Tag: foothills of the blue ridge mountains

Christmas Cacti and Bojangles: Seeing Red in the Upstate and Pink on Cardinal Drive
Pretty and I are spending more than our usual amount of time in Landrum, which is in the upstate of South Carolina at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains just south of the South Carolina/North Carolina state line. For those readers who follow us regularly, you may recall Pretty’s childhood home was in the upstate; and many family members still live in the area.

For years we drove past a Bojangles restaurant on every trip when we took the Landrum Exit off I-26.

typical Bojangle’s fast food restaurant

Landrum Bojangles turned Bo-jingles for the holidays

Santa apparently wants biscuits instead of cookies this year

Meanwhile, back at the ranch on Cardinal Drive in West Columbia, our outdoor decorations depend on the revival of the colorful cactuses in our back yard.

I do love a holiday cactus (fingers crossed for survival!)

our granddaughters wonder if Santa can find us?

********************

Please stay tuned.
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December 6, 2025
ROAD TRIP! GRANDBABY ON BOARD!
Over the spirited reservations of both Papa Williams (NanaT’s father) and NanaSlo (me), NanaT (Pretty) moved full steam ahead with her plans for our granddaughter’s first car trip “up the road” as we say in our family whenever we drive to the upstate foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Landrum. Mama Caroline gave NanaT just the encouragement she needed to override my worries about packing our grandbaby Ella who is just 11 weeks old today into the back seat of our old Toyota Camry yesterday for the wild adventures of her first road trip.

I’m wondering what this contraption is?

Thank goodness I have my cap, blanket and favorite pacifier.

My NanaT has the prettiest smile –

she’s so happy I’m in the back seat with NanaSlo

our first stop was to get NanaT an iced tea for the road from Rush’s

NanaSlo whispered to me that NanaT never went anywhere without

picking up an unsweet iced tea from Rush’s

are you telling me I have to watch from the Back Seat

and Face Backwards until I’m TWO Years old?

If I could walk, I’d stage a protest march.

Hey, hey, ho, ho – facing backwards has got to go.

Papa Williams and his wife think I’m a Rock Star!

I think Papa Williams is the Bomb – he’s focused on the Big Things…

like milk and impeachment.

it’s a big responsibility being the entertainment for an entire family

Aunt Darlene thinks I’m up to the challenge, though

all good things have to come to an end so I said goodbye to the upstate

and got back in the car to go home.

I tried to sleep going home but NanaT stopped the car and NanaSlo woke me

to feed me my last bottle.

Did somebody say Last Bottle?

Get me outta here, Percy.

And so we did get Baby Ella home safely last night after an awesome day with lots of smiles from everyone in the upstate. NanaT was brave to make this first trip, and I freely admit my trepidations were unnecessary. Ella is a trooper just like her NanaT. They are lucky to have each other. I predict many more trips to the upstate and look forward to sharing our love of the foothills and family with our granddaughter.

Stay tuned.
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December 17, 2019