last day of another vacation :(

So another vacation from work is coming to an end. Sigh. It's been wonderful. I had been pretty nervous about the drive to/from Nashville because I've never driven that far by myself (about 8 hours each way including stops.) Thanks to Gene's awesome new van and satellite radio I loved it. It was such a good opportunity to think about life and kids and work, completely uninterrupted. I thought through some personal issues and found some new conclusions. It was a good time and a good trip beginning to end. I'll never be afraid of another driving trip!

Silly tidbits about Tennessee nobody will care about but I want to record to remember... I can't believe how many people have horses. Julie lives in a subdivision and many of her neighbors have horses in their yards. Also, driving on the highway, you see more horses than cows. In Tennessee, you can't buy beer at a liquor store. Most liquor stores have a beer store on one side and all other liquor on the other, completely separate, with a separate cashier, side. Nashville was having a run on gasoline. It had been mentioned on the news that gas might be short due to Hurricane Ike hitting Houston. Nashville (and only Nashville) panicked and everyone got gas and topped off gas and stockpiled gas. The stations were literally out of gas for a couple of days and if they'd get a delivery, it would be sold out within hours. And finally, this was probably only in the neighborhood near Julie's, but instead of a new neighborhood with cookie cutter houses, there was a new neighborhood where everyone had the exact same round brick mailbox holder on the street. It was bizarre. They were so strange and unattractive. The houses were close together so the goofy mailboxes dominated the neighborhood.

I've had six days off work. I should probably do at least one load of laundry. Better go accomplish something. Ugh. :)