Tennessee 16-18 Feb 07

<-- the horse near Government House in Nashville

Carnton manor, Franklin -->


Marie has to travel a bit over the next three weeks, so instead of her spending time flying back, we decided that I should go out there. It's more fun that way, and saved her at least 12 hours flying.

Nashville is a mid sized city with small streets, some skyscrapers and a lot of gorgeous heritage architecture. The home of country music has bars with live music all down Broadway, and other places. We went to the Grand Ole Opry, the longest running western music show in the country, the high church of country and western. An old dude, probably famous, cracked jokes about his latest album which was released in 1963 etc, he was great. Some old lady got on and sang a song about God and the war, and how they'd find it was all worth it.

<-- Columbia's main square

Marie on Main St, Franklin -->

Driving out of Nashville, the suburbs of large graceful homes and finely manicured properties gave way to the larger homes and properties, then the town of Franklin, which was very pretty. At Carnton plantation, we had a tour, looked out on the battleground for Franklin, saw the blood stains on the floor from the Confederate wounded, and were moved by the stories of the soldiers, and all the people who come every week to put flowers on their ancestor's graves. Tennessee calls itself the Volunteer state for its history of volunteering for military service.

Idaho 10-12 Feb 2007

<--Boise (boy-zee) Adults on the Oregon Trail -->



Lucky for us, we got to go to Idaho. Boise has mountains on one side, and the wide plains on the other. Young drunk people were hanging around historic downtown when we got there. We saw a country band who were tight, professional and sounded excellent with their 4 guitars & subtle drums. They put on a good show for the ten people in the bar, and we stayed out till about 1am, which is a record for us. The food here was great, and we ended up in excellent places every time.

Outside Boise, there is the Sun Valley ski resort. Most people were out walking their dogs, and dog people are always so cool.


Half frozen stream near the road north to McCall -->

Heading north up to McCall was even more amazing, lots of white fields, snowed in streams just starting to break through the ice, and the greenest pines. Wish we had much more time!


<-- the road to McCall

Phoenix, Az. Jan 26 - 29

<-- Petrified Forest Jerome -->


Arizona is a fantastic. There's something to see in every direction. We took a 3 day weekend, and saw things from Grand Canyon, village ruins from the 1100's, petrified logs that are 225 million years old and some great historical towns.



<-- Salt River canyon Tonto National Monument -->

Burbank

You've heard the news, now see the pics. It's pretty amazing to think there's another individual kicking aroung the place. He/she's only 12 weeks, and you can hear the heartbeat, see the legs and arms whizzing around.