Mama's Mini Vacation

I love being a Mom, but it can sometimes be a little stressful and really wear you out. I'm lucky to have a husband who understands this. I think Joe earned his halo this weekend when he stayed home with the kids, so that I could get some R&R. He encouraged me to get away for a long weekend and enjoy myself...so I did. I stayed Friday and Saturday night at the Allison House Inn. It is a Bed and Breakfast in Quicy, FL(see photo below). The breakfasts were so delicious, I'm embarrassed to admit I cleaned my plate each morning. The waffles were good, but the stuffed blueberry french toast was to die for.
You can see more pictures of the Inn at www.allisonhouseinn.com.I stayed in the Garden Room. It was cozy and quiet, and I actually started reading a novel. I honestly can't remember the last book I read, that wasn't a children's book.

Saturday morning I toured Pebble Hill Plantation in Thomasville, GA (It's a pretty short drive from Quincy). The plantation's main house was featured in a past episode of America's Castles on the A&E Network. People taking the tours aren't allowed to photograph the inside of the main house, so I took this photo outside in front of the house.
The house was too wide for me to get it all in frame, so I just focused on the center portion of the house that sticks out a little further than the sides.

Here is the carriage entrance on the West side of the house. If you were standing directly in front of the house and turned your head a bit to the left...this is the part of the house you'd see.

Here is the view from the tennis court (you are looking at the back of the main house).
This is the tennis court. The ivy covering the brick walls was really beautiful. This picture doesn't do it justice.

This all-marble sundial stands in the garden between the pergola and the back of the house.
The turtle fountain sits on the edge of the reflecting pool under the pergola. It's a little hard to tell from the photo, but the turtle is sitting on a slab of solid marble. Each side of the reflecting pool was made of marble. There was also a lot of marble in the main house. Several of the rooms including the foyer and dining room had marble floors.

This sweet little fountain with the frog and dancing baby is located in the courtyard between the horse stable and cow shed, which look nothing like the typical horse stable or cow shed....see below.

This courtyard is used for wedding receptions and other special events. You'd never suspect the cow shed is the part of the building above that stretches from the door in the center of the photo and everything to the right of it. The horse stable is everything to the left of the center doorway. I'd say those were some pretty lucky horses and cows. I took 131 photos this past weekend and I won't bore you with them all, but I just wanted to share a few of my favorites with you. Before I end this blog entry, I need to show you just a few of the family vehicles (there were several)left behind in the carriage house and in the main house garage.
This 1960 Bentley was shipped from Great Britain to Thomasville, GA for the plantation owner.

The plantation owner had this Lincoln Continental shipped to France so that he could tour Paris in it.

You can see more photos of the plantation by visiting www.pebblehill.com