Cissa Fleming

Weekend Trips from Atlanta…

to Florida:

• Destin – beautiful beach, transparent green water and white-sugar sand (5.5 hours drive)
• Salvador Dali Museum in St Petersburg  (7 hours drive)

to East Georgia:

to North Carolina:

• Great Smoky Mountains National Park: there any time of the year is beautiful, but the autumn leaf season (from middle of September to end of October) is absolutely gorgeous! You can just spend the day driving around, or spend few days staying at a cabin/lodge. One place we stayed once is the Snowbird Lodge: very comfortable, cozy, peaceful, with a huge library and a gourmet restaurant and incredible wine list. They also prepare a picnic basket/backpack for you, to be eaten in one of the beautiful trails around there. Check our pictures from there.  (around 3 hours drive.) In that area, visit also:
  • Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap, with 318 curves in 11 miles, is America’s number one motorcycle and sports car road.  If you have an opportunity to drive a convertible  there, it is an amazing experience! 
  •  Lost Sea, where there is a lake inside a cave. (I still think the  Gruta do Lago Azul in Bonito (MS, Brazil) is prettier, but this lake is interesting.)

to Tennessee:

• Lynchburg,  home  of  the Jack Daniel’s distillery. But whether you are interested in visiting the distillery or not, don’t miss lunch at Miss Mary Bobo’s Boarding House Restaurant, a charming former boarding house with excellent home made southern food. Make sure to make reservations (remember they are in central time zone), it is a small place and the service is boarding house style: each room has a table for around 15 people plus a host. The host talks about the history of the city, makes people feel as part of the place while enjoying delicious home made food. 

Las Vegas, Nevada

I don’t gamble;
I don’t drink;
I don’t’ smoke – neither like the smell of smoking;
I don’t enjoy strip-tease shows;
I don’t enjoy bacheloret parties;
I don’t like dry weather;
I am already married;
I don’t enjoy crowds.

Then…. why I went to Las Vegas?!

Because of the Cirque du Soleil shows!!!

Mystere and O (the one with water) I had seen before. Stephen had seen Zumanity and O already. Then we went to see Ka and Love (the one with the Beatles songs.)

Ka  is more theater than circus. It has a plot, and same actors all the time. But the stage has a  moveable platform that it is an amazing engineering project!  The performers take advantage of this huge solid moving metal piece and “fly” the way that Cirque du Soleil performers are famous to do. Fantastic!

Ah!  Another reason to visit Vegas: it is cool to “taste” Paris, New York, and Venice in one afternoon!

Places that starts with “B”

 
Brazil. Buzios. Boston. Belize. Blueberry Farm. Bedford. Blue Ridge Mountains. 

It sounded weird, but when showing our pictures to some family and friends, we realized we just had been in places that the names start with “B”!

And what were the next two places we would like to visit? Brasilia and Barcelona. 

Now it is a game: everybody is giving us suggestions of another places in the world starting with “B”. This game generated two lists: places that we do not want to visit (as Baghdad, Beirut, Bosnia, ….), and places that we do want to visit:

Baalbek (Lebanon), Baden Baden (Germany), Bahamas, Bahia, Brasilia, Baikonur (Star City, Kazakhstan), Baille Crater (Moon!), Baja California, Balearic Islands (Majorca), Bali (South Pacific), Baltic Sea, Baltimore, Banff (Canada), Bangkok, Bar Harbor, Maine, Barbados, Barbuda, Barcelona, Barstow/Bakersfield (Mojave), Bay Area/Berkeley (Calif.), Bay of Biscay (Spain), Bay of Fundy (Nova Scotia, Canada), Beagle Harbor (Galapagos), Beale Street (Memphis), Beale Street (Memphis), Belgium/Brussels, Bellagio (Italy), Bellagio (Las Vegas), Berlin, Bermuda, Bern (Switzerland), Bhutan, Bilbao (Spain… Guggenheim Museum), Biloxi (Gulf Cost), Biltmore House (North Carolina), Black Forest, Black Rock Desert (Nevada), Black Sea (Crimea), Blue Lagoon (Iceland), Blue Nile, Bodrum (Turquoise Coast, Turkey), Boise, Idaho (Hoyt and Teresa), Bonaire, Bonifacio (Corsica), Bora Bora (South Pacific), Bordeaux (France), Border Waters (Canada), Borobudur Temple (Indonesia)???, Bosporus, Bimini, Bohemia (Prague), Bush (Australia), Boulder, Colo., Bowling Green (Kentucky), Bracciano (Italy), Bradenton (Florida), Braselton (Ga.: Chateau Elan), Bratislava??, Brescia (Italy), Breckenridge (Colorado), Brest (France), Brie (France), Brigadoon, Brindisi (Italy), British Columbia, British Isles, British Virgin Islands, Brittany (France), Brunei, Bryce Canyon (Utah), Bucharest?, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Buffalo (Niagara Falls), Bulgaria, Burlington/Bennington/Brattleboro (Vermont), Burning Man, Byblos?  (Middle East), Byzantium (Istanbul), [Aurora] Borealis (Iceland or Alaska), [Cape] Bret[City of] Brotherly Love: Philadelphia, [Great] Barrier Reef 

Baghdad Bangladesh Beaumont, Texas Beijing (China) Beirut Belarus 

Any more places?

I can’t wait until start the “C” list!!

Let’s pack!

Have you ever forget to pack underwear for a trip?
I did it.      Twice.

Now I have a list (of course, I have lists for everything!) of what to pack. 
It is on my Zenbe iPhone application, but I am transcribing it here, just in case next trip I forget the iPhone!

Here it is:

• Purse with id/passport, prescriptions, reservations confirmations, nails file, chocolate, safety pins, iphone charger
• Camera, extra batteries, extra memory cards
• CDs/ headphones
• Earplugs and masks
• Toothpaste
• Floss
• Toothbrush
• Mouthwash
• Shower cap (some hotels don’t have them anymore!)
• Hair spray
• Nails file/nails polish/nail clip
• Medicines & first aid kit
• Chocolate
• Makeup
• Hair conditioner
• Comb/brush
• More chocolate
• Underware
• Tops
• Tshirts
• Pants
• Dress
• Pijama
• Shorts
• Hat
• Sandals
• Socks
• Shoes
• Sueters/coat
• Bathing suit
• Sun glasses
• Beach towel
• Sun screen
• Insect repellant
• Beach chairs
• Sun umbrella
• Pillows, blanket