By this Author: greatgrandmaR

After we got back from the Netherlands in April (and repaired the scooter that British Airways broke) we set off for a family reunion down in Georgia. I decided it was too far to drive in one day. So we are visiting some cemeteries in NC on the way down and on the way back.

We got packed, including stuff for breakfast and lunch since all the meals at this place are "family style - all you can eat" which equals expensive for breakfast and lunch. We don't eat enough to make it an all you can eat place a good deal for us.
Breakfast was child $14.95 - adult $17.95
Mon - Fri: 8:00-10:30am
Sat & Sun: 7:30-10:30am

Bob thought this was way too much for breakfast so we brought our own from home
Lunch is similarly expensive - child $17.95 - adult $21.95 11:30-5:00

Bob had two coolers for the food (grapefruit, turkey bacon and cocoa for him, bananas, bagels, nutella, and cranberry juice for me), his suitcase, my suitcase, associated canvas bags (for things like maps, diapers, chocolate chips and other snack food) and my scooter. Unfortunately, he packed the scooter on the bottom so every time I used it, he had to unpack the trunk.

Friday I disconnected the modem and he turned off the timer on the TV. I wanted to leave really early, but he was futzing around, so I took some photos of Orange Crush our cat.

We finally left a little before 10

We ran into a big traffic jam on I-95 north of Richmond, so we stopped at Chik-fil-a for lunch. It was, of course, crowded as it was lunch time.

They took our order and gave us a thing to put on the table.

The food was there before Bob had finished getting napkins. I had a chicken salad sandwich

and lemonade and Bob had the regular chicken sandwich and a milkshake. Cost $7.47

I had in mind to go to Holmes Cemetery in NC to see if I could get a cemetery photo and then to go to Plymouth NC to Grace Episcopal Church to re-visit Bob's 3x great grandfather's grave and take more pictures. So we got off I-95 and proceeded down the back roads. We passed the house where Dr. Walter Reed lived with a historic marker in front.

Dr Walter Reed's house

The marker says

"Dr Walter Reed
-----------------
Head of the U.S. Yellow Fever Commission in Cuba 1900-01. Lived here as a young man."

I had put the lat/lon of the cemetery in the GPS, but I saw it was taking us way the hell and gone to the east and when I looked, it had that location on an island only accessible by boat (and it is not on an island). I couldn't get the ap to tell me how to get there. So I scrapped that idea and decided just to go directly to Plymouth. We passed fields of spiky purple flowers.

Purple flowers in the fields

Apparently now, one of the NC crops is lavender, which is one of the "essential oils"

We got to Plymouth and Bob had to use the bathroom, so I suggested that he go to the museum across the street from the cemetery and to take his camera.

Port o'Plymouth Museum 2016

On the Roanoke River is this circa 1923 Atlantic Coastline Railroad station . It is run by the Washington County Historical Society and is primarily a museum dedicated to explaining the Battle of Plymouth. But there is a nod to the original use of the building - Outside the building is an old railroad car.

Old Railroad car outside the museum

On our first visit, we did not get to visit the museum because it was too early in the day for it to be open.

Old Railroad station turned Museum - first visit

He did take his camera, and took photos in the Museum

Porch of the Museum

This museum documents the Battle of Plymouth which was the last major victory of the war for the Confederacy and was the third largest Civil War battle fought in North Carolina.

Torpedos

Torpedo exhibited at the museum

Why the big fight over Plymouth?

The current town of Plymouth is a sleepy southern town. But then, Plymouth's location just upstream of the mouth of the Roanoke River, and the Albemarle Sound, was critical because that was where a sizeable portion of the Federal navy fleet was stationed. With Plymouth in Northern hands, Federal ships could enter the mouth of the Roanoke and make their way upstream along the waterway, threatening the Confederate-held Fort Branch, located above Williamston on the Roanoke River.

Plymouth and defenses

Plymouth was also close by land to the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad line, which ran through the nearby town of Tarboro. This crucial rail route was the so-called “Lifeline of the Confederacy”. The Union captured Plymouth in 1862 and Federal troops stationed in Plymouth had made attempts to destroy the line at the Weldon railroad bridge

Diagram and photos of the Battle of Plymouth

Finally, in early 1864, Robert E. Lee agreed to spare his trustworthy Brigadier General, Robert F. Hoke, from service in Virginia to retake Plymouth. Hoke began his attack on Plymouth late in the afternoon of April 17, 1864.

