Road Trip!

[C91]

I have the week off.  Now, I could stick around the Tampa Bay area and be all bummed out because I just found out that my rent is going up $71 a month.  Or, I could hop in the Vibe and spend a week exploring.  While the former may be more prudent given my financial situation, the latter sounds much more fun.

So, on Monday afternoon, I'm driving north.  The destination will be Gastonia, North Carolina, to see -- for the first time -- my nephew.

However, as with all of my trip, I will be taking the scenic route.  Whenever possible, I avoid driving Interstate highways in favor of state and federal highways.  Those routes tend to be much more interesting than six lane superslabs.  But, it also means it will take me a couple days to ultimately reach my destination.

In between, I will make a stop in Dawsonville, Georgia.  Dawsonville is the home of NASCAR legend Bill Elliott.  Appropriately, the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame is located there.  But, it appears that the Hall of Fame may have fallen on hard times as it is temporarily closed. 

While that would have been a nice diversion in Dawsonville, it is not the reason I decided to stop there.  Dawsonville is also the home to  Paradise Valley Resort.  Paradise Valley is the sister club to Paradise Lakes -- where I let it all hang out here in the Tampa area.  Paradise Valley got some national attention this week thanks to an Associated Press article that was picked up by news outlets like MSNBC.  I have booked one of the Hilltop Suites for $60 a night.  I get a king sized bed and jacuzzi in my room.  While I have looked forward to visiting Paradise Valley for some time, I may not have picked the best time of year to go.  A quick glance at weather.com shows the temperature in Dawsonville won't get above 60 while I'm there.  I hope it's a short walk to the hot tub.

Now, I'm off to pack.  (Who am I kidding?  I won't pack until the night before I leave.)

[Bratalie]

Enjoy your trip and kudos on the back roads!  It will make things more interesting!!!!   

Be safe!

[~Daisy~]

Sounds like a lot of fun! I prefer state highways to interstates, too. You get much more from it, I think!