SuperGuy did a lot of photography on our vacation too.

He was obsessed a bit taken with all the pelicans.

I mean, REALLY into photographing them…

Oh, and this next one is one of my favs. He got a pelican diving right into the surf!

Just cracks me up!

Did I mention he took a LOT of pelican shots?? I must have edited a hundred of them…or more…

Well, he did a fabulous job with them…but I hope he chooses a different subject for the next time I need to edit 3 billion photos for him…

• St. Charles Missouri Photo Shoot
• St. Charles Photo Shoot
• The Difficult Amaryllis
• Never Too Late
• Obsession

We stayed at an amazing resort full of fabulous cabins in the mountains outside of Gatlinburg. We stayed in them on our way out to the east coast for our vacation…we liked them so much, that we stayed two more nights at them on the way home.

Our cabin on the first night was wonderful. Look at this fabulous view of the Smoky Mountains! It had a fabulous wrap around porch with one side of it screened in with a hot tub.

Yes, a view of the mountains right from the hot tub.

Oh, and let me not forget to tell you about the jetted tub in the master bedroom. I mean, this was just a fabulous place to stay. The people at the front desk were friendly and helpful. The place was clean, clean, clean.

Oh, and this cabin had a game room downstairs where SuperGuy proceeded to beat me at pool. Again and again. But I had fun letting him win

Okay, if that cabin wasn’t fabulous enough…enter the cabin we stayed at for two nights on our return home…Tara in the Smokies…

Really, this cabin was fabulous and the owner did not miss a trick in the decorating to the Gone with the Wind theme!

From the posters on the wall…

Oh, and the hand carved Gone with the Wind checker board in one on the guest rooms.

But the detail that made me laugh at loud in delight?

The green velvet valances over the windows–just like the green velvet curtains that Scarlett made her dress out of when she went to see Rhett!

We went and saw Gatlinburg for an afternoon because I’d never been there. Okay, been there, done that now. We also poked around the Arts & Crafts area and saw some of the local made art. That was fun. Then we came back to just sit and stare at the mountains.

We’ll some of us stared at the mountains and some of us….

decided it was time for a little nap…

The last morning we woke up to the fabulous sunrise!

So, if you’re looking for a great, reasonable, very clean place to stay near Gatlinburg or Pidgeon Forge…look into Oak Haven Resort. But I’m warning you…bring your camera!

(I took off one of the sidebars on my blog, so in the future I can upload bigger photos. Let me know if the site looks wonky to you. Hope I got it all adjusted correctly!)

• Home from Vacation
• St. Simons Island
• St. Augustine Beach
• New Orleans Fun
• Introducing Summer Weather

So much to tell, so little time. We had a fabulous vacation, just fabulous. A couple weeks of rest and relaxation and not much more. I have stories to tell and lots of photos to share, but I’ll leave you with just a few for now.

We started the first day by driving to Gatlinburg, TN. Stayed at a wonderful cabin resort called Oak Haven. (much more on that later!) We managed to find us some…

Yuengling Beer. Which we thoroughly enjoyed The first of many on the trip. We then drove on to Litchfield Beach for two nights…must find some photos from there. Drove through Myrtle Beach…OMGOSH so busy and crowed…and onto Holden Beach where we stayed for a week.

SuperGuy immediately started fishing. Notice the dolphins playing out in the ocean behind him? Well, they look like specs this small…

We also did a lot of…well…nothing at all. It was wonderful.

Holden Beach was turned weird…it runs east/west instead of the normal north/south even though it’s on the East coast. So we didn’t get any remarkable sunrise pictures over the ocean. Did grab this sunset down the beach the last night though.

We were going to go to Hilton Head for a couple of days, but it was cold and rainy by then, so we decided to go back to the Smokies, to the same resort we stayed at the first night. We got a different cabin, called Tara in the Smokies…which will be a blog post in and of itself soon.

We did a lot of nothing those two days too, but we did make a running stab at Gatlinburg proper for a few hours. Crazy traffic and crowds, but I’d never seen it so I was glad we went. Then went to the Arts & Crafts area right out of Gatlinburg and browsed there a bit. Came back to the cabin…and did a lot of nothing again.

Woke up to the most spectacular sunrise ever. ™.

More stories to come after I get my feet back under me and adjust to the real world…

• Oak Haven Resort-Gatlinburg TN
• I Need a Vacation
• Someone Has to Do It!
• It’s that time of year
• Outer Banks Review

So when we go visit SuperGuy’s Mom and sister in Lexington, we drive through Louisville. Right at the river there are these tile murals and I finally remembered to have my camera out and ready to take photos!

Okay, not the best photo…but I couldn’t convince SuperGuy to stop in the middle of the interstate. (really, he should be more supportive of my photography, shouldnt’ he??    ) But you can kind of see here that the tiles are arranged to suggest images of Mohammad Ali.  (okay, so we’ve been going past that for years, and I had to Google what it was. I just knew it was faces.)

This side I always thought was runners…but I guess it’s boxers

When you get up close to it, it just looks like a tile wall. Kind of like magic!

Okay, darnit, you can still see the faces vaguely on this one…once again, SuperGuy would not stop on the freeway…

There you have it. Another road trip adventure with Kacey and SuperGuy!

