She made it!

Darcy wrote from Korea: 
"I made it...all is well. The school is really great. The girl that picked me up last night took me to a grocery store for some milk, cereal and juice. My apartment is really cute, I love it! They got me dishes and bedding and even soap/shampoo so I was very comfortable. I have only minor shopping to do. The school, the apartment, and a little grocery store are all on the same street within 5 minutes of each other. I'll write later about the town. Needless to say, I feel very welcome and comfortable here. Will send pictures soon. Also, they gave me a really cool cell phone last night, all set up and ready to go."

I'm certainly relieved, Michelle is too, and Clarissa too.  As for Matt?  He probably is too, but he's cool enough that the rest of us will never know.  (Renae, does it come with the name or did your Matt come with more than 2 emotions: happy and angry.)

Darcy's gone...

...we last saw her through the crowd going through security at the airport. We stretched on our toes to see one last bob of the blond head as she wrestled a bassoon case and over-loaded backpack away from the scanners and towards the escalators that lead down to the trains. There was one last wave and then she was gone.
Where to? We don't know. Well, not for sure for sure. But we think she'll end up in South Korea. At least that's what her airplane ticket said. We have not heard from her yet, and she was supposed to arrive about six hours ago. In a way, this is like sending a missionary off. No, this is worse than sending a missionary off. We don't have any idea about the people she will be working with - she's the only one who has communicated with them. Missionaries have a tremendous support system: companions, district leaders, zone leaders, assistants to the President, Mission Mother and Mission President, Doctors, etc.
What I'm missing most at the moment is that email from the mission office saying "your son/daughter has arrived safely".
Darcy, are you there.... ?

Blue Mountain Adventure

If you open up Google Earth, and look up Helen, GA, and then follow 75 north to Unicoi Gap, you'll see where the AT crosses 75. Darcy and I parked the car there Friday evening and hiked south on the AT to the ridge top where we spent the night. (See post dated Feb. 20th) The next day we went the other direction to this spot, the summit of Blue Mountain.

There are a few more pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/cwhetten5/BlueMountainHike##

On a Sunday afternoon walk

We came across a tree with blossoms we had not noticed before. Any ideas as to what it is?

You can check out the exact location using Google Earth. In the upper left corner of Google Earth, select SEARCH, and in the FLY TO field paste these coordinates:
34.017569N 84.019227W