it was the best of times. it was the worst of times.

Most would believe that a vacation should be filled with adventures and have its own fair share of challenges (which we all know turn into those 'laugh-until-your-stomach-hurts' types of stories).

But simply getting here to Tennessee was wild enough.

Not even 24 hours into our trip and this is what happened:

We were 'parked' on highway 81 for more than 1 hour.

We saw people 'taking walks' along the dotted line.

Others relieving themselves by the orange-reflector barrels.

People were sifting through their back seat in search of sustinance (a.k.a. granola bars).

And even some were grabbing cans of beer from the case they had stored in their trunk.

Mike was severely thirsty. (Not for the beer.)

I offered him the water which was reserved for the baby's bottles.

He drank so little I didn't think he could have possibly quenched his thirst.

When I questioned him, his response was,

"Not sure how long we'll be stuck here.

We probably should ration our supplies."

Annaleigh held her bottle for the first time.

So what if it was for 5 seconds?

It was amazing.

`

We were caught in two seperate downpours of rain.

Both accompanied by some pretty serious lightening and thunder.

The drops were individual-sized buckets.

Nevermind out your windshield.

You couldn't see the actual windshield.

Road? What road?

We had to stop under the under-pass and wait for it to pass.

One of the times we were joined by a sorry guy on a motorcycle.

I'm pretty sure he was sorry. He didn't choose the best vehicle that day.

`

Annaleigh had a rare melt-down.

We arrived at the hotel around 12 am.

She started around 12:30 am.

Non-stop s-c-r-e-a-m-i-n-g.

Until 2 am.

Lovely.

`

We ate the best baby-back ribs on the planet.

In our hotel room.

Along with a tasty baked sweet potato.

We got it to-go from the restaurant across the street.

The Chop House.

De-lish.

`

But this was next event was the icing on the cake.

Nothing could top this.

Not even your most expensive bride/groom cake-topper.

So far, so good.
I think.