Hello to my wonderful, loyal blogging friends! I’m baaaaaaaaack! 😉
I missed every one of you and I also missed visiting your blogs!
We had a great time exploring and visiting friends and family in this beautiful country of ours.
I have some photos of our trip…..just some teasers so you’ll know the path we took.
Of course, many more will come later! Let’s see….how many SD cards did I go through? 😉
From Michigan, south through the Great Smokey Mountain Park below.
From the Smokey’s, continuing south, we arrived in St Simons Island, GA., to stay with our college friend below. St Simons is a barrier island off the coast of GA. It is lovely with marshes, tons of azaleas, live oaks dripping with spanish moss and wide open beaches.
With our college friend, we made the 2 hour trip north to Savannah. I love architecture and this was a treat, below.
From St Simons Island, we drove north to one of our favorite cities, Charleston, SC. The next day we drove to my elementary school friend’s home in Pawley’s Island, SC. Pawley’s Island is beautiful, lush and the home of the original rope hammock, see below.

This rope swing is on top of our friends' marina building. It gives a great view of the surrounding land and the Waccamaw River. (it's also fun to swing in it!)
We continued north. Can you tell we are doing the “coastal crawl”?? !! We stopped at Cape Hatteras and Ocean City before arriving at my cousin’s home near Wilmington, Delaware. Of course the DuPont families are important in Wilmington, and one of my favorites has always been the Winterthur estate. Winterthur has gorgeous gardens along with the massive mansion. This time my cousin introduced us to another DuPont estate called Longwood. The gardens were just outstanding. Both of these estates should be on a “must see” list if you go to Delaware.

One of my favorite looks: woodland phlox or phlox divaricata, snuggled up against a tree. This photo is from Longwood Gardens.
We turned left from Delaware and continued west into Pennsylvania. We had tour tickets for Kentuck Knob and Fallingwater. If you know me, you know I’m a Frank Lloyd Wright design freak! So this was a treat. We’ve been to several others, but Fallingwater has always been on my bucket list. Below you will see the smaller home, Kentuck Knob, a delightful gem, just 7 miles from Fallingwater. The chimes in the surrounding landscape are great sculptures and also provide sound when the wind blows.

One of the chimes at Kentuck Knob, and the corner of the low, wide-overhanging roofline...typical of FLW homes.
Alas, every good vacation must come to an end. At this time of year, it’s fun to see what changed in the gardens while we were gone. (mostly weeds!) Home again, home again, jiggedy jig……
Thank you for hanging in there while I was gone. I hope to see you soon. I’ll have photos to share on each stop we made.
I’m even thinking of a wild and wooly post called “PHOTOS at 70 mph” as I took many riding down the highway! haha.
Peace and hugs….
Judy
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Welcome back dear Judy!! 😀 You have also been missed! These are priceless photos! Glad to hear you had a wonderful time during your vacation! The lighthouse pic reminded me of my time in Maine. 🙂
Welcome back!!
Oh it’s good to see your familiar face and name, Elyas! Thanks for writing! I’ll bet the lighthouse reminded you of Maine. I love the rocky coastline of Maine!
Hi Judy,
Welcome home. Good to see you back. From your post it looks and sounds as if you had a great time. I look forward to your photos and stories.
Thanks Jim! It’s good to be back!
Welcome Back – loving the preview of your trip so far. Happy Tuesday!
Thanks Renee! Good to hear from you! I missed everyone! How’s your training plan coming? I didn’t do well with mine during the trip. ;(
I did get walking in…but not every day. I was back at the gym yesterday!
I am looking forward to more photos. You tease!
tee hee…I will be forthcoming with them! Missed you!
The blue sky against the lighthouse is spectacular. Sounds like a fabulous trip. Welcome home.
Thank you, Paige! I like that one too! I’m not much for heights..but I did climb to the top for photos!
Yay – I’m glad you’re back – missed you! Also glad you had fun though – love the teaser pictures!
Thanks Sheila! Missed you too! More photos to come! 😉
Welcome home Judy what a great remembrance from your trip ,I love all of it 🙂
Thanks Jake! I’m just now ready to post for your challenge!
What wonderful photos and your trip sounded amazing! And of course, at the end, your HOME was waiting for you with arms wide open!
Thanks Marge! It’s good to touch base with you. Yes, home. It’s always good to come back, no matter how much fun you’ve had!
Just LOVE that phlox photo! Wow!
Thank you Stuart!
Welcome back chickie! There’s no place like home, but boy, it looks like you had yourself some fun. Nice captures and looking forward to more. I would like to have my butt planted in that roof top swing!
Thanks Margie!
Hi Judy ! I’m glad you’re back ! I wonder how many photos you take… 🙂 When I went to New-York we took 1000 photos in just 4 days !
You live in a BIG and beautiful country, this is a trip Iwould love to do ! The home you photograph during your trolley ride in Savannah is simply superb and I love your friend’s rope swing ! Oh…Pawley’s island looks so beautiful ! That shot of the phlox is so nice.
Many years ago when I saw the movie “Driving Miss Daisy”, I fell under the charm of beautiful Georgia, I was blown by the beauty of lush vegetation and majestic trees and your photo of the lovely home reminds me of that. From the moment I saw this movie I always wanted to go there, it’s high on my bucket list ! I’m also dreaming to see the mansions on cotton plantations with their big columns in front of the home, and that is since I saw the series “Roots” on tv and read many novels on these rich plantation owners and their slaves.
It seems your trip struck a chord on me ! I can’t wait to see more photos !
Oh, and I love the last photo, so cute. You seem to have many flowers in your yard and it leads to the woods, that is so great !
Jocelyne….you are so sweet! Thank you so much for your kind comments. And I’m glad if my photos help fill your bucket list! 😉
You have been nominated 🙂
http://wp.me/pTYEI-1kr
Thank you Susan!
Welcome back. Sounds like a wonderful trip and I look forward to your photos 🙂 Judy
Thank you, Judy! They’ll be coming soon! I’m posting for Jake now….a stairway in Charleston from a few years ago!
An exciting, fun and beautiful trip teasers. What a wonderful trip…beautiful photos. Thanks.
Thanks, I’ll be posting more soon!
Welcome back, dear Judy! Have been wondering where you disappeared. So glad to see you here again 🙂
And, beautiful shots!
Thank you, Bindu! I missed you!
We were gone about 17 days. Then we left again this week for our daughter’s Master’s degree graduation! Now we are home for a long time!
Glad to have you back!!! It seems as if you had a wonderful holiday – can’t wait to see the rest of the photographs. Your teasers have whet my appetite! I love the swing picture, and the one with the woodland phlox is especially beautiful. 🙂
Thank you zelmare! I’ll be getting the photos up soon. We just got back from being out of town again…this time for our daughter’s graduation with her Master’s degree. I think we’ll be home for awhile now! (the purple phlox photo is a favorite of mine too!)
So congratulations are in order! Wow – master’s degree – that is a wonderful achievement. 🙂
Thank you zelmare! It was a proud moment, for sure!
Indeed, great to have such a bountiful outing!
Photographs of the Nature, naturally are very soothing. And you seem to have a special eye for capturing the serene beuty of the nature.
Lighthouse and Chimes also add charm to the photographic collection.
Thank you very much for your nice comments, Ashok. You are very kind. I agree…views of nature are soothing.