David and I love to travel.  We have been in every state in our country except for Hawaii for David and Hawaii and Rhode Island for me.  Some of the states we have visited several times. We love the west.  But we love the south, north and east also.  It was hard deciding where to go this year. Since we have not spent a lot of time in Mississippi except the time when my brother and his family lived there, we decided to travel that state to the Gulf.  We also planned a stop in a town where one of our favorite television shows is filmed.

I was having mixed feelings about leaving my pets this time as our favorite pet sitters have closed their business.  They are older than us, so I was not surprised that they had decided to do so, but I was worried at finding a new pet sitter. Then someone suggested a girl who attends our church so I called her and she came and visited and I at once felt calm about leaving my dogs and chickens with her.  The dogs loved her the first time they met her.  As dogs are very good judges of people, I knew she would be very good to them. She is a really sweet girl and very good with animals as she works at a dog daycare where I plan to take Molly this Summer for some play with other dogs as Belle would rather sleep than play.

So we left and I actually cried a little at leaving them and all the flowers that were in bloom around our house.  Crazy, isn’t it?

The daffodils and magnolias were blooming and here is my crab apple I really hope won’t bloom and be gone before we get back as I wait for it every year.

So off we set.

Down the road.

Through little Indiana towns.

Over the bridge over the Ohio River.

And south.

We stop at little out of the way places. Not a big tourist site, but interesting.

A park where we stretched our legs.   Walking around the paths twice was a quarter of a mile. Yes, I am counting my steps again.

This old house was next to the bridge park and there were feral cats coming in and out of it.  I think they have taken it over.

There is something about old, abandoned houses that interest me.  I often tell David if I were a billionaire I would travel the country and restore these old houses to their former grandeur so people could again live in them.  What history would this old house tell?

We passed many old houses the first day as we traveled further and further south.

Wouldn’t this house be beautiful if repaired and brought back to life?  Now a farmer keeps his tractor parked where the cars use to park.  I could see me having a sewing room in that upstairs room with the big windows.

There are still a few log cabins around. When I was a girl, there were two log cabins near my home. My brothers and I use to have walnut fights in one of them.  Those cabins are long gone.  It appears someone is trying to preserve this one with a new metal roof on the porch.

 

You don’t see these houses driving the interstate.  This one must have housed a large family at one time. I think of the Waltons looking at it.

Besides houses the trees and flowers were in bloom everywhere the farther south we got.

This is what my crabapple looks like every Spring.  At least I got to see a flowering crabapple this year.

Beautiful blooms everywhere.

Then, we noticed something strange ahead.

I believe they have landed!   Don’t know what this was.  But it looks alien.

I always think of the south when I see azaleas.  Even the most humble home looks wonderful with azaleas blooming in the yard.

Another park where I walked in a wonderful southern town with lots of old houses.

They really knew how to build them.  Many houses built today are all pretty generic.

This house looked like a castle.

David was trying to get out of all the pictures I was taking!

Big front porches where one could sit and rock and sip sweet tea.

I fell in love with this little house and it had a name.

If I were a little old lady(well, I kind of am) and didn’t have a husband(which I don’t want to happen), I would live in a little pink house like this with a dog at my feet and a quilt to work on in my hands.  I would invite people in for sweet tea and cookies.

I love the ingenuity of people. Who thinks of planting flowers in an old boat, but it works.

A pumpkin colored house.  We are getting our house repainted in a year or two.  Think this would be a good color!

Some of the houses had little carriage houses in the back converted to something else.

Then we got to one of our destinations.

Down tree covered streets with large live oaks covering them. Past beautiful parks. This town had so many parks.

Live oaks, a tree that is everywhere in the south.  Thankfully, many have been allowed to grow to this size.  Many dripping with Spanish moss.

Roses blooming in profusion.  Then we reached our destination.

We were in Laurel, Mississippi.  The site of the home renovation show Home Town. This is Ben and Erin Napier’s mercantile.  Of course I bought a few things here. It was a cute little store.  I was hoping maybe one of them would show up, but I am sure they have better things to do.

So on south we went.  I will write more soon. Bye.