Residence Inn By Marriott Birmingham Inverness

... I guess by being realistic I should succumb to the fact that I WILL be homesick at some point so it might as well be right in the beginning. I think I've found some really cool people to stay with my first two weeks abroad, so I think they will aid in distracting me from feeling alone and scared so far away from home. Well, that's all I have to say for now. My next post will be from London! 'Till then...

xo,
jenna p.

... over it. Now the fruit bin is what holds my wonder, if it exists that morning. I long for a green apple or appropriately ripe banana. Sadly, they are usually soft red mealy apples or maybe brown bananas... again, if they actually have fruit that morning.

I am over my daily ration of bread line breakfast. I need more. I love breakfast too much.

Oh, how I long for eggs. Real scrambled eggs. And bacon. And homefries...

We had a one night stop over in Moody. We passed Talladega raceway on the way there but as it was a longer drive we didn't stop off along the way. We also got held up in our first traffic jam. A truck had gone off the interstate and crashed. Delayed us by about 40 minutes. The Super 8 wasn't the worst or the best motel but we both slept well after dinner at Cracker Barrell.

As most of you know I have been sick since my last blog and yesterday was pretty much a write off. I arrived in Birmingham at 11.45am after taking a 4 hour ride on a Amtrak train. The train ride was quite comfortable. I was able to get two seats to myself and there is a lot more leg room on a train than an airplane. The taxi driver had never heard of the hotel I was staying at and couldn't find it on his GPS. Luckily I had the additionally information that it was off a certain ...

A few days ago we realized that the day we leave, marked in our brains as Memorial Day, comes a week earlier than we'd been thinking. Oops. At least we saw the light soon enough so we won't miss the flight. (Memorial Day this early in May feels very odd.) This trip is no big deal but will serve well as a test travel blog. Something to play with between meetings and meals.

... inside the camper, a pair of camp chairs, our walking sticks, a few guidebooks, and some basic kitchen supplies (electric teakettle, French press and Melitta one-cupper for his coffee, Mountain Research pot and lid). We'll take basics like tea, coffee, peanut butter and other sandwich-makings, and then pick up fresh fruit and vegetables at farmers' markets and ...

... GUESS WHO WON...ME, YEAH!! THE NEXT MORNING WE ATE BREAKFAST. THEN WE CHECKED OUT AND HEADED TO THE BOTANICAL GARDENS. BESIDES SEEING ALL OF THE PLANTS AND SOME WILD LIFE WE, ALSO, TOOK ONE OF THE TRAILS. THE GARDENS WERE VERY PRETTY. WHAT I LIKED THE MOST THERE WAS THIS HUGH ALOE PLANT. THEN
WE HEADED ON HOME. ANOTHER WONDERFUL SHORT TRIP FOR TWO SENIORS! THANKS, FATHER!

Here we are in Alabama, the birthplace of Marty. She found a map at the visitors center that actually shows the town where she was born. Yesterday was good. After the trip down the Natches we had a drive on I-20 with a lot of trucks. Why don't they put all that freight on the train? We are planning a stop on Huntsville to visit Martys cousin and to see the old family home; then on to Chattanooga.

... a 10:10 tee time. That was great with us and we hurried to get a quick bite and and got back to practice green by 9:30 - we finally were call to the 1st tee around 10:25 and got started @ 10:30 - 20 Min's late instead of 20 Min's early. Well these things happen and the course was so nice and the GPSS and all of the stuff looked so nice that we went off on our way excited to explore yet another new great golf course. Well 3 hours later as we were ...

... and share with our 3 Seniors - again, it is an honor to hear how some of our younger youth have been touched by all three of our Senior Girls. Then off to see "Superman Returns" and dinner at Moe's. We are staying at Susan Davies home church and where she and Tommy were married. It is a great church...and we have couches or carpet to sleep on again!!! Yeah! Heading home tomorrow...