The battle begins

Plymouth and her four Union forts were defended by approximately 3,000 Federal troops under the command of Brigadier General Henry Wessells. The army was supported by the Federal Navy under the command of Capt. Charles Flusser.After a full day of hard fighting on April 18th, it seemed that the battle was heading towards a Union victory. Then, in the early hours of April 19th, the CSS Albemarle arrived on the scene…

The union roped the USS Southfield and the USS Miami together in the middle of the river hoping that the Albemarle would get entangled. But Cmdr Cooke rammed into the side of the Southfield which immediately began to sink. And when the Union commander was killed, the Miami retreated to Albemarle Sound

The end of the battle

Newspaper and photos

His three times great grandfather might have been in that battle

Archeological dives

And then he took photos of the Albemarle which is outside in the river. The most successful ironclad of the Civil War was not the Monitor or the Merrimac. It was none other than the CSS Albemarle, which sunk or damaged more enemy ships than any other ironclad. The Port of Plymouth Museum has a fully operable, to-scale replica of the CSS Albemarle.

Sign outside the museum about the Albemarle

The Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory decided to build light-draft ironclads the could maneuver through the shallow waters of the state's river system. the Albemarle was one of these vessels

Scale model of the CSS Albemarle

The Albemarle is 158 feet long and 35 feet wide. It had a long iron clad spar on the bow to punch holes in wooden vessels. The Albemarle was constructed in a cornfield in the present day town of Scotland Neck. Led by a 19 year chief contractor with no formal education in shipbuilding, the boat took over a year to construct. Supplies were in such short order that the Captain of the Albemarle, James Cooke, was known to go door-to-door and collect iron skillets, plows, etc. that could be melted down and used for the ironclad’s armor.

The building of the CSS Albemarle Oct 1862 to Apr 1864

James Wallace Cooke was an American naval officer born in Beaufort NC. He was orphaned at the age of four, and was appointed to the US Navy as a midshipman in 1828 at age 16. In 1861 he resigned his commission and joined the Virginia State Navy. He was promoted to commander in August 1862 and after he successfully supervised her construction, he was given the command of the Albemarle.

James W. Cooke - Commander of the CSS Albemarle

Under his command the Albemarle was at the Battle of Plymouth (where she sank the USS Southfield) and the Battle of Batchelors Bay. He was promoted to Captain in 1864 and served for the balance of the war as commander of the inland waters of NC

CSS Albemarle operable to-scale replica

Lieutenant William B. Cushing sank the Albemarle in a nighttime commando raid with a spar torpedo on a motor launch . His bravado was fueled by the death of his relative Charles Flusser, the commander of the Union Navy during the Battle of Plymouth, who was killed by a shot that he fired. The shell ricocheted off the Albemarle’s iron sides and then exploded, killing Flusser instantly. When the torpedo detonated it blew a hole in the side of the Albemarle which sank in 6 feet of water (so the topsides were still above water).

Cushing was blown into the water where he swam to shore and escaped. Of the other men in Cushing's boat, William Houghtman escaped, John Woodman and Richard Higgins were drowned, and 11 were captured.

House in Plymouth NC opposite Grace Episcopal Church with an interesting attic window

Bob had taken the scooter out of the car so while he was in the museum I was scootering around. There were people mowing and weed wacking everywhere - in the cemetery, and across the street - I think it must have been some kind of work release program. They were everywhere. While I was in the cemetery I got a call on my cell phone - I had the calls on our home phone forwarded. It was someone trying to sell me a condo, and I couldn't get him to shut up so I could tell him I was not interested, so I just hung up on him.

Historic Church

Historic Grace Episcopal Church is on the river near the museum. The church dates from 1837 The building was designed by the nationally prominent architect Richard Upjohn, but the church was heavily damaged during the battle of Plymouth in 1864. Only the apse and tower were retained when it was rebuilt in 1893 to the design of C.J. Hartage of Rocky Mount, NC

Historic Church

Grace Episcopal Church

The cemetery surrounds the church

Cemetery from the street

Gate in the wall

and there is a wall on the water street side, and also on the side which is next to the parking lot. There is a gate in that wall. Inside the cemetery individual families have smaller enclosures some of which are surrounded by decorative iron fences like the one for his family.

