’s time to get back to exploring. It was actually after this that I stayed at the winery on my way to Tallulah Gorge State Park. I hope you don’t mind if I just do a picture dump here. It was a beautiful place

Are you loving the glasses? I hope you’re not burned out on selfies – I don’t have much choice.

What’s with me and stairs?! During the two days I was here, I was all over this place and went up and down those stairs 4 or 5 times – beats the gym I guess. The bottle? I just had to prove that I do learn from my own mistakes – it was on flat ground this time next to a 100′ drop.

I missed Tallulah Gorge the last time I was in northern Georgia, and I am so glad I went back! It was a pretty neat sight to see – thank for the recommendation Dave H! Oh, and what’s with Boiled Peanuts? They are all over the place in GA. It doesn’t really sound all that yummy to me.

I didn’t intend for this one to be so long, but I might as well get you totally caught up since I did stuff out of order.

I was having trouble finding campgrounds in North Carolina. It seems they are still recovering from the hurricane last year and a lot of the campgrounds are closed. Harvest Host to the rescue again! I ended up staying at River Road Farms.

It’s a blueberry farm! I really wish they were ripe, but if you are in Franklin, NC, stop on by in July and pick your own! Say hi to Jeremy. He hopes to have jams and honey next year too.

Side note – I thought this was creative for a place that stores toys like RVs and boast

I’m living in luxury this week – I am so blessed. I’ll tell you about it next time.

Mamas – keep loving those babies; and Kids – appreciate your moms. It all goes by so fast, and there can never be too much love to share.

Tip of the day: If you want to see the waterfalls on that North Carolina map, be aware that there IS rush hour traffic in that area! I guess all the workers in fancy Highlands have to commute quite a ways on that two lane, twisty road. Left hand turns are a nightmare and God forbid that you want to do a U-turn because you missed a cool waterfall! Be careful!