The Bluebird Patch

This post was inspired from our last college tour to University of Tennessee at Knoxville.  Go Vols!  Spring season is upon us and if you have a college-bound high school student like me, you know what that means. It's time to book the first campus tour of the year.  Your bags are packed, your  campus tour has been scheduled months in advance, you mapped out your route, and all the pit stops along the way. The only thing missing is to download all the must-have-apps to make sure your road trip doesn't end up in disaster.  There are five categories of apps I like to keep on my on my phone, especially when I go on road trips. 

   Every year , the The Fort Yargo Living History Society gather at the old fort to give educational living history demonstrations, where public schools and school groups can come and experience a glimpse of what life on the frontier may have been like.     Fort Yargo Living History's 18th Century Market Faire, is an 18th century history living event open to the public. Visitors can interact with living historians demostrating life in the 1790's frontier Georgia where knee breeches and tri corn hats were still in fashion.    The 18th century (1793) Market Faire is a fun family event with living history re-enactors, children's games, period vendors, tour original 1793 Block House (Fort), beehive clay bake oven, tinsmith, blacksmith, woodwright, baker, gunsmith, straw plaitng, period musicians, smoke house, fireplace cooking, play fort, and Fort Yargo Living History Society. Demonstration s are provided by volunteers that have stu...

Located in the  historic colonial section of  San Juan ,  Puerto Rico  and just one block from the governor's mansion lies Barrachina restaurant. This restaurant specializes in creative Puerto Rican and international cuisine. Barrachina is surrounded by historic colonial buildings that are over 200 years old and has an amazing interior courtyard for outdoor dinning that delights and charm it's visitors. Is in this exact courtyard where don Ramon Ports Mingot, first made the famous  piña colada in 1963.  

With a population of 194,636, Ponce is Puerto Rico's second largest city (San Juan is the first and Mayaguez is the third). Ponce is where I spent the majority of my teenage years and is the city were both of my children were born. Ponce is commonly known by several names: " La Perla del Sur " (Pearl of the South), " La Ciudad de los Leones " (City of Lions), or " La Ciudad de las Quenepas " (Genip City). Ponce is also known as the " Ciudad Señorial " (Majestic or Noble City), because of its many beautiful neoclassical buildings and facades.    Ponce was founded in 1692 by Juan Ponce de León's great-grandson - Loíza Ponce de León. Ponce was Spain's capital of the southern region until it fell to the U.S. in 1898.    Ponce is located in the Southern Coastal Plain region (about 5 km (3 mi) from the south central coast of the island), south of Adjuntas , Utuado and Jayuya ; east of Peñuelas; an...

The day has finally arrived. The Bluebird of Happiness is heading to Country Inn & Suites. The hotel has implemented several environmentally friendly changes as part of their commitment to exist in harmony with their surroundings and reduce their environmental footprint, while providing a better yet less expensive service for all their guests.   I will be sharing photos and tweets over the internet.  Please make sure you follow @countryinns on twitter. Country Inn has also created the hashtag  #LoveThisCountryATL so you can follow the conference live.  Talk to you soon. I really need to start packing :D                                facebook.com/ countryinnstonemountainga

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and I—I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” Robert Frost You know those days when you just want to escape the suburbs and you drive down the winding road with no specific course and you let God lead the way? Well, that's exactly what happened this past Father's Day. We had just finished watching a movie when our kids asked us that dreaded question... what are we doing next?? Honestly, I had no idea. I went into a panic mode. We are on a tight budget, and we have no friends or family close by that we can visit. Going to a restaurant or a paying attraction was out of the question. So what to do? Where to go?? On the spur of the moment I told my husband to just drive. Drive?? Drive where? He replied with an incredulous look on his face. I don't know I told him. Just drive down the road and let's see where it takes us. And for the next 25 minutes that was exactly what we did. We dro...

  "The food court at China Town is one of those places where food is king. A place where the people who make the food are the people who serve it up to you and the same people who ask you how it was afterwards. This is my kind of place!!" Liza Cardona I've been hearing great things about the food court in China Town. It seems to be a favorite among food writers, culinary tours and hard core foodies around Atlanta. The mall by itself is nothing spectacular, however, the real gem is the food court. This is a totally unpretentious place where many Asian families come together to relax and eat a hearty meal.   During my first visit, I decided to try the food at Chong Qing Hot Pot. I wanted to see (and taste) what all the buzz was all about. As soon as you enter the first thing that hits you is the menu on the wall. It's completely handwritten in Chinese. In fact, every single eatery has their menu in Chinese but don't let this intimidate you.  If you...