Beasley enclosure

Although we went to this cemetery in 2002, Bob did not remember it.

2002 photo of the Enclosure in the cemetery which has Bob's ancestors buried in it

Inside the little fenced enclosure are the graves of John Baptist Beasley (1796-1855) husband of (1) Anne Hoskins and (2) Mary Alexander. He was a state senator to the NC Assembly from Tyrell Co 1821-1831 and in 1835. He was listed in the 1850 census as a grocer. The tall monument is his. Mary Alexander Beasley is buried in Canada, but her mother Clarkey Alexander is buried here

The bottom of the grave marker of John Baptist Beasley - Bob's 2x great grandfather

Harriet Alexander Beasley Littlejohn Simmons (1837-1897)- one of J.B. Beasley's daughters

Harriet Alexander Beasley married William Alexander Littlejohn and after he died, she moved to Canada taking her widowed mother and her sister Mary Elizabeth Beasley widow of Mr Knox with her, After her mother died, she married Dennis Simmons and is buried in this enclosure

Harriet Maria Beasley who died in 1864 at 6 months

I looked and saw that there was a cemetery with what I thought was an improbable name of Toodles Cemetery. 16 memorials and no photos (Grace has been extensively photographed by other people). So we went there, and Toodles is actually the name of a funeral home with the cemetery in the back.

Toodles Cemetery

So Bob got out and went and took 170 photos. He said that they had an interesting way of doing funeral home markers. They did a cement block with letters incised in it, and then painted it with gold paint.

Interesting temporary grave marker

We left Plymouth and drove to Williamston to the Hampton Inn there because I wanted to be a little farther along the road to Georgia. I usually stay at a Hampton Inn if there is one available because I like the beds, the breakfast and the internet. After I made the reservation I read some of the reviews - some of them complained about noise, so I was a little apprehensive. But everything was fine. The hotel is somewhat isolated. There was no restaurant that we could walk to. But otherwise it was a standard Hampton Inn. Outdoor pool, nearby gas station, close to the highway. Microwave and fridge, TV and hair dryer. Good internet and reasonable breakfast.

I made the reservation through Booking.com which was a mistake. Reservations made that way are not eligible for the Hilton points, and I do collect those because every now and then I get to stay free with points. We got gas before we checked in to the Hampton Inn.

The girl at the desk told us where we could go to eat, but instead Bob just walked across the parking lot to this subway. I asked Bob for apple slices and a BLT sub sandwich. He brought back the sandwich, but he said he didn't see the apple slices and brought cookies instead.

Saturday morning, my daughter called wondering where we were on the journey. This waked us up. She was driving all the way down in one day. Bob brought me breakfast up from the breakfast buffet. It was a good breakfast, an omlet, a bagel with cream cheese, a banana and some very nice bread.

Breakfast Bob brought me

And apple juice, although I would have preferred cranberry

Drinks bar at the Hampton Inn

We left the Hampton Inn fairly early (for us) about 8:30.

Leaving the Hampton Inn

We have a seven hour drive today to get to Dillard Georgia. It was fairly peaceful driving along US 64. But when we picked up I40 around Durham, there was more traffic

When we got to the Greensboro, Winston Salem area we ran into construction, plus the lighted flashing highway signs said there was an accident. Traffic was almost at a standstill, so we got off at the next exit (#182) and took a US 158 which runs parallel to I-40. This was also bumper to bumper as it was noon on Saturday, but at least the traffic did move.

We came to a place where we could have gone back to I-40 but it didn't look like it would be any better, so Bob stopped to get gas at the BP station that was at the intersection of US 158 and NC 801. And then since it was lunchtime, we went to the Wendys that was right next to the gas station and had lunch.

Wendy's

Wendy's drink cup - Lemonade $1.99

I had a

Single bacon mozzerella burger $4.99

and Bob had a cheese burger. We left about 1:00. Traffic still looked bad, so we continued on US 158 - traffic thinned out as we went into the country. When US 158 turned away from I-40, we got back on at exit 174. Here the traffic was OK on our side, but was backed up for miles on I-40 going east.

Dillard House cat

Finally four hours later, we arrived in Dillard after a 7 hour drive. Bob unpacked the car. He was exhausted - the other members of the family were going out to a Mexican place to dinner.

