Helen, Georgia

 Our second state to visit was Georgia. We were supposed to go to Helen, Georgia with one of my friends, but I ended up having to work, and we weren't able to go. We decided to take a day trip while I had some time off work. We went during summer, and it was so hot! It reminded me of a smaller Gatlinburg, TN. There are trails you can hike, and you can tube down the river. 

The drive was pretty from our house. There were several pull off spots to take in the scenery.

We were ready to jump in with our clothes to cool off. 

This bridge reminded me of the Pont des Arts in Paris. I've never been to Paris, but I have seen the bridge in pictures and on tv. I would love to visit Paris someday. 

We ate at the Troll Tavern. We both enjoyed it, but thought the food needed salt. We sat outside and this was our view. 

I took a snippet of the menu. We both got the chicken salad sandwich. The heat ruined our appetite, and we really just wanted a drink. I saw someone ordered the burger and it looked and smelled good.  We would definitely come back here to eat.

My favorite store was the Christmas Shoppe. When we walked in it was like we stepped right into Christmas. Christmas music was playing, and all the ornaments were hung on Christmas trees. If I ever move to Helen, I may just have to work in the Christmas Shoppe.

We each picked out an ornament. Most of the ornaments did not have Helen, GA on them, so we picked out one more that did. 

After we visited the Christmas Shoppe, we were ready to head home. I still had to grab a few more pictures of the scenery along the way. I'm pretty sure Maddy was over it by this point lol.

Every place we travel, we always want to go back. Helen is no different. We would go back in a heartbeat. We still have lots of exploring to do, so it will probably be a while before we make it back.

Road Trip - See All Fifty States

 As I mentioned in a previous post we love to travel. In fact, one of the reasons I decided to start my debt free journey is so we could have more money to see the world. We got this fun idea to try and see all fifty states. Ideally, we would start in alphabetical order, but I knew I couldn't save enough to visit Alaska. 

Our first official state to visit was Alabama. We live about two hours away from Alabama, so it really isn't that bad of a drive. Thanks to Pinterest, we found Birmingham, Alabama had a free botanical garden to visit. I took my birthday off last year and decided to make the trip to see the gardens. Siri had difficulties in getting us to the parking lot, but once we finally got there it was pretty neat. It was really cold and misting a little. I would like to go back when we have more time to explore.

We were in a hurry to get in and I didn't really get a good picture of the map. I think we had an hour by the time we got there, and I wasn't sure how big it was.

It was really peaceful. There weren't a lot of people when we went, so we were able to take our time and enjoy the scenery.

Had it been warmer I could have easily sat on that bench for a long time.

I thought this looked neat.

Can we say beautiful?! This is when you first walk in, and I was in awe. I know this picture doesn't do it justice, but it was really pretty in person.

Had to take advantage of every photo opportunity.

As a Christmas person, I had to take a picture. 

This is on the way out. I think there was a lot we missed, and the time of year wasn't the best, but we still had a good day. 

We have lots of places to visit and are so excited. Our goal for the states we've already been to is to find somewhere we haven't been. We have actually been to Alabama before, so finding the gardens was something new. I'm hoping to document each and every place we go just for our memory's sake. 

The Ark Encounter

We took a weekend trip to Cincinnati, Ohio the weekend after Christmas. We talked about Noah and the ark in school early on, so I thought a field trip to the Ark Encounter would be perfect. We decided we wanted to go during the Christmas season, so we chose the weekend after Christmas. Nana and Pops came with us and we are so glad they did. We rented a house through Airbnb that was pet friendly so we could bring all of our dogs. Nana and Pops have two dogs and we have one.

We are country people, so renting a house in the city was interesting lol. We found out once we got there that there was a major NFL game on Saturday, and we were extremely close to the stadium. My mom and I realized why it was so hard trying to find a place to stay. I tried to take some pictures along the way.

In our room there was a door that said, "No public admittance" and was locked. Part of me wanted to know what was in there and part of me decided it was best I not know lol.

Marley had no problems settling in...

My mom's dogs on the other hand were a little on edge lol...

We ordered pizza from Domino's and called it a night on our first night. 

We went to the Ark Encounter first, and it did not disappoint. The only disappointment is it was raining and cold.

The Ark Encounter has a total of three floors and are all wheelchair accessible. The inside is made of wood and is just absolutely beautiful! The amount of detail that went into the ark is just incredible. The animals had feeders and waterers in their pens to make feeding and watering them easier. All their waste was collected at the bottom of the pen and could easily be cleaned. It was very spacious inside. If the Ark Encounter is truly what the ark was like I would have loved to be on it. Christmas music was playing softly and it just felt so peaceful inside. We spent 2.5 to 3 hours. There is a small zoo area and a kids play area, but unfortunately it was raining and we couldn't enjoy them. We also didn't get the full affect of the Christmas lights as it was still pretty light when we went. Had it not been so cold and rainy we would have waited around to enjoy them :)

After the Ark Encounter we went back to the house we rented and got ready for dinner. The rest of the night we just chilled.

The next day we went to the Creation Museum. I didn't enjoy the Creation Museum as much as the ark, but it was still pretty interesting. The Creation Museum also had their Christmas lights still on, but much like the Ark we were not able to enjoy it. It was even more cold on the day we went to the Creation Museum, and we just could not handle it lol. I would love to go back another year just to see the lights. 

We had a great time visiting both the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum. I'm so glad we got to make these memories together, and look forward to our next adventures. The last few pictures are just ones I snapped as we were driving around. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

When we were packing up to head home it was snowing! We don't get much snow in Tennessee, so even though we were beyond freezing we were also happy to see some of the white stuff :)