Southern Trip: Part II

After we got through Indiana, we were excited to be on the road. Griffin had settled into his carseat and had his daily feast of goldfish, beef jerky ("more meat, Mama!!") and Pirate's Booty. He played his two puzzles for an hour at a time, read books, and sorted through the huge bag of little distractions I bought for the trip. During all his waking hours though, there was one constant occurrence every 5 mins. or so.

" Doin' Mama, doooiiinnnnn'???"

This is a very loosely used phrase for Griffin. It could mean "I am bored, please entertain me", "I have a poopy diaper and it is about to get stinky in here", "If you tell me one more time to 'keep my eyes open' for interesting trucks I am going to freakin' loose my mind" ...you get the picture. This is my child's version of the overused, wasn't that cool to begin with, " Waz uuupppp?" But through it all, we trucked on, and really enjoyed the countryside we were passing through. Kentucky, with it's rolling hills and it's incredibly groomed horse farms, re-energized us. We stopped to eat at a little Middle Eastern restaurant in Lexington which, coincidentally, turned out to be owned by a guy who was the baker at our favorite restaurant back home. He had just moved down 8 mos. ago to start the business and was glad to meet friendly Detroiters again. We were glad to enjoy his hot out of the oven pita and almond cookies! Definitely check out Ali Babba's restaurant if you are ever in the Lexington area!

A few more hours and one more playground stop and we made it to my Dad and step-mom's house in Knoxville. It was so good to be at their beautiful home. They had tons of space for us and even a special playroom set up for their grandkids to enjoy. More than once, my Dad got a slap on the leg from Griffin and a "Let's go Grandpa, upstairs play, let's go Grandpa." My Dad pulled out a gigantic tin filled with army men, dinosaurs and marbles from his childhood. Many an hour passed with Griffin checking out each and every figure. One day while we were staying with them, we all went up to Dollywood for a day. I was somewhat skeptical at how high Dollywood would score on my personal cool-O-meter, and was very pleasantly surprised. Nestled in a cove surrounded by the Smokey Mts., this park is not only beautiful but filled with talented musicians and artisans. There was musical theatres, amphitheatres and shows in the street everywhere in the park. Many cute little alleys allowed artists to showcase and sell their cottage art. Even the parking lot was pretty. And here is the most amazing thing - water was free there. I know you are all sitting back thinking, " No, no it couldn't be. Free water? No, no such thing exists. Maybe she is talking to about a grungy luke-warm trickle from a public drinking fountain." I was shocked too...in the day of water being a huge industry with corporations making millions a year off of selling bottled water, it was a shock to walk up to any vendor and have them hand you an ice cold water FOR FREE!




I really can't mention my folks place without mentioning, Rusty, their maltipoo. We LOVE this dog. He is the sweetest little fur ball you have ever met. I am sure that all 3 of us had a moment where we wondered just how much he would be missed if we snuck him into the car with us when we left.