U.S.

Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies

August 10, 2019 by 21 Comments

While we were in the Great Smoky Mountains a few weeks ago (see my photos from Parrot Mountain), we visited Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies. I was surprised to learn that it is owned by the same company that does the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not books, comics, and TV show.

Mr. Handsome and I have somehow become aquarium and zoo people. I didn’t grow up spending time at either, but since we have been married, we have visited quite a few (Nashville Zoo at Grassmere, Chattanooga’s Tennessee Aquarium, St. Louis Zoo, New Orleans Audubon Zoo, and Memphis Zoo). We also went to the Knoxville Zoo on our way home from the Smokies. We both agree that going to a zoo or aquarium isn’t the absolute most exciting thing that anyone could ever do with their time, but we love how relaxing and therapeutic it is to walk through the exhibits and watch the animals. You can allow yourself to lose track of time for a few hours.

The aquarium has a huge shark tank, where you can see the sharks from above water and then walk through a glass tunnel and watch them swim above you.

The creature in Shark Lagoon that fascinated us the most is not actually a shark, although it looks like one. It’s a sawfish, and while it can cause harm to prey with its “saw,” it is not aggressive towards humans (unlike actual sharks). It also has what looks like a human face on its underside.

The penguin exhibit was my favorite, and it was hilarious to put Little Buddy up to the glass and watch a swimming penguin try to grab his swinging pacifier.

The stingrays were also pretty neat and reminded us of our honeymoon on Grand Cayman, when we swam with wild stingrays at Stingray City. Mr. Handsome enjoyed seeing the jellyfish, but he now unfortunately wants one as a pet.

Parrot Mountain in Pigeon Forge

July 30, 2019 by 36 Comments

Our little family of three recently took a weekend trip to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge in East Tennessee so Mr. Handsome could attend a conference. We did several touristy things, as it is a popular vacation area and has tons of attractions. Friends of ours invited us to stay with them, which made the trip very cheap.

On the first day, Little Buddy and I visited Parrot Mountain while Mr. H was at the conference. Located at the top of a huge hill, Parrot Mountain is home to hundreds of tropical birds. As you walk through the gardens (which are very hilly, making pushing the stroller a great workout) you pass by all the birds. Some are in large cages, while others are just on perches.

I absolutely adore birds because I had two as pets growing up. Our budgie was beautiful and brought lots of joy to our home with his constant singing, but he wasn’t trained and wouldn’t allow us to hold him. Our cockatiel, on the other hand, loved human interaction and would even allow us to stroke her head.

Our current lifestyle is not one that would allow us to have a pet bird, so visiting Parrot Mountain fed my soul. There are two locations in the gardens where visitors are able to hold birds, and I was thrilled to be able to convince a cockatiel to step up on my hand.

Little Buddy had a great time at Parrot Mountain and even laughed at some of the birds when they chirped. A couple of the smaller ones took an interest in him and came over to get a closer look. But don’t worry, I made sure they maintained a safe distance, and I didn’t allow him anywhere near the larger birds. I honestly am not a huge fan of the bigger birds, like macaws, African greys, and cockatoos. They are fun to look at, but their beaks are just too large and sharp for my liking. I much prefer the cockatiels, lorikeets, Quaker parrots, and love birds.

I am curious to hear if any of you have ever had a pet bird? It seems like most people prefer dogs and cats, although I don’t know that I could see myself with either because I never had any growing up. Would you enjoy visiting a place like Parrot Mountain?

St. Louis Vacation

May 31, 2019 by 25 Comments

I think it’s safe to say that Mr. Handsome and I are officially “zoo people.” So far, I have written posts about our trips to the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere (including Little Buddy’s first visit), the New Orleans Audubon Zoo, and the Memphis Zoo. Recently, we took a St. Louis vacation with Mr. Handsome’s family (altogether, there are almost 20 of us!), where we visited the St. Louis Zoo and Grant’s Farm, which is basically a zoo.

Grant’s Farm is a family attraction that has free admission and is enjoyable for all ages. The tour starts with a tram safari ride through a prairie that is home to several unique species of deer, as well as zebra and long-horned cows. The farm also has a pond filled with koi fish. Did you know that koi can live a couple hundred years? Apparently, there was a koi fish called Hanako that died in 1977 at the age of 226.

