These Days

Neil's spring break was in the first week of April. I took a few days off and we went for a short trip to Asheville. Asheville is Lonely Planet's 2017 top destination to visit in the US. While it's a usual venue for company off-site meetings (few hours drive from Atlanta), I have never been there so it was a good choice for this getaway. A few days before the trip, Neil got a stomach bug and was vomiting throughout the night. He was better after a couple of days. Then on the night before the trip, it was Ela's turn. We observed her in the morning and she seemed better so we decided to go. Our first destination was Chimney Rock Park. Since we started late, we arrived around 3PM and took our time walking up the 500 steps to the top of Chimney Rock. It was cold and windy up there so we didn't stay long.  We wanted to hike the trail to Hickory Nut Falls but we didn't have enough time to get there and back before the park closed. Something for next time. ...

March installment of my project to take photos of the kids every week. Week 9: February 27 - March 5. At the Atlanta History Center . Week 10: March 6 - 12. Week 11: March 13 - 19. Pernoshal Park Week 12: March 20 - 26 Week 13: March 27 - April 2

Our second stop in Conyers after the Cherry Blossom Festival was the Monastery of the Holy Spirit . It's the top place to see in the area according to Yelp so we had to see it since we already made the drive. This is a Catholic monastery and is located in a very serene and beautiful area in Conyers. Aside from the awe-inspiring church, there's a museum, gift shop, garden center and cafe.

http://www.conyersga.com/visitors/events-and-attractions/cherry-blossom-festival Georgia has two big cherry blossom festivals in spring. Macon has the bigger one (~300k trees) and then there's Conyers. They happened on the same weekend and we chose Conyers because the drive was half as long (50 minutes). I was excited to see the flowers but they were not yet in full bloom at that time. The festival atmosphere was fun though. Lots of craft and food vendors and entertainment. Maybe we'll try Macon next year. March 25, 2017