We made it back
First of all, I attempted to read all the posts you guys made, I ended up mostly skimming and then giving up completely. If there is something that I should read, that might entertain me, or that you just can't believe I missed, link it here and I'll read it.
I have barely looked at my pictures much less found the ones I want to share with you guys. We had a wonderful trip. I won't bore you with the gory details but I will do a (somewhat) quick cliff notes for you.
First, 11 family members - something like herding cats, yet it was so much fun to see them all. It was really, really hard to say goodbye at the end of the week. Second, the most adorable baby, evah. No, we're not discussing the point, she's the most adorable baby, ever, ever. (why yes, there is a picture or two of said baby.....or maybe 100 or so.)
Ok, there was much good food.
There was Christmas, in which fabulous things were given but I think I got the two best. First, my secret santa bought me just about the coolest shirt I've ever owned. This one. Not only is it amazing and cool, it's soft too. And since she took the handmade pledge for Christmas, and did very well, I'll pimp the website too: etsy.com. The one that made my shirt was ahpeele.etsy.com.
The other really cool thing I got arrived in my stocking. I'm sure you all know my one bumper sticker rule. Well, the perfect bumper sticker for the Element came to me this Christmas. It's a car magnet in the shape of a tall ship that says: My other ride has an anchor. *squee!* It's even in a complementary orange color. It's made of awesome. Yes, there are pictures. Yes, you will be tortured with them.
Ok, let's see. After Christmas there was Opry Land - there are pictures, I can't explain. J described it as the Mall of America on steroids. It was very cool. Plants, buildings inside of buildings, rivers inside of buildings, dancing fountains, Christmas lights....there are pictures.
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum - Very cool. Cooler than I expected. The acoustics alone in that building are worth the entrance fee. And then there is the paint job on Elvis' car. Gold flecks, crushed diamonds and fish scales. Very interesting museum. They also had a special exhibit on Ray Charles, which we were able to just catch before it left. That was really interesting. Turns out he went to the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind near here in St. Augustine. He also learned to play chess, using electronic chess boards, when he was in the hospital kicking heroin. I thought that was interesting. Though there were plenty of more interesting things. And then there is pondering just what was in the braille Playboy. But of course they also had a lot of interesting information on his career and achievements.
There was the Jack Daniels Whiskey Distillery tour. Again very interesting. Beautiful place. The tour is free so when you go near it, you should go.
One day J drove me up to Kentucky. That means we're both down to two of the contiguous states that we haven't been to. He'd been to Kentucky for work. So we have Vermont and North Dakota, though we're both sure that we've individually been there, enough doubt was cast on those memories that we're counting it was one we haven't been to. Then of course we have the big two (and by that I mean the expensive ones, although one is really big too.): Alaska and Hawaii.
What else, what else. We toured around Chattanooga a bit. In fact we took an extra day traveling home to do that. As a bonus then since we had extra time, we got to meet up with mosellegreen, who was nice enough to indulge us at the last minute, on our way home. Another highlight of our trip.
Overall we had a wonderful time. We fell in love with Tennessee. We miss the family all the more for having seen them and we're so glad everyone was able to get together. I think we'll be back to Tennessee again soon.
I read enough of your posts to know that most of you are sick. I hope you all get better. I hope your 2008 is as wonderful or more so than our 2007. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is a lucky year. I've made a list of goals, because I like to do that and New Years Day is as good a time as any, and I think this is a good batch of them. Happy New Year everyone!
I have barely looked at my pictures much less found the ones I want to share with you guys. We had a wonderful trip. I won't bore you with the gory details but I will do a (somewhat) quick cliff notes for you.
First, 11 family members - something like herding cats, yet it was so much fun to see them all. It was really, really hard to say goodbye at the end of the week. Second, the most adorable baby, evah. No, we're not discussing the point, she's the most adorable baby, ever, ever. (why yes, there is a picture or two of said baby.....or maybe 100 or so.)
Ok, there was much good food.
There was Christmas, in which fabulous things were given but I think I got the two best. First, my secret santa bought me just about the coolest shirt I've ever owned. This one. Not only is it amazing and cool, it's soft too. And since she took the handmade pledge for Christmas, and did very well, I'll pimp the website too: etsy.com. The one that made my shirt was ahpeele.etsy.com.
The other really cool thing I got arrived in my stocking. I'm sure you all know my one bumper sticker rule. Well, the perfect bumper sticker for the Element came to me this Christmas. It's a car magnet in the shape of a tall ship that says: My other ride has an anchor. *squee!* It's even in a complementary orange color. It's made of awesome. Yes, there are pictures. Yes, you will be tortured with them.
Ok, let's see. After Christmas there was Opry Land - there are pictures, I can't explain. J described it as the Mall of America on steroids. It was very cool. Plants, buildings inside of buildings, rivers inside of buildings, dancing fountains, Christmas lights....there are pictures.
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum - Very cool. Cooler than I expected. The acoustics alone in that building are worth the entrance fee. And then there is the paint job on Elvis' car. Gold flecks, crushed diamonds and fish scales. Very interesting museum. They also had a special exhibit on Ray Charles, which we were able to just catch before it left. That was really interesting. Turns out he went to the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind near here in St. Augustine. He also learned to play chess, using electronic chess boards, when he was in the hospital kicking heroin. I thought that was interesting. Though there were plenty of more interesting things. And then there is pondering just what was in the braille Playboy. But of course they also had a lot of interesting information on his career and achievements.
There was the Jack Daniels Whiskey Distillery tour. Again very interesting. Beautiful place. The tour is free so when you go near it, you should go.
One day J drove me up to Kentucky. That means we're both down to two of the contiguous states that we haven't been to. He'd been to Kentucky for work. So we have Vermont and North Dakota, though we're both sure that we've individually been there, enough doubt was cast on those memories that we're counting it was one we haven't been to. Then of course we have the big two (and by that I mean the expensive ones, although one is really big too.): Alaska and Hawaii.
What else, what else. We toured around Chattanooga a bit. In fact we took an extra day traveling home to do that. As a bonus then since we had extra time, we got to meet up with mosellegreen, who was nice enough to indulge us at the last minute, on our way home. Another highlight of our trip.
Overall we had a wonderful time. We fell in love with Tennessee. We miss the family all the more for having seen them and we're so glad everyone was able to get together. I think we'll be back to Tennessee again soon.
I read enough of your posts to know that most of you are sick. I hope you all get better. I hope your 2008 is as wonderful or more so than our 2007. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is a lucky year. I've made a list of goals, because I like to do that and New Years Day is as good a time as any, and I think this is a good batch of them. Happy New Year everyone!