Southern Living

An Official Declaration

Thanks to Candace Salima. I loved this video.

It needs to be shared.

One of the hardest things for me about moving to the South was experiencing prejudice for the first time in my life.

I am so happy to know that I have been a part of stomping out that prejudice.

I love God’s people, no matter what color.

And I especially love the members, like Phyllis, who give our church some soul.

P.S. If you are a Mormon who is keen on Mormon culture, and you would like something else from Candace, on the lighter side, click here. I laughed.

You’ve arrived at your destination.
A few weekends back, we went to visit George’s home away from home. George Karnes is our good friend and his family roots go way back in a place call Ten Mile, West Virginia.
Here are some pictures of our journey. For those of you not interested in our travelogue (including pictures of our children) you must ignore the next several posts.
We arrived in West VA without too many problems. We decided to make our journey a little more adventurous and let LG navigate while I drove. Mostly, he just HAD to do the navigating because George had let us borrow his GPS, and LG couldn’t wait to use it. Trusting a GPS 100% is not just a bad idea, but a completely stupid thing to do. We should have never had that darn little evil device. We would have been better off trying to follow George’s written directions and stopping and asking locals when we were unsure. We didn’t figure this out until we drove about our 50th mile. Yep, we most definitely missed that 10th mile our first time around.
After missing one interstate connection, we wasted about 30 miles. We knew we were finally getting close when we started to see license plates like this.
hmmm….cheat Mtn….sounds like a place Mormons should not visit.
And where would West Virginia be without the coal industry?
Probably in the dark, like the rest of the country.
George had warned us that the gas prices were higher up there.
It’s a good thing we filled up in Virginia.
This is when we started to be lulled into a false sense of security.
We had reached Buckhannon with only one wrong turn.
When we finally reached Ten Mile, we were approximately one hour later than expected.
We had called George from where we should have turned off the last road of true civilization.
He expected us 10 minutes later. Oh, but how George grossly underestimated our ability to sight see.
And for our three day stay, we would all try figure out where our GPS had taken us.
Using our best detective skills, we combed through my photos on my camera.
We would all be fired as Nancy Drew. We all missed this sign. LG and I had traveled up the civilized highway about 10 additional miles before we made one very wrong turn onto Sago Drive. (Maybe this is why they call the place ten mile – you have to drive 10 additional miles in every direction until you find the place) The wrong turn made for some very fun travel on crazy old mining roads.
My camera didn’t seem to mind.
What a nice place West Virginia is. They have these little red sheltered bus stops along the school bus route. (Don’t you think a kid could get into some trouble inside one of these? – They must really trust their kids, huh? – There is no way that I would let my kids hang out in one of these, at age 6 or 16…both ages could be very very dangerous for different reasons, if you know what I mean, it only takes two minutes – and those of you that read me often, know what I am implying here.)
Here is the coal mine. The first I have ever seen in real life.
It really brings home the stories that I have heard only on the news.
I guess this is the actual mine of the most recent mining tragedy.
West Virginia is also known for it’s lumber industry.
Between old mining and lumber roads, West Virginia is the perfect place for four wheeling.
This adventure will be in another post.
And, the cows.
All of the family was moaning and groaning because I just HAD to take their pictures.
These pictures would be a HUGE part in piecing the puzzle together of our GPS backwoods tour adventure.
Here was another piece of the puzzle.
Notice the reference to the”red man”.
There is something very liberating about visiting a place that hasn’t been forced to catch up to the rest of the politically correct world.
Sure tale sign that we were REALLY lost.
The wild life turns from domesticated cows to undomesticated dear.
The hubby and kids in the car are also turning into wild life at this point.
And, at some point, our GPS decided to tell us that we had “arrived at our destination”.
There was one problem, we saw nothing. I mean absolutely NOTHING but trees.
Could George and Lanette’s hideaway be THAT hid away?
We started asking locals where to go.
They were able to look at us crazily and question how we had gotten so far off track.
One very kind man was able to direct us back.
He read our directions and said,
“Oh honey, you are looking for ten mile. How did you get way up here?”
He said, “When you see the tunnel (well it’s kind of a culvert – note to self, look up culvert) you will be close.
This is the tunnel that George told us not to travel under on the way in.
We never saw it until our way back. We were so happy to drive through it.
Side note: a culvert is a drain or waterway under a road.
We should have just followed these tracks in.
Ten Mile got it’s name by being the tenth mile on the tracks.
Knowing our sense of direction, we would have followed the wrong set of tracks.
Oh, wow, look at this. The tracks do go RIGHT to George and Lanette’s front porch.
That’s our car. We had finally arrived.

