We are in Lynchburg, VA, tonight, taking a slow pace up from eastern Tennessee to Gettysburg and then across just under the Great Lakes until we pass them and eventually arrive home.
Things to note:
- My niece, Elizabeth, is awesomely organized! And now also married, to a wonderfully calm, appreciative, happy, sensible, and sensitive man. My female relatives--with one notable exception--do pick TERRIFIC men to marry.
- The Great Smoky Mountains are beautiful. So are the Appalachians. Why am I so freakin' surprised at this??
- My niece, Katherine, is annoying as hell. Several people wanted to smack her upside the face on Friday and/or Saturday.
- On the other hand, my nephew, James, is a very charming man. Like the Smokies, why am I so freakin' surprised?
- We love our Garmin.
- Gatlinburg, TN, is hell on earth. Do whatever you can do to avoid it, unless you like PlasticLand. Sorry, people of Gatlinburg. Just....really. Gag.
- Bristol Motor Speedway is rather amazing in a completely indescribable way.
- Appomattox Court House requires more than half an hour to appreciate, but when you arrived at 4:30 that's all you get. And when it's 98 degrees in the full sun, that's probably about all you want anyway.
- Cracker Barrel--ugh. Never. Again. Don't let me forget!!
- Abingdon, VA, has issues. Not sure exactly what they are, or why, but the whole town seems completely out of sorts for some reason. Not bad, mean, unkind, intentionally "slow" or whatever, just...issues. At least, this week.
- Where are all the black people in the South?? Seriously.
- Lynchburg, VA, also has issues. One is dead (Jerry Falwell), the other is his scourge on the city for the forseeable future (Liberty University).
- This is important: EVERYONE SHOULD GO TO THE BOOKER T. WASHINGTON NATIONAL MONUMENT. Awesome, even in 95 degree heat and in spite of having no real services available. Northerners--like us--especially should visit. Wake up: pre-war South was not all about Scarlett O'Hara. (duh)
- Western Virginia is gorgeous. Lousy drivers, great scenery. It's a decent trade-off.
- There are a LOT of churches in this part of the country. A LOT.
- I can't understand English in eastern Tennessee. Oy. I need a universal translator.
- I haven't read a book all week. I haven't read anything except travel information since...uh...Thursday? This is a surprise.
- Sparky has weird feet.
- Courtyards (by Marriott) have pretty awesome lobbies. Holiday Inns have pretty nice bedding. Jameson Inns have pretty fabulous staff (what few there may be).
- We are still trying to figure out how someone tipped their sedan over on its side while driving up a paved, two-lane road in Great Smokies National Park. Really. It looked like perhaps they went over the verge (on the inside of a curve) and it just...tipped over. Is this a new way to entertain visitors? It wasn't that steep of a verge. Weird, and ... no, just weird.
- Never, ever, wear new shoes at a wedding, especially if standing for the whole ceremony, and even more important to remember if standing on a slate floor.
- We've only had two or three 'Deliverance' moments.
- Blueberry/raspberry/chocolate cookies are amazingly GOOD.
- Any ideas for what I can do with a used, slighly stained bridesmaid lilac-colored bridesmaid dress?
- We never did see any fireworks on the holiday. Oh, well.
- Some of the backroads today caused Sparky to say, "Can we go back to that hill again? I think I left my intestines there."
- After twenty years of off-and-on searching, I've finally found out the secret to those "wedding mints" I love so much: cream cheese and lots and lots of sugar (and food coloring and a pretty mold). Yay.
- The southeastern part of the country is lovely, but I don't think I could live here year-round.
- We've 'only' taken 200 photos so far. :-)
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