Title: Had a good time; good to be home
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Blog Entry: I always enjoy a trip to wherever - to Florida to visit Mom & Dad; to Illinois to visit brothers & sisters, in-laws and out-laws, nieces & nephews; to the mountains for a little relaxation and restoration....but it's also wonderful to get back home. My own shower, my own bed, my own everything, all there waiting for me.....aaaaahhhhhhhhhh....now, that's what I'm talkin' about! We had a really great trip. Wednesday was travel day, of course, and we got there about a quarter after five that evening. We needed to run in to town (Sprawl-Mart, of course, since Greeneville doesn't have a Kroger store) to get a few things for breakfast and lunch, and once we got that done, we just sat out on the porch and listened to the peaceful sounds of nature - and somebody's mournful dog singing a sad song. Thursday we drove to Margherite Falls and hiked one of the trails; we chose the one that follows the creek rather than the one that goes to the top of the falls - I'm out of shape, and that trail looked like it went straight up the mountain, right off the bat. It supposedly takes 2 hours to hike to the falls....naw, I've seen waterfalls before. The creek was beautiful, and we hiked an hour; got some nice pictures of nature, and nobody got eaten by a bear....nor did my heart explode, as I think it would have if we'd taken the high trail... After we left the falls, we drove up to Round Knob picnic area. That road wound around and around the mountain, doubled back on itself a time or two, and it was quite a drive in that little RX8. I'm glad we didn't meet anybody coming down the mountain as we were going up, because on that little narrow winding road, somebody would have had to back up (or down, as the case may be) quite a ways before finding a wide spot to get out of the other person's way. I got some pictures of the surrounding area from different vantage points along the road to Round Knob; I'll have to post some of them. It was pretty awesome. Friday we went into Greeneville and took a tour of Andrew Johnson's home. They just happened to be setting up a Confederate camp for a living history display the next day, so we made plans to go back for that on Saturday. The tour was interesting, and I got a lot of good pictures, which I already posted in their own album on my page. Learned a lot we hadn't known about President Andrew Johnson and his family, and as I listened, I couldn't help thinking to myself, "Man, that sounds like a familiar story - only the names have changed!" People are the same, even in different eras and different centuries.... Saturday, of course, we went back to Greeneville for the living history display. That was very neat. Several Confederate officers addressed the visitors and described their lives (and in the case of General Stonewall Jackson, his death...that was pretty interesting) and the battles they fought. We missed a few of the events they had scheduled because it rained pretty hard and we didn't care to stand out in the rain as chilly as it was. But what we did see and hear was pretty neat. Jack just happened to be at the point in the book he's reading (General Grant's Memoirs) that talks about the battle that took place near Greeneville, and the occupation of the town by both the Union and the Confederacy at different times during the war, so he really enjoyed the day in spite of getting cold and wet. Evenings we sat on the porch and watched the fire; Friday night was too windy for a fire, so we watched a movie, "Night At the Museum." If you haven't seen it, you need to. What a hoot! Saturday evening we toasted half a million marshmallows....yum! During the slow part of the days we sat out on the porch and read our books. All in all, between the tourism and the resting and reading, we did have a most wonderful time. I want to go back......
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