Don’t you think the view alone was worth our hour long adventure in the back woods. (You can all sing along now….a one hour tour, a one hour tour.) Oh, wow, we could really take this Gilligan theme song through the whole story….

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip
That started from this K-ville port, aboard this tiny Ship.
The mate was a GPS trusting man, a driver brave and sure

And, there is nothing like, joining up with the family at a campfire.
Of course, there was a campfire. It was dark outside, duh?

This picture was taken the next day.

George and Lanette wanted us to forgive them for that stupid GPS.

They sure know how to flatter.

Magnolias
may show up in the place you least expect them.
Like the allergist’s office.

That is, if you live in the South.
And, you have allergies.

Sometimes it seems that allergies like living in the South.
I can’t say I blame them.

Look at those magnolias.

(I am saying this in the nicest way possible and to whoever the cowardice anonymous commenter is, please disregard these pictures of my children, they just seem to jump into so many of my photos – the subject here is most definitely the magnolias)

I have to say that this week I experienced a first.
I was grateful to be at the allergist.
Even though it means that Bella’s lungs don’t agree with the South.

Life just got better
and so did my ride.
Do you remember my bumper sticker post?
Well, Sheila did.
Check out the two newest additions to my minivan.
“Mom’s taxi”
and my favorite:
“Warning! Blogger known to photograph while driving.”
I just love when people find words of perfection, especially in magnet material.
These most definitely belong on the back of my minivan.

THANK YOU SHEILA. I will love you forever.

The Rest of Tennessee
During this past weekend, several of my in-laws took
the opportunity to tell me that
they think that I knock on the State of Tennessee too often.

And, they don’t appreciate it.
I guess they think that I never say anything good
about their beloved home state on my blog.

I thought that I would try to regain my grace in their presence.

I love Tennessee.

Trust me, if I didn’t love it here,
I think I could make my husband miserable enough to take me back where I came from.
There are a lot of other women who have done just that.

Sure, I know I show a lot of the quirky sides of Tennessee,
and natives don’t always appreciate it.

But it’s not because I want to demean people
or show the state in a negative light.
But, I do it because it’s funny.
I would do the same thing if I lived in Utah or California.
Two words: hippies and polygamists.
But, just because I would show the extremes
it wouldn’t mean that the rest of the state wasn’t somehow lovely.
So, I am repenting, and asking for forgiveness. (I am really good at this)
I have made a goal to show you all the REST of the State of Tennessee.
(not just the bad parts)
I thought it no better than to start with one really nice feature of the South.

The rest stops.
(or Rest Areas as they are officially called)

Seriously, you have never seen such deluxe rest stops, unless you have visited.
They are SO nice.

People actually plan their trips around which rest stop that would like to visit.

I am still trying to adjust to the notion.
You just don’t go to rest stops out West.

The only people that visit rest stops in the West are, well, the likes of polygamists and hippies.
In the rest of this country, rest stops are scary.

They are not a place you want to visit, much less, use their bathroom, especially with children.

So, if you are a Western transplant and you join the family for a picnic at a rest stop,

even if it is the Sabbath, and you are avoiding eating out, you feel dirty somehow.

Downright shameful.

So shameful that you just try to go unnoticed by snapping photos from the background.

Look, Michelle loved enjoying lunch at the rest stop on Sunday.


And, do you know what?

When you leave a Tennessee rest area, you actually feel rested.
And the rest that you get in a slower paced state like Tennessee is priceless.

And, it is the perfect place for a Western transplant to live.

P.S. In my defense, when just searching,

I found way more good posts about Tennessee than bad ones.

I think TN Natives can be a little sensitive and defensive at times.

But, that’s not an insult, just an observation.

And, I would like to say, in my defense,

that I know Californians and Utahans can be defensive too.

Elegance
Define it. Any way you want,
but no matter how hard I have tried,
elegant and junk just don’t go together.

Just like LG and my camera at times.

And, yes, my yard is more elegant than my house.
And I am proud of it.

There is nothing like looking outdoors for some of God’s beauty.
You know I didn’t find it IN the house during this photo shoot.

And, if you can’t make your yard as elegant as you would like.

Buy your first piece of art, ever.

It will give you your dream scenery, and your hubby will love it,

especially if it was $20 at Big Lots.