Grant’s Farm is named after Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the United States, because a portion of the land was a wedding gift from his wife’s parents in the mid-1800s. The farm was purchased by the Busch family about 50 years later, after Grant filed for bankruptcy.

While there is a Busch family mansion on the grounds, there is also a cabin (called “Hardscrabble”) that was built by Grant. According to the tour guide, the cabin is one of only a few remaining residences that were built and lived in by United States presidents. At Grant’s Farm, we also saw…

Cadillac Mountain at Sunset

May 29, 2019 by 11 Comments

Have you ever visited Acadia National Park along the Maine Coast? Last fall, after exploring Boston and the upper and lower sections of Old Quebec City and before doing our Maine lighthouse tour, Mr. Handsome and I made a quick stop at Acadia National Park. We arrived just as the sun was beginning to set.

We were concerned that it might be too late to drive up to the top of Cadillac Mountain, but there were still a decent amount of tourists headed for the narrow mountain road, so we decided to take the chance. It was 40 degrees and windy, and the weather only felt colder on the mountain. We stopped at a couple quick lookout points before reaching the top.

When we arrived at the peak and walked out to the iconic photo spot, we were blown away (figuratively and almost literally). The view was absolutely spectacular, and the lighting was just perfect.

Cadillac Mountain used to be known as Green Mountain and was renamed Cadillac Mountain in 1918 to honor the 17th century French explorer who at one point had ownership of the mountain and surrounding area. As the highest point along the Eastern Seaboard, Cadillac Mountain (elevation of 1,530 feet or 466 meters) sees the sunrise before any other place …

Boston at Sunrise

May 15, 2019 by 4 Comments

Boston Nahant Massachusetts

Hope your week is going well. To brighten your day, I thought I would share five lovely photos that my youngest sister-in-law took. For those who don’t know, Mr. Handsome has six younger siblings. Four of them are well past college age, but the two little ones are still in high school (although one is about to graduate, which is so crazy to me because I still remember her as the tiny little girl that she was when I first met Mr. Handsome).

These two girls may be younger than the rest of the siblings, but they have already become such talented, capable women, and their maturity makes them seem like they are the same age as the rest of us. They are both well-rounded and have a slew of hobbies and skills, and they never cease to amaze me with all their DIY projects. Mr. Handsome and I are eager to watch them enter adulthood, and we look forward to seeing what God has in store for their lives.

The five photos in this post were taken by the youngest, Lena, in Nahant, Massachusetts, at sunrise. Nahant is a quaint, historic island that lies just off the coast from Boston and can be accessed by a road. That’s where our rental house was located when we visited the area with Mr. Handsome’s family last fall. (Yep, we went to Boston in the fall, for those of you who are familiar with the VeggieTales song “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything.”) In case you missed the posts I have shared about our trip, the links are below.

Boston Nahant Massachusetts

Exploring 400-Year-Old Plymouth

New Hampshire’s Flume Gorge

Old Quebec City

Maine Lighthouse Tour

Old Country Church

April 9, 2019 by 12 Comments

When we’re driving along backroads, which happens quite frequently here in Tennessee, I always enjoy snapping photos of old country churches, and whenever I see an old building, it blows my mind to think about the stories that it holds.

The photo to the left is of Station Camp Baptist Church, located in Cottontown, Tennessee (northeast of Nashville). One of the earliest frontier churches in America, Station Camp was established in 1796–the year Tennessee was admitted into the Union and the year John Adams, the second president of the United States, was elected into office.

I love this quote on the church’s website: “Just as the station camp (from which the church got its name) provided settlers and weary travelers a refuge from frontier dangers, Station Camp Baptist Church has provided a refuge for weary souls for over 200 years. May it continue to do so.”