• Spring Road Trip
• google power
• The Road Trip Home-Always an Adventure
• Mississippi Road Trip
• Going Home-Quincy IL Style

So we got stuck in a huge traffic jam coming into St. Louis from the Illinois side this weekend. Why was I so happy about it? Because I got some awesome shots of the arch and a blimp flying around as we sat there on the bridge.

SuperGuy was thrilled with me. “Scoot up a couple of feet. Don’t let that truck get beside us!! It will block my view!!” “You don’t mind if I roll down the window for a bit in this 95 degree weather do you, honey?”

I was so excited to the get blimp “inside” the arch!! Now I’m motivated to go downtown and get more shots of the city. I’m sure SuperGuy will be thrilled!   Though maybe I could talk him into one of our photo competitions…

• Rocky Mountain Sunset
• No Rain Equals New Window
• My Camera was Stolen!
• Even Though it was 80 Degrees this Weekend
• New Patio Furniture

Seriously. I need a vacation. Right. Now.

I need to be sitting beside the ocean. Sipping a Yuengling Beer. A cold one.

I need my feet in the ocean. A break from the routine. Time to relax. Unwind.

We finally decided on Holden Beach, North Carolina for our September vacation. I cannot wait. It’s supposed to be mostly residential/rental houses. We got a house way down the island, so hopefully it will be almost deserted. Just like we like it. Might hit up Myrtle Beach for one night on the way there because we’ve never seen it. Then a couple of nights somewhere else on the way home. Only about 7 more weeks to go before we leave…

And this man really needs a vacation too. Just sayin’ 

That is all. Just wishful thinking.

• Home from Vacation
• Outer Banks Review
• Remember When I Asked Your Advice
• Fort Walton Beach-Okaloosa Island
• Someone Has to Do It!

Seriously, SuperGuy and I stumbled upon the best cafe in Illinois when we were out antiquing. Ariston Cafe in Litchfield, IL.

Yes, that strawberry dessert tasted as delicious as it looked! My fav part of the lunch!

But I love the whole experience! From the authentic formica table tops…

To the to-die-for patty melt.

To the cute decorations in the cafe. We had the best time! I do not know how SuperGuy always manages to stumble across cafes and diners like this when we’re out antiquing, but he does. It’s part of our whole antiquing ritual now. Finding the perfect authentic little spot to eat.

So if you’re ever on highway 55 in Illinois,  near Litchfield (it’s on old route 66…remember the Historic Route 66 sign I took a photo of?) …make a side trip into town and have the strawberry dessert at Ariston cafe…and anything else on the menu that catches your eye. Yum.

As an aside…if anyone has the recipe for that strawberry dessert, hook me up! I’ve googled to no avail.

• Historic Route 66
• Yes It Does
• Driving Miss Kacey
• In Search of the Perfect Lighthouse Photo
• Breakfast of Champions

…when SuperGuy and I try to decide where we’re going to go on our September vacation…

Outer Banks again, maybe. If we could find a quiet area, on the beach..where you can actually see the shore, not just the dunes. Or maybe St. Augustine again. Their beach was wonderful and the area we stayed was quiet. We always like Fort Morgan out of Gulf Shores. Notice the beach theme though…any suggestions for this year?

1)Quiet

2)Directly on the Beach

3)Quiet

• Where, oh, where to vacation?? Help Me!
• Fort Walton Beach-Okaloosa Island
• Outer Banks Review
• Need Travel Advice
• Remember When I Asked Your Advice

I grew up less than a mile from Route 66.

Route 66 is one of the original US highways and runs from Chicago to LA. It was “established” (whatever that means…) in 1926. They removed US 66 from the official US highways in 1985. (who does that??) ’cause, you know, the Interstate System was new and better.

Anyway…while we were out antiquing last week, part of our journey was along the Historic Route 66. I told SuperGuy to STOP. THE. CAR.  I wanted to get a picture of the Route 66 sign.  He keeps driving…somewhere…I’m like “NO. Stop here!” He’s thinking I’m looking for a Route 66 sign. Nope. I jump out of the car and into the line of traffic…which thankful stopped…and got this photo of Route 66 stamped and worn in the roadway.

…and I lived to tell the tale. I tell you, there’s not much I wouldn’t do to get a photo that I want!

• Definition of Insanity
• November 09 Photo of the Month Contest
• The Road Trip Home-Always an Adventure
• Best Cafe in Illinois
• Life’s Big Questions

I spend a lot of time these days looking at this sight. Over and over again as we drive back and forth from Columbia. Sometimes I amuse myself by taking photos. But I’ve shot all the really cool things along the road. Like the bull. And the waving guy. ™.

So sometimes I’ll pick a new subject and shoot it. Like water towers. This one is in Kingdom City…not City Kingdom…bad angle…

But there are only so many water towers between St. Louis and Columbia…besides sometimes I have the attention span of a gnat… (I should have cloned out the wires…)

So I tried to grab a photo of the Calaway Nuclear Plant…though I had on my wide angle and was too lazy to switch to my longer lens. So, you can see it really tiny in this photo–on the left–with the steam coming up from the cooling tower. Okay, that was fun, now let’s shoot something else. (attention span thing again…)

There’s always the trees by the side of the road…

Or, look, the Tree Farm. ™ We’re pretty sure it’s for sale if anyone is looking to buy a tree farm in Missouri…

Sigh. We need to find some different ways to drive to Columbia…

• The Big Tree
• Resolutions and Other Lies
• Mississippi Road Trip
• A weekend at home
• Saying Goodbye