Jeff, Darla and Elyse visit on Mardi Gras break
March 2-5, 2019
 | Jeff, Darla, and Elyse left Pearl River after they all got out of class, and arrived at our house about 11pm. Ashleigh had bargained to work as a Resident Advisor on the Mardi Gras break to be able to come at Thanksgiving. Jordan was headed for Piedras Negras, Mexico on a mission trip with the Baptist Campus Ministry. Elyse and Darla relax on Saturday, and that is always what we hope they can do when they make the trip up here. |
 | Saturday afternoon was nice, so they decided to take their walk at Sweetwater Park, and I tagged along. |
We had a lot of rain this week, and Sweetwater Creek had been out of its banks. It was still very high, so this was not going to be a rock-hopping day. This massive shoal broke the water, but most of the usual rocks were under the surface. |  |
 | So we pretty well stuck to the trail for our walk. That didn't keep Elyse from horsing around a bit.
As usual, Jeff was the only one we saw doing the trail barefoot. |
This is the millrace that fed water to the large wooden paddle wheel in the mid 1800s before Sherman arrived. I don't believe I have ever seen it this full of water. It must have been dramatic to see it turning the mill wheel. We can usually just walk across it here on the stones that line its bottom. |  |
 | Elyse is at the place where we usually just step across the millrace on the rocks. But not today! |
We made it to "the Factory", as the ruins of Manchester Mill are commonly called. This was our destination for today since we just intended a short walk. |  |
 | The father of a big Spanish family on the trail took the picture for us. The factory frames the extensive "factory shoals". Here we turned back for today, but there is another mile of nice views along the trail. |
We walked back along the pleasant path beside the millrace. Elyse had been practicing some of her dance moves along the trail, but this split was the only one that was slow enough for me to catch. |  |
We were pleased that Mark could make it out to have dinner with us. The fine dinner that Brenda had prepared for us was the finish of a beautiful day of relaxed fellowship.
 | After dinner we took the opportunity for a round of family pictures before Mark had to go. The first round was Elyse, Jeff, Mark, and Darla. |
Elyse took this photo of Mark, Jeff, Darla, Brenda and Rod. |  |
 | Then Mark took one of Elyse, Jeff, Darla, Brenda and Rod. |
Sunday, March 3
 | After church on Sunday, both Mark and Marty were able to join us for a family lunch at Longhorn's. Elyse took this table picture for us. We spent a relaxed day visiting on Monday and then Jeff and family had to head back to Louisiana on Tuesday morning. |
| Tech BSU Alumni at Hiawassee |
2019