anaritaiam
- Sep 29, 2017
- 5 min read

Another Milestone...

Updated: Aug 30, 2019

The season of road trips has arrived! Due to my complete despise of hot weather and humidity lol, I love to plan long and short weekend jaunts come autumn. This year is no exception. Last Saturday was our first day trip and this trip took us to Knoxville, Tennessee. For those of you unfamiliar with the US, Tennessee is the neighboring state south of Kentucky. It's a beautiful state similar to Kentucky made of mountains and lakes. It hosts Nashville-the capital of Country Music, Dollywood, Gatlinburg, Volunteers football, and so much more fun and beautiful places to visit. Knoxville is the first major city in Tennessee you come to when you travel interstate 75 from Kentucky. It takes us about three and a half hours to get there so this trip was a perfect day trip to visit with my sister, her husband, and their brand new baby boy!

I'm not going to lie, but leaving early in the morning when the sun is just starting to come up is so exhilarating. When I was younger and we would go on family vacations or even long weekend fishing trips, my dad liked to leave early. Now, being from Ohio, we always traveled south or southeast, which meant we had to go through Kentucky. And by the time we hit Kentucky, the sun had started to come up and we could see these beautiful farms speckled throughout our drive.

This trip was no different. The weather we had been having had warmed up a bit since August, which of course disappointed me, but nonetheless, the temps were nice and cool in the morning hours. Our son toted along with us and with his pillow and cell phone, he tucked himself in the back seat of the Little Red Wagon as Bill has referred to our 11 year old pickup truck that has taken us all over the US as a family.

As you can see, the fog was intense. The morning sun wasn't yet strong enough to push out the fog and for me, this just added to the adventure. And for whatever reason, no matter what day of the week it is, while you drive past all these beautiful farms, you will ALWAYS smell bacon! Hickory smoked bacon fills your car and almost demands you pull off for breakfast at Cracker Barrel! We forged ahead though, but we were in no hurry so it was fun to take in the scenery and attempt to capture moments with the camera as we drove 70+mph through the fog and in-between enormous hills. The visibility was just enough to see a few cars in front of you, so cautiously we made our way.

Eventually the fog started to burn off in certain areas. It's funny because we'd look over and see the fog "below" us. This picture is of the valley to the right of us. You couldn't see the valley, but the fog was there to warn there is life below. Isn't it so pretty!?

And sometimes we would cross a small river and see fog rising off the water. Such an autumn feel!

As we were driving, I took into account, like I always do when driving the interstate, the amount of work that was necessary to create these highways all across the US. The States offer a variety of terrain so imagine all the machinery needed to cut through hills and mountains so that we can commute and see our beautiful country. I had to giggle to myself at one point because Bill is always complaining that our yard is only made of clay and rock, which is true, but when you see this, it makes you wonder about the machine used and the noise. Also, we all remember learning that year after year, the earth gets older and new layers of rock and sediment just get added. Which makes me wonder how old this area is!

And how do trees grown in rock? I know it's blurry, but how do trees grow sideways through rock?

Can you see some of the leaves changing colors? It makes me want to sniff in the fresh autumn air, but then I'm reminded how congested my sinuses always are and I end up making some gurgly sound with my nose...moment ruined.

Then we did it! We crossed the state line and saw this! Rocky Top! Everyone knows Rocky Top! This song was played at every wedding reception I ever went to growing up! Its the epitome of Bluegrass music! And for those of you that don't know it, click here and listen! Be sure to clap your hands as you dance!!

It wasn't long after this and we arrived at their cute home. We were greeted in the driveway by the little wagging tailed big sister named Tipsy and everyone else met us at the front door. I couldn't put my purse down fast enough to finally meet and hold this little 7 week bundle of heaven! And he is perfect! A great mix of mom and dad with an added bonus of a dimple :) I brought him just s couple little things, but I was most excited to give him this little hat to help bring in and celebrate my favorite season...and here he is with mom holding him.

Can you say, "awe...."? He is SOOOO loved! And what a wonderful day we had! After he "unloaded his innards" and had himself a good lunch, us big people went out to eat at a new and local eatery and spent a couple hours there basking in each other's company, eating some REALLY good food, and drinking some craft beers. Then it was time for us to head back home and let them relax for the rest of the late afternoon. As usual, the trip home is never as exciting as the trip TO, but I was able to take a couple of pictures of a horse park without fog. We didn't get to see horses in the fields this time, but just seeing the well kept farmlands that are home to these magnificent racers and show stoppers is stunning as well.

And ironically, every time we go on an adventure, the Little Red Wagon always seems to hit a milestone in mileage. Bill and I get a bit excited and actually HIGH FIVE each other because it really is amazing all the different trips this little pick up truck has taken us. And so on this day, this is the milestone...