Fall Trip 2008

Joshua and I just got back from a whirlwind trip visiting family back in North Carolina and Tennessee. Our visits are always so short but since they're free (airline travel anyway) we try to do as much as possible and see as many loved ones as possible, in a short amount of time.

We visited Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville, TN with Justin, Betsy and the kids, and Betsy's whole family. Our group of about 17 adults and 10 children, explored these cool caves, saw blind-albino crawfish that live in an underground pool of water, and tried not to giggle through the light show near the end.

At the bottom of the cavern, they have the "undergound ballroom" where they perform bluegrass concerts. There was a very "Phantom of the Opera" type pipe-organ likeness (hooked to electronic sound equipment) and a chandelier suspended 60 feet from the caver floor. Imagine your senior prom at the bottom of a cave.

Joshua even found a little cave-imp in our explorations. We called him Seth.

We also visited with Joshua's parents, playing Dr. Suess fruit bocci-ball while we waited for them to finish their missionary duties for the day. Have you ever see a mock orange? They smell like lemon cake. Very strange.

We fed the ducks and geese at the park as well. I never knew ducks and geese like Cheesy Puffs.

This was Mr. T duck..."I pitty da fool who eat my bread crumbs!"

This was Don King Duck..."If you cast your bread upon the water and you have faith, you'll get back cash. If you don't have faith, you'll get soggy bread."

And here's a new idea for your Thanksgiving feast...I give you Durkey.

Oh how I miss the aweful-waffle! Joshua had his first Waffle House experience on this trip. You have to love a pecan waffle with hasbrowns smothered or covered and folks with southern accents as thick as the grits they serve!

We enjoyed some yummy southern barbeque and even visited a pumpkin patch in the afternoon.

Then we were off to Charlotte for little Maxwell Moore's blessing. Congratulations April and James, you have another beautiful member of the family to be proud of. We wished we could have spent more time in Charlotte witht April, James, and the little people, but alas...the dwindling seat availability on our flights beckoned and off we flew.

Despite the few naps we took along the way

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This was how we felt when it was all said and done. We hope to visit all y'all again soon.