"Miss Bailey-Glory" from Buffalo, New York~

Dearest Sue! I can't believe Bailey and her brothers and sisters are five years old today! Where has the time gone?! Two weeks ago I took her and Curley on a dream vacation. My brother-in-law is retiring from the Army after 24 years of service and his final posting is in Savannah. Being a huge Gone With the Wind fan, it's always been on my "must see" list. We left Buffalo on the 6th in the pouring rain and it took almost seven hours for us to finally see the sun when we reached Beckley, WV. The kids were made for hotel living! They definitely made themselves at home and in the morning we hit the road once more. The highlight of the drive South was seeing a truck that looked exactly like Optimus Prime from Transformers on Rte 77 in VA! Savannah was everything I thought it would be! They took me to the light house on Tybee Island and to Jeckyll Island and on our final day, into downtown Savannah and on the Riverwalk. The parks and architecture were incredible. My favorite was probably Saint John the Baptist Cathedral. The organ in back! It made me think of you, of course! That Thursday morning we set out on the rest of our Adventure. The next four days would be spent driving New Found Gap Road through Great Smoky National Park to Pigeon Forge and back to Cherokee, NC, the entire length of The Blue Ridge Parkway, where we hiked some of the Appalachian Trail, and Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park. It was all breathtaking and we loved every bit of it! Our final night was the most interesting. Finding hotels that accept furry kids wasn't always easy, particularly on the Parkway. The best rated in Middletown,VA, where Shenandoah begins/ends (depending on which way you're heading), turned out to be a B & B called The Wayside Inn. It was built in the 1700's and is in the heart of Civil War territory. It wasn't until the night before we were due to stay there that I found out it's ranked as one of the 10 most haunted hotels in the country! When I arrived-I found out we were their only guests for the evening! George, one of the owners, was going to stay there with us in case anything happened. Curley immediately fell asleep, so Bailey and I headed out on a walk, where stumbled across a war memorial honoring the town's vets and fallen. When we returned, I heard strange music playing, like I imagine would have been playing during that time period. Our window had four large wooden shutters on them on the inside. When I went to sleep they were flush against the wall and when I woke up, one of them was at a 90 degree angle! It was quite the way to wrap up our trip! I think our next vacation back to our cottage in NH next month will be a lot more relaxing! I hope all is well with you and your family and on this Memorial Day Weekend, please pass on my gratitude to Mike and all your children who have sacrificed to serve our country.

Love,

Sarah & Bailey Glory