31 October 2022
Happy Halloween!
You probably figured out I meant Circle K, not K Mart from yesterday’s post. I mean, it’s kind of hard to miss – a big red “K” with a big red circle around it. Chalk it up to travel fatigue.
Gross! My hotel room! Years ago on a trip, I stayed at some hotel that the carpet felt very dirty and was evidenced by the soles of my feet. Ever since that time, I’ve always packed a pair of flip-flops for walking in hotel rooms. I’m getting old and I forgot to pack a pair. Big mistake. The hotel room carpet is really dirty. After a shower and simply walking over to the desk in the room over the carpet, my feet were icky.
Double icky! The comforter on the bed. I think I need to have my eyes checked sooner than later. When I pulled the comforter back, I couldn’t find a top sheet. More confusingly, the comforter had a sheet sewn into the underside.
I thought they couldn’t possibly have put a comforter on a bed without a top sheet. I know they don’t wash comforters between visitors and even though the sheet attached to the comforter felt clean, my mind said it wasn’t. After trying to get some sleep with this arrangement, I gave up and gave it one more try to find a top sheet. It was indeed there and it simply blended in so well with the bottom sheet, I didn’t see it. I had needlessly spent about an hour with only the comforter on top of me.
Otherwise, the hotel was quiet and I finally drifted off to sleep. Either the place is not full or there are exceptionally quiet guests on my floor.
My GPS did indeed route me to Atlanta but thank the travel gods, it did not send me through downtown. For some reason, the GPS has a proclivity to send me downtown during rush hour. Thank goodness some of the by-passes are no longer under construction and I can get around the city.
I pulled into Smithgall Woods about 2 pm. I did not anticipate the cottage to be ready (check-in is 4:30 pm). However, the same park ranger that checked me in last trip checked me in this trip.
I had some trepidation about the cottage. The park website did not have a floor plan and I knew it would be hard to beat my experience at the Garden Cottage last year. I was pleasantly surprised when I walked into the cottage. It’s a very spacious layout with a galley kitchen, a living room with fire place, a “game” room with television, three bedrooms (two with full size beds and one king bed) and a shared bath with the two small bedrooms and an ensuite with the king bed.
Jimmie and Stephen arrived around 4 pm. I finally got a fire going and we all relaxed after a long drive – me from Waycross and them from Greensboro. Around 6 we headed for Helen and dinner at Paul’s Steakhouse. Stephen got the NY Strip and Jimmie and I both got the country fried steak (shades of the Gulf Cafe in Morton, Mississippi when we were kids). Heart healthy it is not – but oh so good!
Tomorrow, Jimmie and I may try a hike to a waterfall. Both of us are having hip trouble so it may be a short hike. We can console ourselves if we don’t make it to the waterfall with the home made tea cakes I made for the trip. It’s my great grandmother’s recipe and they are delicious if I do so say.
Stay tuned!