Microtel Inn - Louisville

Headed off from Nasville this morning after piking out last night. We went to grab some dinner at an Applebee's Bar & Grill before heading to a bar with live music near the motel, After a steak and shrimp with mashed potatos and a couple of Mango flavoured cocktails, I was all done in and could barely waddle my way back to the motel. Only drinking water and eating fruit for the rest of the trip. I ...

... as she is quite talkative. Gabby did wonderful until we were about 64 miles from oiur destination. Then Gabby decided to take us the shortest way. We soon learned the "shortest" way meant very narrow roads, with no shoulders, hairpin curves and no way to get off the path. Pulling our 35foot 5th wheel with our long bed F-350 truck was a nail biting challenge but Mr. was driving and I must say he did quite well. We arrived and hour and half later ...

... the trams around the city.

Monday - day trip to Sintra

Tuesday - roam around the city some more then fly to Terceira, Azores (4 hours ahead of Louisville time).

I'll be in the Azores from 9/8 through 9/17 for work. Only thing on the agenda (other than my pesky job) for right now is a half day whale watching tour on ...

A short walk from the hotel lead us to the Louisville Convention Center and my first Kentucky Starbucks. I made it a mocha since it doubled as my breakfast. I asked the barista if they carried city mugs and he replied with a slight southern tang, "Nope. Small market."

Right.

Well, Louisville was supposed to be a brief stop over to prevent us from driving 10 consecutive hours, but let's be honest: Louisville is an awesome town. We got a super deal on Priceline and stayed at the four star Galt House Hotel and Suites in the downtown district. This is the fourth installment of the Galt House; the original was the residence of Dr. Galt in the early ...

... creating my own agenda and itinerary is also making this trip have a more personal feel to it. Wow--3 weeks of travel and then a week off when i get back--that's not working for a whole month!! I think the last time that happened was the summer after graduating from high school back in 1998...seriously...I've worked a lot in the last 10 years...this is a much deserved break...48 hours from now we'll begin our journey!

... what these may lack in height, the make up for in depth. The valleys and gorges that lie in between the mountains are deep, providing a magnificent contrast in colors and textures. Trees cover the sides of the mountains in a patchwork quilt of greens. Then, in the valleys between, there are rivers or small farms or just another layout of greens. Every time we curved around a mountain we were treated to another postcard view of beauty.

Clarksville, Indiana, United States gabbeec

Oh the wonders of nature and nature-stream restoration projects I volunteer on. Bernheim offers an abundance of programs for schools and families that educate and allow you to help conserve some nature!

Also, this park has many, many hiking trails. Yay hiking! We all know how much I love that. :)

... it away. Incidentally, for some reason, she thought it was my birthday and brought me a strawberry treat with a candle with my Kentucky Derby souffle, so I loved her. The Derby soufflé was a concoction of chocolate brownie, pecan and bourbon and came to the table with quite the presentation, flames and all. Had I not been a tired, old lady, (and embarrassed to whip out my camera) I ...

... up every inch of nature they could find, the developers would have simply rolled over the pond, filled it in, erased it from existence, and I could stand and stare at some graded vacant lot, preferably while holding J's hand, and go, "Yeah, this is where it used to be. Too bad." Too bad indeed, because all though part of the gnarled wood that lead to the pond had indeed been nicked by progress, much of it was still intact, and there, no less menacing so many years later, was the ...