Our daughter came to our room when we arrived

Bob was too tired to go. So we ordered chicken dinners from Dillard House. - a four piece chicken dinner with sides was $6.75. Bob said KFC chicken was better and he doesn't like KFC that well.
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Dillard is primarily known as the location of Dillard House.

Our children had tried to pick a place where everyone could stay relatively inexpensively and where we could go and do our own thing during the day and meet at night for meals and to socialize. My second daughter had a vacation house in the mountains over the NC border and she thought Dillard House would fill the bill because they had family style meals.

In a hotel, I want
-free parking
-level access to the room
-clean and comfortable
-air conditioning
-good internet

I got the free parking and the level access to the room.

Starting with the reservation system which is totally inefficient and unprofessional. We were a family group of over 20 people and we wanted to reserve a block of rooms together. This was something that took a long time to arrange. First, they would not give us the prices until January because they had not figured out what they would be. So in January we reserved a block of ten rooms all together in the Meadows. Most of the room have steps, but the Meadows has the level access. I was sent a pdf file which said what the room rates would be, with a long list of penalties if we should cancel, but didn't actually say where we would be staying.

And even though we made the reservations in January for June --- we didn't get those rooms - they gave three of those rooms to some unrelated people in the middle of our rooms and made some of us stay in another section. And those people couldn't get into their rooms until 6 pm because the maids had not made them up.

Double bed - one side near the wall

The rooms were OK, but they were not cleaned daily. The maids came in and emptied the trash and replaced towels - that was all. And they didn't get to our room until late in the afternoon.

Sink

Separate toilet

Microwave and fridge

The rooms have a small fridge and microwave, and also a coffee pot. We brought our own breakfast food.

The infrastructure in this place is aging and not maintained well. The handle on our room sliding door was missing. There was no information in the room on how to work the TV (which of the three remotes to use) or where the ice was. The ice machine did not work (there was a cooler with ice in it if we wanted ice). The A/C in my room would not work. It took 5 phone calls before they sent someone to fix it on the afternoon of the second day.

The internet was spotty and kept dropping the signal. When I could get the internet it was so slow that pages timed out.

The grounds are nice, but dogs are allowed to poop and it is not cleaned up. So if you want to throw a frisbee around, you have to be careful where you step. There was a pool, but my husband said we should not swim in it. The tennis courts were under construction. Fences are falling down. There was a petting zoo and a stables, but the personnel did not seem to know how to take care of a horse that had colic.

Riding Stables

The setting is pretty. They have rocking chairs on the porch outside the rooms

Sunday June 12

We had breakfast in the room. That was what was in the coolers that Bob unpacked from the car yesterday. Our A/C ceased to work, and they said they couldn't fix it today as it was Sunday. Their maintenance people did not work on Sunday and they were too cheap to pay anyone else to come and fix it.

Dillard is a very small town (although it does have a post office)

Dillard City Hall

It is just across the border from North Carolina. It is surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains. In 1794, John Dillard was awarded a land grand of 1000 acres of land for his service in the American Revolution. John Dillard served as a lieutenant in the Virginia Militia in the American Revolution where he was in the Battle of Guilford Court House and other battles. He settled in the area around what is now with his son, James Dillard, about 1823. Legend says that Captain Dillard made peace the the local Cherokee Indians by trading a muzzle-loading rifle, a jug of apple brandy, one coonskin cap and $3. cash for the land between the two maintain tops. James took title to 1,000 acres of land by purchasing the lottery rights of land holders in Rabun County

Bob went out to a cemetery that we saw when we came in

Head of Tennessee Baptist Church

and took photos. The the original settler in the area - John Dillard who was a Revolutionary War soldier was buried there.

John Dillard's gravesite

More of the family arrived - at the end of the day there were 23 of us.

• (2) Myself and Bob .
• (5) Our oldest daughter D

Oldest daughter and daughter-in-law

and her husband (drove down from Maryland), her daughter and her daughter's husband and their son (our great grandson) who flew in from CT;

Great grandson

• (4) Our second daughter B, her husband, her daughter and a friend who drove up from FL;

Miami daughter and SIL relaxing while they wait to get into their room

Florida granddaughter and her father

• (5) Our third daughter E and her husband

Sons-in-law (From Florida and Texas)

and 3 children who flew in from Texas;

• (7) Our son and his wife,

Grandson-in-law, daughter-in-law and son

and their daughter (who drove in from SC) and the fiancee of their son (our grandson), and her father, her brother and their child (our great grandson) . They had driven down from upstate NY. The NY group got there last.

