4 States 3 Days

We are lucky to have good friends like The Flynns who invited us to come and spend Thanksgiving with them. We spent Wednesday night in Cartersville GA at the Flynn's house and drove up to Chattanooga, TN Thursday morning for Thanksgiving. We even brought Zibby with us. He was pretty good in the car and had to have his nose right up near the front seats the whole time...as though he was really interested in where we were going.






Thanksgiving dinner was at Aunt Hilda's house. She was the sweetest southern lady I have ever met.

Here we are with sweet Aunt Hilda

It was so cute the way she set the tables for dinner. She had the most beautiful china and her real silverware was beautiful! The food was delicious too. I loved the way everything was basically a casserole....squash casserole, broccoli casserole, stuffing casserole, sweet potatoes like casserole (YUM!). The deep fried Turkey was especially yummy too!


We were only able to stay in Chattanooga for dinner because we had made previous hotel arrangements in Asheville, NC. After dinner and delicious desserts (the pecan tarts were my favorite), we took a brief tour of Chattanooga and hit the road for Asheville. Chattanooga is definitely a place we plan to go back and spend more time. Here is a shot of us down on the river front:When Olivia found out we were leaving she was so sad. She seemed so heartbroken that we were leaving and even told her mom "it's not fair for people to leave." I'm not sure if it is 4-year-old drama or if Brooks and I are just awesome. I love this picture of Brooks hugging Olivia.


It was only about a 3.5 hour drive to Asheville. Friday morning we went to see the Biltmore house. The Biltmore house is the America's largest home AND it was built in the late 1800s! Ever heard of the Vanderbilt family? This is their house. Go here to read a brief history about it. What an amazing place! I can't even put it into words. Seriously I hope you followed the link to the history of the house. If you are ever in the area you must must go see it (they won't let you take pictures inside so...).

4 acres of flooring!

Exterior of the grand staircase

Is the south supposed to be warm? It was FREEZING! As you can see, we were not prepared for the cold, no coats, no gloves! It was probably about 35 degrees...

While in Asheville we visited this grand hotel called the Grove Park Inn. It looked very...Swiss or Scandinavian or something. Hopefully someday we can go back and stay there instead of the Days Inn. At the Grove Park Inn there are gingerbread houses on display as part of the National Gingerbread House Competition. I had no idea there was such a thing. They were awesome.

Are you only counting 3 states so far (GA, TN, NC)? Well.....We had to drive through the edge of South Carolina to get home :)