Thomasville, Georgia

Thomasville, Georgia

"Plantations, museums and historic home sites are located throughout Thomasville and offer glimpses into the grand Victorian Era, during which Thomasville was known as the 'Winter Resort of the South'".

We got an early start this morning and headed down Jackson Street to the Historic Downtown of Thomasville. As we always do we stopped in at the Visitor's Center. Following a signing of the register and gathering our information we headed to the street - Broad Street was our first destination.

Ready to go - Derek and Cassia in the Visitor Center's cozy courtyard.

This is the first time I have seen the listing of businesses this way - very effective.

Broad Street is lined with old buildings filled with beautiful little shops - all decked out for Christmas. I could NOT go past this shop - Relish - without a trip inside - it looked like my kind of place.

Seriously - Derek and I could have spent all the money we have in this shop! (Unfortunately our travel budget is always on our minds)

If I ever got back into the retail business again - which I won't, been there done that - this would be the kind of shop I would love to own.

They have EVERYTHING.

As you many have noticed from previous posts - no downtown trip is complete without a stop at the local coffee house. In Thomasville it is Grassroots.

Our names are Teresa and Derek and we are coffee addicts. 
Yup - that's us. We have sampled our fair share.

Grassroots Coffee is a five star coffee as is Oso Negro Coffee in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada. Have you ever been to Nelson? It is a great little town - one of our favourite places in SE British Columbia.

They roast their coffee on site.

We walked north along Broad Street to our next destination - The Big Oak. This is the third old and large Oak Tree that Derek and I have visited. The other two were both in Texas - near Goose Island and in Landa Park, New Braunfels.

With all this walking it was time for lunch. We had many choices of restaurants downtown - all sounding good from Jonah's Fish & Grits to the Old Mexico Mexican Restaurant. Our love for pizza took us today to Moonspin Pizza.

Now first let me preface this by saying that Derek and I eat A LOT of pizza - A LOT. So much so that I make it regularly just so that we can continue to enjoy it without the cost.

Moonspin's pizza is THE BEST PIZZA WE HAVE EVER EATEN!

An exaggeration you say - you know where the best pizza is?

Nope - it's here in Thomasville, Georgia!

Everything was right about the pizza - I don't even think we could tell you why it was so good - it just was. Obviously it has something to do with the dough being made fresh each day and the local ingredients - they have partnered with local farms.

We have had a few more perfect moments on this trip then we deserve but I will have to add this one to the list. Great pizza - great companions and Lionel Richie singing Sunday Mornings - ahhhhhh.

Cassia is looking like such a big girl in the picture isn't she?

After such a wonderful meal we were ready to take on Dawson Street. This street is lined with beautiful trees and landscaping and many of the noteable houses in Thomasville. The picture below do not do the houses justice and I took many many more pictures then I show here. Just like Natchez! Each one we passed we liked more then the one we just passed - they were all so nicely restored - most date back to the 1880's. Here is a sampling.

The Charles Watt House - originally built in 1885 and sold for $4,000 in 1887. 

The Lapham - Patterson House. Built by Chicago shoe manufacturer Charles W. Laphan circa 1885, this Queen Anne style home is one of the first winter cottages built. It cost $4,500 to construct - 19 room home was ahead of its time with hot and cold running water, gas lighting, and built in closets.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the house is that there are no square rooms or right angles in the main structure as required by Mr. Lapham.

(Info taken from the 2012 Thomasville Visitor's Guide)

One of our favourite houses we could see ourselves living in.

Having worked off our pizza with all that walking we were ready for dessert. Once again Cassia was promised an ice cream which we had seen back on Broad Street at Izzo's Soda Fountain.

This site has been the home of a drug store, Izzo's Pharmacy, since the 1920's.

Cassia enjoying the dutch chocolate ice cream!

Thomasville, Georgia - who knew? Well, now YOU do - we highly recommend a visit to this beautiful city with it's well preserved historic downtown. 

Thanks for visiting - now on to Valdosta.

Teresa

Today's Interesting Link: You may have noticed comments coming through from The Good Luck Duck - well here is the link to Roxi and Annie's blog! They are in Texas (ahhhhhhh Texas) right now having come straight across - in seemingly record time - from Florida. They have been blogging for a few years now - so veterans I'd say. Also, they have a huge list of links on the left side of their blog.

I thought I was dreaming......

You may know - or you may not - that Derek and I have been pining for a Class C Motor home for some time now. We were going to work on selling our truck and trailer to buy one last summer but we dragged our feet and it didn't get done. Oh well we thought - we'll get one more tour out of them and get on it first thing next spring.

Well - as we have been traveling around our desire to switch has been increasing with every mile. Soon we were asking ourselves - WHY WAIT?! Let's just do it! So - here I am with some very exciting news! 

YUP - we took the plunge!

I would like to introduce you to - our new home!

There she is - isn't she a beauty? A BTouring Cruiser by Gulf Stream.

Cassia getting settled at our new kitchen table. Look at those skylights!

I can't wait to get cooking in here - an oven - finally.

Look at all that floor space for Cassia to play!

Endless amounts of closet space.

All the moving in and sorting out - what goes here - what goes where - was going well until Derek interrupted me. Huh Huh?

I was DREAMING! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

You didn't actually think we bought it did you? :)

I guess Derek and I have been talking so much about looking for a Class C next spring and how we were going to deal with the animals and such that I dreamed about it! 

The truth is today started much like all the others. We had breakfast and packed up. Cassia and Roofous visited together for awhile beside the Sam's Club parking lot where we spent the night.

We did stop at Camping World just down the road - we had a look around at all of their expensive stuff, we bought some liquid for our tanks, we did drool over the rigs and we visited the sani dump. Then a quarter turn around the Dothan Loop and we were back on US 84. Ahhhhhh the 84 - the same highway we took through Mississippi into Alabama. We left it to venture north to Montgomery, but here we are again - and still - NO REST AREAS! a shame for such a nice road. 

We passed over the Chattahoochee River - alas - no where to stop there either.

As such we lunched at the Bainbridge Visitor's Center. Although we are not in Georgia for long I still wanted to grab some info just in case. Glad we did since I noticed that Thomasville - just up the road - has a great historic downtown.

Was that me that said we were downtowned out last night?

Cassia with her beloved sticks in the cup - now on to berries. Barefoot as usual.

Derek taking pictures of trees.

LOOK at the length of those needles! The Longleaf Pine we believe.

Since we didn't have to go far - 35 miles or so to Thomasville, we spent the afternoon in the VC parking lot - doing dishes, playing with sticks and play-doh, hanging out on the internet. 

We had decided to go straight to the Walmart and get a full day of touring in tomorrow and so here we sit wedged between Dollar Tree and Walmart. This has to be one of the busiest Walmarts we have slept in - missing our Sam's Club tonight. I probably should have looked up the location of the Home Depot instead. Oh well - it has quieted down a bit - all is well here with the Wood Clan.

Expect some great pics of downtown Thomasville soon - hopefully tomorrow night.

Thanks for visiting! 

Teresa

Today's Interesting Link: Florida - I am now back full force researching Florida. Last summer I came across this site by Florida native Robin Arthur Draper - Authentic Florida. It is such a beautiful site to look at isn't it - makes you want to go there right away! It looks like a great resource - now if I could just find enough time, a full battery and a strong wifi signal! If you can't make it to Florida this is a good way to feel like you have.