Missing were my oldest grandson and SO who lives in VT and couldn't get away, my second oldest grandson who was doing reserves training with the marines, and two grandsons who were taking exams.

We sat on the porch and talked, played frisbee

Playing Frisbee - the girl catching is the friend of my granddaughter

and corn hole.

Texas grandson and Son playing cornhole

The little kids had soap bubbles.

Youngest granddaughter and soap bubbles

someone took my camera and took photos of us.

Me and Texas granddaughters

Texas grandchildren and me

Some people swam in the pool at the hotel. Our son set up a BBQ

Cooking dinner

and the others got sides, so we had a BBQ dinner on the lawn.

Family getting dinner

Dinner

Sunset

After dinner we played Cards Against Humanity. We were very noisy - I felt for the people who had rooms in our midst (which we reserved but didn't get)

Monday June 13

We had breakfast in our room again. Some of us were going to go white water rafting, but there wasn't enough water so they couldn't do that. Some of them went golfing. Some of them took trail rides

Our son rented a pontoon boat and a tube on Lake Burton and we went with them. Lake Burton is a 2,775 acre reservoir with 62 miles of shoreline located in the northeastern corner of Georgia in Rabun County. A dam was built in 1919 and it created the lake. Lake Burton is named for the town of Burton, which was the second largest town in Rabun County with a population of approximately 200. The former town now lies below the lake's surface. The lake is bordered by beautiful large and expensive houses. House owners rent the land under 99 year leases and all the land is owned by the Georgia Power.

There are two marinas on the lake (Anchorage and LaPrade's). Boat owners can rent slips, and get fuel at the marinas, or visitors can rent boats. There is also a spotted bass fishery. Anchorage Marina is a full service marine which has slips, dry storage, boat sales and repairs and a gas dock. They also have a marina store, a restaurant and a beauty shop. Pontoon boat full day $200/$225 Half day $150/$175 We also rented a single person tube for $25/day

My son and daughter-in-law, granddaughter, grandson's fiance, and her brother all went pontooning. But I couldn't put on my bathing suit without help (and Bob refused to help me), so I didn't wear it, and therefore I didn't get to swim so it wasn't so much fun for me.

Daughter in law spraying suntan lotion on our granddaughter

Great grandson getting ready to get on the pontoon boat

Great grandson crawling on the pontoon boat floor

We ate the sandwiches that our daughter-in-law made and they did some more tubing. Our great grandson took a nap. Bob and the brother and our son took turns at the helm.

Son at the helm of the boat and granddaughter

daughter-in-law, and daughter playing with the baby

Dam in the lake

Granddaughter tubing

Son tubing

Great grandson

After our great grandson waked up, our granddaughter-in-law-to be called her dad to come and get him and take him back to the hotel and I decided to go back too - I wanted to see if they had fixed the A/C

Marina

Monday evening ,June 13

When we got back to the hotel our A/C was still not fixed. I had to call them two more times before they sent someone.

After that was taken care of, we sat out on the porch and we grilled out again but when we brought tables out from the rooms, they came and made us put them back in the room.

Son, daughter, son-in-law and grandson getting dinner

Sitting on the porch having dinner - Bob on the right

Grandson's fiance, my daughter-in-law, great grandson in the lap of my granddaughter and grandson's fiance's brother and dad

They had hot dogs and hamburgers, and I had three hot dogs which I rarely get to eat. They told us that this was our 80th birthday party. (His birthday 3 months late and my 80th birthday 18 months early). They even had a cake.

Birthday cake

They called it a Family Reunion because they didn't think Bob would come if he thought it was a party for his birthday. They gave us a picture with all the relatives holding a letter and the letters spelled out "We are all a bunch of turkeys" They also made drink cozies with "Beasley Birthday Bash" on them.

Tuesday June 14

I am not sure what we did June 14th (the disadvantage of not writing trip reports because everyone you write them to is there with you). I think there was zip lining and white water kayaking, and golf, and I'm pretty sure some people did horseback riding ($50 per ride)..

Oldest daughter

Then before we had a family dinner at Dillard House, we took a group picture. I gave my camera to my granddaughter's friend and she took the photos.

