September - Road Trip North Part 1

In early September, Wink, Wilma and Sara the Boat Dog took a road trip north. Our first stop was Charlotte, NC where we visited with our good friend Nancy Burns. Nancy use to be Wink’s Assistant when we lived in Hernando, Mississippi and they both worked for Arkwright Mutual Insurance. Sara the boat dog enjoyed the green luscious grass on her small lake.

After saying farewell to Nancy, we went to our niece Lee Ann’s home for a few days. Lee Ann went with us the Cotton Patch Gold Mine east of Charlotte and we had a great day panning for Gold.

After leaving Charlotte, we traveled west into the Appalachian Mountains to hunt for Garnet, Rubies, and Sapphires. We accomplished our finds by digging piles of dirt and then sluicing the dirt leaving only the good stuff. We found a few gems that look interesting, but their quality cannot be confirms at this time.

From North Carolina, we traveled north to Ogdensburg, NJ to visit the Sterling Hill Mining Museum. We arrived on Wilma’s birthday, September 11th. The day was cold and rainy, but our silver lining was that we had the place all to ourselves. As we were working outside collecting rocks from the mining piles we would go inside to view them in a dark room since we were looking for fluorescent minerals. Due to the rain, the power transformer exploded so we didn’t have electric power to view our finds. Not to worry, those guys had battery operated equipment that we could use. The colors were incredible and the experience is unforgettable. Hey Girls, I asked for a big rock for my birthday and got about 150 lbs. worth. (Check out October’s Blog for more NJ pictures).
When we arrived in Derry, New Hampshire to visit the grandchildren, they had a cake and presents ready for a party.

Wilma traveled down to Massachusetts to visit with previous co-workers. In Waltham, she met up with Elaine Schoener (they use to work together at Arkwright Mutual Insurance Company). Wilma also met up with Christine and Jim Grinnell. (Wilma and Chris use to work together at Belmont Animal Hospital). Wilma also caught up with Therese and John McGuire but didn’t get a photo – sorry guys.

It was Apple picking time in New Hampshire, so we picked bushel of great tasting apples. We made Apple Crumb Pie, Apple Crisp, Apple Brownies, and more Apple Crumb Pies not to mention eating Apples.

Wink designed and built our grandchildren a new bed-bookshelf-desk combination where each child has their own desk and bookshelves on each side of the bed. Amber demonstrates her side of the bed. She calls her desk area her office, while Emma calls her area “the Fort”. Toni wasn’t left out; Wink designed and built her a desk to accommodate her needs for completing her college studies. Wilma was able to get the girls furniture painted, but was unable to get Toni’s painted.
Since we were in New Hampshire for early October, we decided to take a little trip into the White Mountains to enjoy the foliage. Toni’s father has a cabin up there and we were able to stay a couple of days touring and enjoying the colors. Wilma and Emma enjoy a Pajama night in the White Mountains. While site seeing, Wilma, Toni and Amber enjoyed an art festival; and Wink found an interesting Train Museum. The colors were brilliant and beautiful, but alas the cold weather told us to head south.