Friends.. Friends.. everywhere..

One of the highlights of our vacations at home is the opportunity to see friends wherever we go....

Our buddies C and E - we miss them all the time. They used to live across the street.

Our buddy J that also used to live across the street from us.

My friend K's daughter, L. We always get to celebrate her birthday when we visit.

Our friend, S, and kinder goofing around in a fabulous BnB in Plains, GA.

Southern Livin'

We have been staying at a friend's family home

in Richland, GA since last Tuesday.

This plantation home was built in 1853....

Now... Close your eyes ....

listen to the cicadas in the background..

feel the sweltering heat all around you...

swat the pestering gnats from your eyes .....

and feel the warm southern breeze all around..

Thank heaven for ceiling fans in every fabulous room...

the view from the front door looking toward the back door

and from the back door looking out toward the front lawn...

A beautiful kitchen table set for Sunday Dinner

The fabulous screened in (thank heaven) back porch

that runs the length of the house

And my friend Helen celebrating German home

ownership and her birthday all at one time

Sweet Georgia Pie!!!!

This is the last leg of our 2 month vacation. We have

two night in Plains, Ga. We took a train ride

to the home of President Jimmy Carter.

Very simple beginnings.

And then returned to our hotel in Plains, GA. The hotel, a former funeral home, was decorated by Mrs. Carter and has 7 fabulously luxurious rooms, each decorated for a decade of President Carter's life up to 1980.

J and I stayed in the 1970 Room - the Presidential Suite

Helen's girls' and S stayed in a wonderful 1980s room.

The boys stayed in a fabulous 1940s arrangement.

We strolled down the boardwalk of Plains, Ga...

Don't blink or you'll miss it..

But.. the highlight of the day was...

having a bible study with President Carter...

and having our picture take with he and Mrs. Carter..

TRY AND BEAT THAT!!!!

Hodge Podge of Luxor Photos

We went sailing on the Nile.  

The highpoint for Joe!!!

Palm trees in the middle of the ruins.

The kids and Joe played chess every day.

A typical mode of transportation.

The kids on - who knows how old - a tree

near the Temple.

The infinity pool from our hotel room.

Egyptian treasures....

The Queen that would be King...

Architectural Treasures of Luxor

The ceiling of the temple.  If you click on the picture, 

you can zoom in on the hieroglyphics.  

Amazing color for 3300 years old.

The window system of the temple.  These temples 

had ceilings, so the architects designed a two-tiered 

roofline in order to create windows.  

More fabulous hieroglyphics!

Just to give you some perspective, that's a doorway 

at the end of this temple.

The oldest portions of the temple, located at the

farthest distance, are 3300 years old and pharaohs 

built on and out, one more grand than the other. 

Imagine, all of this was buried under 

incredible volumes of sand, varying from 10 feet

deep to 30 and 60 feet deep.  

Doorway at the Queen's Temple

Polish egyptologists built this "building" 

to work out of.  

The temple built in honor of a King.  Just to give

you some perspective, if you click on the picture, 

you will just barely see S and the tour guide sitting 

on the base of a column to the right of the temple.  

Beautiful pillars of open papyrus trees. 

Fabulous architectural designs everywhere.

More papyrus pillars

Luxor's treasures

Egyptologists have discovered that there are 

2000 of these statues lining the sides of a street

that leads from the Karnak Temple to the Luxor Temple.

The city is in the process of excavating all of them.

The ruins of a Temple built to honor a King.

His mummification took place in this 

temple, along with daily offerings after his death.

The ruins of a statue of a Pharoah.  Just to give you 

some perspective, that's J standing to the left of the 

statue at the base of another statue.  

The statue of the Pharaoh collapsed in an earthquake.

A close up of the ruins of the Temple.  The 

statues were de-faced by priests of the coptic 

church that took over the temple.

A statue outside the Temple

A mosque inside the Luxor Temple.  This mosque is 25 feet 

above ground, but was at ground level when these ruins 

were buried under sand.

The obelisk and statues, built 3300 years ago, were buried 

under sand "chest high" to the statues until the 19th Century

when engineering capabilities to excavate the volumes 

of sand were finally developed.    

These statues were built to honor sons lost.  The Pharaoh 

had the architect put holes in the stone, so that, when the 

wind blew, he would hear the sound and be reminded

of his sons.   Notice the people standing in the center

between the statues, just to give you some perspective

on the size of the statues.