Family group

Two daughers behind Bob and me

As we walked over to the restaurant, I got ahead of them and took photos of them walking toward me.

Great grandson sporting cool sunglasses

Great grandson, grandson-in-law and granddaughter from CT

Granddaugher on right and her friend who took our photo

Grandson's fiance pushing the stroller, her brother and her father with our great grandson

We had one dinner family style at the restaurant. Reservations are taken for 15 or more and counting the two great grandsons (age 1 and 3 who weren't charged for) there were 23 of us. We sat at two tables.

Oldest daughter at the second table with her husband

There were three prices
Adults - $24.95
Young Adults were 11-17 - we had 3 of them (TX granddaughter, FL granddaughter and her friend)
Children - they were age 4-10 and I think we had one child in the group (my youngest granddaughter from TX) $18.95
All the rest of us (17 people) were adults. Dinner is served: 5:00-8:00. They charge for drinks extra.

Son at the head of the table with his daughter

Son-in-law at the end of the table, and fiance's brother

The dinner is served family style - you pass the food around in serving dishes. After you are finished, they let you take whatever is left over home with you. They two of our granddaughters grilled chicken because one of them is allergic to gluten and the other one is on a diet set by her coach.

The rest of us had fried chicken, country fried steak, dried out meat loaf, green beens, corn on the cob, cabbage casserole, squash (yellow and zuchinni), boiled potatoes, cole slaw, lima beans, sweet potatoes, mac and cheese, yeast rolls, cornbread

Dishes to pass around

Food on the table

and strawberry cobbler with melted ice cream (it wasn't supposed to be melted, but it was) for dessert.

Melting ice cream

Except for the green beans, there was a marked lack of green vegetables, and while there was plenty of food, I thought most of it was on the level of the Old Country Buffet where all the old people eat

My plate

Wednesday morning June 15

Texas family leaving

Some family members left to go home. After we said goodbyes, Bob and I went graving. We drove up into NC (after stopping at the PO)

Dillard PO

but couldn't find any of the cemeteries that were supposed to be there, so we went back to GA and went to Wesley Cemetery.

Wesley Chapel cemetery

Adjoining Wesley was Rabun Presbyterian.

Rabun Gap cemetery sign

Ellis I deGroff- Rabun Gap Cemetery

Bob didn't realize that the two cemeteries adjoined. Then we went to

Wolffork Baptist Church Cemetery.

Some really old stones there - including one for a girl who was murdered by her cousin because she wouldn't go out with him. (He made threats, but no one took him seriously)

Gravestone of girl shot by her cousin

We saw a sign which pointed to a very small cemetery (invisible from the road which had no shoulders) which had no location in the database. I took a photo with my cell phone.

Pinson cemetery cell phone photo

It took me quite some time to figure out how to get the location out of the photo, but eventually I did manage it.

June 15 afternoon

I was going to go to another cemetery which was in a state park, but we were hungry. We were going to go to Burger King for lunch, but there was a big semi-truck parked across the parking lot and there was also a bus there. Bob didn't like the parking situation, so we unparked, and went to Wendy's. Bob got a single hamburger and a medium Frosty, and I got a baconator triple, and a small Frosty and water. They gave us the Senior discount ($1.54), so after tax the bill was $14.79.

The Baconator was good, but it was very very fatty - the fat dripped out of it.

Triple baconater

So I had to eat holding it over the wrapper so it could drip the fat into in instead of on me. I should have gotten just the double - the triple was too much to eat.

Clayton is a little bit bigger than Dillard where we were staying and had more restaurants and things to do. So in the evening two daughters and our son and Bob and me went to the Wicked Pig in Clayton for dinner.

Wicked Pig BBQ

Daughter and SIL

Son and DIL

Daughter-in-law's meal

The restaurant was decorated with pictures of blues and guitar players. Bob and I ordered Brunswick stew for $4.00, but it was a little more spicy than I like. I ordered a salad, but they were out so I had a one bone spare rib for #3.00, but it was quite fatty.

I probably should have ordered the brisket which looked good.

After dinner our son and daughter-in-law checked out and that left just us and one daughter and son-in-law at the Dillard House. I was still struggling with the Wi-Fi. So Bob (remembering the long drive to get here) suggested checking out a day early - our original reservation was for a week - from Saturday to Friday. I don't remember whether we paid a penalty for leaving early, but I think not.

Sunset