Adventures in the South

I have just returned from my week long pilgrimage to the homeland called Tennessee. I got to see the leaves turning and the beautiful Tennessee landscape but more importantly I got to see my Tennessee family, Dad, Kim, Alex & Eli. I went to Nashville, Chattanooga, Atlanta and Knoxville. Along for the ride was my trusty Mitsubishi Galant and the ever rotating seat of co-pilots.

One of the cool things I got to do while I was there was root on my brother Alex at his football games. Eli, Kim and I sat in the stands to cheer on the home team and they won their JV game on Monday.

Alex and I after the game, on our way to get some Firehouse Subs. ummmm. Alex can drive now with his permit but I was a little scared for the rental. It just doesn't seem right that my little brother can drive!I spent some of the week hanging out with Dad, tagging along with him as he worked. This is a pic from one of his job sites. We drove my little rental car to death and even took it off roading! Then Dad caught a cold so we stayed at home and watched marathons of Snapped! Now I'm addicted and I'm all caught up on One Tree Hill also . Dad claims that I gave him the aforementioned cold but the evidence points to another conspirator since I managed to stay healthy the entire time and remain healthy to this day.Dad and I also took a trip up to Knoxville to the town I grew up in (which is called Farragut). I hadn't been back for 3 or 4 years and boy has it changed. Its a hopping little yuppie town now with lots of high end shops and new everything. But alas the old Farragut monument called Aubrey's is still there! My first waitressing job and my fav place to eat. We had a good trip down memory lane even though it was raining and we took in the sights from the car.

I got the chance to see some girlfriends from college on my trip too. Camille happens to live in Chattanooga so I got to go hang with her and we took a road trip down to Atlanta to see Annie and her husband Kyle. We went out to a Spanish Tapas restaurant called Lime. The tapas looked good but the hamburger looked even better! We then hung out at their townhouse for a while dishing on everyone from college. I love updates! It was so much fun to catch up with such good friends who I don't get to see much since I live on the West Coast.

Alex and I took a road trip up to Nashville to see my good friend from high school/college, Kat. And Kat being the super mom that she is road tripped it from Memphis to Nashville with her 5 week old baby Griffin! So I got to spend some time with her and her husband Andrew. I'm still not completely comfortable with newborns but I've come a long way. And Griff was so sweet and calm... order me up one of those babies!

Alex and I stopped for brunch at one of my favorite old Nashville places, the Pancake Pantry. We had to wait in line forever but the food is so good. I had the Cinnamon Spice Pancakes with a side of hash browns... there has got to be lard in there somewhere because thats what usually makes things taste good and it was worth the extra pound of fat I gained while on vacation.

So after over 2,000 miles on the rental and lots of good food (thanks Kim!) I am back in Arizona. I had a wonderful trip and I'm hoping to not let it be 2 years in between visits this time.

So here is my top 5 favorite things about my trip:
1) the people of course!
2) Pancake Pantry/Postino's
3) Fall leaves and squirrels
4) Lunch at Red Lobster (if you know me then you understand why this was difficult)
5) Sleeping in my littlest brothers Thomas the Tank room