While I have been to a couple churches that can trace their roots back to the 1800s, they have always been in more modern buildings. I thoroughly enjoyed my first experience attending service at an old country church. It happened one year ago, while Mr. Handsome and I were on vacation on the Big Island of Hawaii. …

Maine Lighthouse Tour

March 5, 2019 by 19 Comments

During our October East Coast trip, we toured the Boston area for five days, drove up through New Hampshire to the Canadian border, spent a day in the walled city of Old Quebec, drove back down into Maine, stopped at several lighthouses along the Maine Coast, and flew out of Boston’s Logan International airport. It was a busy trip with lots of stops, but we had a blast. The day we spent doing our Maine lighthouse tour along the coastal road was the most relaxing day of the entire trip. All we had to do was make it to Boston by night, so we were able to enjoy the lighthouses at a leisurely pace. It was chilly (high 40sF/9C) but beautifully sunny. Maine is home to more than 50 active lighthouses, and we visited some of the best. The most beautiful lighthouse, Portland Head Light, is highlighted at the end of this post.

Fort Point Lighthouse, located beside Fort Point State Park in Stockton Springs, is a private residence. If you wish to go onto the property, you must pay a small fee. (There were other lighthouses that we really wanted to see, so we just took a photo from the road and continued on our way.) The current lighthouse has been in service since 1857, but there was another lighthouse in that location for 20 years prior.

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Pololu Valley

January 15, 2019 by 4 Comments

Although it has been months since our trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, I still have more photos to share. My goal has been to space out the posts so they don’t become overwhelming. Compared to the other Hawaiian islands, the Big Island is quite large (hence its name). In fact, if you combined Rhode Island and Delaware into one land mass, the Big Island would still be about 1,000 square miles bigger.

We stayed in Waikoloa Beach Resort on the west side of the island. If you drive an hour along the western coastal road up to the northern tip, the road dead ends at Pololu Valley. Although it’s a main highway, it’s also a residential street, and parking is limited, but the view from the lookout point is more than worth waiting for a spot. There are no large centers along the northern side of the island, but there are several small towns that are just darling. The nearby towns of Hawi and Kawaihae have great art galleries, ice cream and smoothie parlors, and coffee shops.

If you have your walking shoes or sandals, you can hike 20 minutes down to the black sand beach. The path was steep and a little muddy, but we took it slow and snapped lots of pictures along the way.

Pololu Valley is the first of seven valleys along the Big Island’s northern coast. The seventh is Waipi’o, which has a history even richer than its lush, green vegetation (photos of that one coming later). There is a long hiking trail that connects all seven valleys, but it is an overnight trail that is known for being treacherous.

The view along the shore is gorgeous, but the view behind the beach (towards the south) is even more breathtaking.

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Florida with Friends–Santa Rosa Beach

November 21, 2018 by 21 Comments

One of the great perks of living in Nashville is that it’s only a seven-hour drive from Santa Rosa Beach. Mr. Handsome and I got engaged on St. Pete Beach (near St. Petersburg), and during our first year of marriage, we spent a few days in the Fort Myers area with friends (their relatives had a condo, so it was free). But until last year, we didn’t know about the beautiful beaches of the Florida Panhandle. It’s no wonder why it’s the top vacation destination among Nashvillians.

We weren’t planning on taking a trip in September, but when our Sunday school class planned a weekend getaway in Santa Rosa Beach, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Ten young couples rented two beach condos, and the cost per couple ended up being surprisingly low–about as much as you would pay to stay at a roadside hotel for three nights. We were expecting an older beach house several miles from the shore, and we were thrilled about it. But when we arrived and found this, we were blown away….

New Hampshire’s Flume Gorge

November 3, 2018 by 21 Comments

Last month, I shared photos from our visit to historic Plymouth, Massachusetts. We spent a few days in Boston and the surrounding area (photos from Lexington, Concord, the coast, and the Freedom Trail coming soon), drove up to Quebec City through New Hampshire, and then returned to Boston via the stunning Maine coast. It was a quick trip, but we packed a lot in. Mr. Handsome has been to Boston, but this was my first time to any of the New England states.

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U.S.

Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies

Parrot Mountain in Pigeon Forge

St. Louis Vacation

Cadillac Mountain at Sunset

Boston at Sunrise

Exploring 400-Year-Old Plymouth

New Hampshire’s Flume Gorge

Old Quebec City

Maine Lighthouse Tour

Old Country Church

Maine Lighthouse Tour

Pololu Valley

Florida with Friends–Santa Rosa Beach

New Hampshire’s Flume Gorge

DIY Wedding

Recipes

DIY Home

Travel