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We spent an afternoon walk in historic downtown Fayetteville, GA.

Thanks to Facebook, the Georgia relatives were able to announce the date of a family reunion that was held at the family church on November 11. Many were able to attend, and it was wonderful catching up with everyone. Charlie and I appreciated all the hard work that went in to arranging this!

November was a perfect month in which to visit the Atlanta area. The weather was mostly in the low to mid 60s, with the exception of about a week at the beginning of the month when it reached the 80s (with humidity, ick). Our neighborhood was a beautiful place to walk.

Continuing our walks like we did at home helped us not to feel like tourists all the time. Our neighborhood became more familiar. We did laundry, shopped for groceries, got our flu shots, renewed our prescriptions and stayed at home to cook quite a bit during our month here.  It can be unsettling to be on the go all the time and not to do “normal” daily things. Plus, after the family reunion, we caught colds and were forced to lie low for awhile to get better, and also to not spread our germs with our family.

We spent the day on November 2 visiting the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, including a tour of his old neighborhood, his church and his childhood home. The NPS site here includes the surrounding neighborhood, including buildings that have been maintained in the period during which MLK lived here. The homes are rented to people to live in with the stipulation that they cannot add or detract from the period architecture of the structures.

Our home in Fayetteville was nice, located on 4.5 acres in a woodsy area where we could see deer, squirrels, and lots of birds daily. The pictures in the link above show the inside of the house to be much lighter and brighter than it was actually. It was too dark inside for our taste, and we had all the lights turned on all the time while we were there. Other than that, it was a well-appointed, comfortable place to stay for a month. It was convenient to visit Charlie’s aunt a lot, which we happily did over the month.

Our first stop for the Southern cousin reunion was in South Carolina, located on a bee-yoo-tee-full lake.  We toured nearby Clemson on a day trip, too, stopping for lunch at Loose Change.

We visited the Shiloh Civil War battlefield after listening to the audio-book, Shiloh, 1862, by Winston Groom. Familiarity with the history of the battle really enhanced our visit.

The Shiloh and Corinth battlefields were the “sites of the most epic struggle in the Western Theater of the Civil War. Nearly 110,000 American troops clashed in a bloody contest that resulted in 23,746 casualties; more casualties than in all of America’s previous wars combined.” After this battle, generals on both sides realized winning the war was not going to be quick nor easy.

This park was established in the 1890s, using surviving soldiers from both sides to mark where the battles were on each day, and in which direction the regiments faced.

Eureka Springs, Arkansas, is an old town where the buildings are perched on the side of the hill. It is a tourist destination, but was blissfully quiet on this weekday in October. We spent a few hours poking around, sight-seeing, visiting local art galleries, and found the BEST restaurant for lunch, Sweet N Savory.

We arrived in Fayetteville, Arkansas in the beautiful rolling hills of the Ozarks on Sunday, Oct. 22.

Arriving on Sunday is significant in that the University of Arkansas  Razorbacks had hosted a football game the day before and we were able to glimpse our first  snapshot of how rabid Southern football fans are. The campus still had tailgate canopies in place and the parking lot was full of large RVs.

We have added Northwest Arkansas, locally known as NWA, to our list of possible places to live once we decide to settle down. The Walton family (Walmart) has poured a lot of money into cultural amenities in the area, the area is beautiful, and being close to a university provides lots of opportunities.

We are jinxing our destinations: Devastating wildfires in Napa Valley, mass shooting in Las Vegas, and now a tornado watch when we arrive in Elk City, OK. The hotel receptionist at check-in was very helpful, though, as he added tornado watch instructions to his check-in speech.

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