North Carolina

We spent 4 days in Raeford/Fayetville, North Carolina with our family. Went for a couple of hikes in the local parks and generally had a good time spoiling the little ones.

Thanks Laura for the great hospitality!

Renee's Birthday

Had a chance to spend my birthday with my wonderful husband, my sister, niece and her 2 beautiful children. Surprised me with an ice cream cake that the girls picked
out for me. A bunny!
I felt like a little girl again.
Guess its ok getting older, as long as we have family to share with.

Heading to North Carolina

We returned to my sister's home in VA on the 26th of April. Our plan was to pick her up and then head out to Raeford, NC. to visit with her daughter, Laura and her
granddaughters, Carissa and Mia. She does not like to drive the distance on her own,
so this plan worked for all of us. Of course, Peter again took the helm and drove
all of the way on his own. We chatted and listened to an audio book on the
way. Time went by fast and the scenic beauty was wonderful. This was the first time that we had driven through the area.

A week in the Smokies

We spent one week traveling in and around the area of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Some of the roads were closed due to resurfacing, but there were still plenty of places open to the public.

We saw flowers everywhere we went. The park was a plethora of color. Seems we were there this year at a much better time than last year. Everything was peaking.
We were obviously not the only ones in the park. There were classes and workshops going on while we were there. A couple of times, Peter lined up with a couple
of dozen other photographers for a wonderful sunset image. Waterfalls did not seem to be as plentiful this year as last, but the flower array certainly made up for that. Our plan is to return sometime in the fall if we can work out the details.

While we are away

While we were traveling, we told our broker that she had access to our home and she could show it anytime and call us when there was an offer made!
Needless to say, there was no offer forthcoming!

Trip to the Smokies

We began our trip to the Smokies early on Sunday morning, April 18th. Our plan was to drive all day and then stay with Renee's sister, Francine in Ewing, VA.
As usual, Fran was gracious enough to let us stay in her humble home even though we did not have much time to visit and the stay was short. Our promise was to return in one week to pick her up so that she could travel with us as we ventured into North Carolina to visit with Fran's daughter, Laura and her two beautiful daughters, Carissa & Mia.

On Monday morning early, Fran left for work and we left to head a bit farther south (about 100 miles) to stay in Sevierville, TN. This is only about 25 miles outside of the National Park.

Ride on Monday was uneventful and we were happy to lay our heads down in a familiar setting. (We had stayed at the same place the year before).

April Gallery Weekend

Before we could leave Milwaukee, we had a commitment to show our art work at Milwaukee's CoPA Exhibition during Gallery weekend.

Peter displayed 3 of his Milwaukee images and received rave reviews from everyone who came to the Third Ward to see our art work as well as 100+ members of CoPA. Renee displayed 3 painted flower images and these too were well accepted by Gallery Night participants.

Listing of our Milwaukee home

Despite negative comments from people that we have talked to about the possible sale of our home in Milwaukee, we dove ahead and signed a 4 month contract to sell our home. Our thoughts were that if it sold, it sold! If it did not sell (as predicted) we would just have to do some traveling!
Oh what a pity! Doing what we loved to do.

Our first trip was planned for the Smokies in northern Tenn. We had been there last spring, but we were too late for the explosion of springtime flowers that the area is so well noted for.
This year would be different, we promised ourselves.
Be there when the flowers are ready.
So we began our planning for an April trip.