Residence Inn Louisville Dt

... 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.

... s. He built an actual hotel in 1835 that was visited and praised by Charles Dickens, Jefferson Davis and 3 presidents. According to my informational magazine in the hotel (the one I'm reading in the photo...) army guys Sherman and Grant plotted a battle together in the hotel. That hotel burned to the ground and was replaced in 1869, only to be torn down in 1921. Al J ...

... as that's all i plan on taking aside from my laptop/electronic backpack...Chad in general is anxious and nervous...kind of endearing...he's never been out of the country (not even Mexico and Canada, which in my book don't count anyway)...watching his eyes open to the world...the varying languages, cultures, real European food and the history or art is what I think will be most entertaining this time around....though ...

... of good ol' southern BBQ and other comfort foods to be found as well as many German influenced foods and the traditional carnival style foods (you know... funnel cakes, hot dogs, etc.).

Besides the food on the KY side, there are live concerts and vendors selling fun toys for the kiddies (slightly over priced though, FYI). Also, the military sets up a bunch of booths with games and life-like military training activities that are kind of the easy version of what they have to go ...

Babs and I got started around 7:30 ET. I had planned a route through West Virginia because I have never been to West Virginia. The drive out of OBX took us back the same route we came in on until we got to Virginia. We crossed the Chesapeake Bay by a different bridge/tunnel. This one had only two lanes going in the same direction so there was more room for the Denali. Virginia is a pretty state but WV was spectacular!

I had planned a stop at ...

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. :)

Louisville is best done at night. Our night life is no Vegas. But it is pretty good.

The places featured in the album:

4th Street Live: A clubbing hot spot. But only if you're 21+. Still pretty fun with all of the restaurants and shopping.

Cafe 360: The local hookah bar. It has a wide variety of food on its menu. It's open 24 hours, 7 ...

... are four people in the family, including 2 children - one who's 7 years older than me and another who is 10 years younger. There's also a dog! I'm pretty excited about the dog. I haven't lived with a dog since Indy died in March. I'm excited to meet them all. I've been facebooking with a few of the other girls in the program and they all seem pretty nice so far. I still have a lot more to get done though! I have to ...

... tumbling around in the field next to Crestwood Methodist - a world away from us as we left my car at the side of the road, shouldered our gear, and made the half mile or so trek back to the pond. The day grew increasingly ashen and the trees here hid what color they may have had. Elsewhere they were strutting like peacocks and showing off sunset-brilliant reds and oranges and yellows. Here, everything seemed a lifeless brownish-gray. I'm not one to believe in the spirit of Mother Earth ...