Van Trek May 2013

Mom enjoys doing puzzles, and did most of this one herself.

My brother Jon came out from Vancouver BC to visit Mom for Mother's Day. Playing Monopoly with Ben.

It was windy at church, but hey, we TRIED to get a picture of all the ladies.

Jon gave Mom lovely roses.

One afternoon Jon and I walked all around the Toccoa Falls campus—we are both TFC graduates.

Can you see Jon on the rock?

The original "Institute building" which was the chapel when we were there. Unfortunately, it may not be around much longer because so much of the wood is in bad condition.

Forrest Hall, where Jon lived in his college days.

"The Bell" at the center of the campus square

One day we all went to the Tallulah Falls overlook, which is near Jenny and Emily's school. Mom wanted me to take this picture because it reminded her of how much Dad liked ice cream.

A view of Tallulah Gorge

One of the towers which was built for Carl Wallenda when he crossed the gorge on tightrope.

One of the old cars from the incline railway that used to take visitors down into the gorge.

Jon as Carl Wallenda

The Tallulah Point store, which has the overlook. Jenny, with orange soda.

Tourism has pretty much vanished at Tallulah Gorge, which is sad. All the old buildings are showing wear, and most are closed.

The roses started opening nicely before Jon left.

Ice Cream day at Chick-Fil-A. Quang and the girls helped out in exchange for food vouchers. Yum!

Quang's face painting designs were amazing!

Emily and Brenda serve sundaes.

Continuing work on the cottage. We liked the look of the concrete, especially when wet, but it was too rough, and it would cost too much to have it sanded.

After weighing the options, we decided to finish the concrete floor with two shades of gray stain.

One of the last big jobs, preparing the forms and pouring the sidewalk

Spreading the gravel

Art used the van to compact the gravel on the driveway.

OK, we're ready for concrete!

Working fast to smooth the walk before it sets up

Final finish

"Brooming" the surface to provide traction

Art takes a break from working on the living area. Pic taken with our new iPod, which has panorama option and also flash!

Quang and his twin really like the place!

Jenny received several awards at the end-of-school awards night.

She also sang with the choir (front row, far left).

Jenny with her awards

Another of Brenda's amazing cakes, this time for a kindergarten graduation

We decided to take a week's vacation for Art to rest up from all the hard physical work. Mom and Quang are posing with the cement form tube that will be the beginning of the next project, building steps and landing for the upstairs entry.

We spent the week in the Atlanta area, since we needed to go to IKEA to get a sofa-bed (and of course some inspiration, as usual). We stopped by on the first day to make sure they had the items we needed, then went back on the last day to pick them up. It's hard to sleep on a bed covered with sofa parts.

We found that it's not easy to stealth camp in Atlanta. We drove many miles out of town (toward the east) before we found a 24-hour Walmart where we felt we could sleep safely. The next morning we ate at this park in Conyers, GA. Note: if you want to camp "close in," try the north side of town, not the east.