Livin' On A Prayer

Am I seriously still not finished with that Epic Road Trip?  I better hurry up because we're about to begin another one.  Less stops and less time, but no less epic....more about that later.

Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  A tad overstimulating from this viewpoint.

Completely peaceful and beautiful from this one.  (Well, after taking away a night time arrival, steep mountain roads, homes tucked away and almost impossible to see--especially if the navigator had the address completely wrong).

Hard to find in the dark.

Driveway even harder on our poor over-driven Odyssey.  (Ignore the temper tantrum going on in this photo--not too hard to do in silent film.  I have the live replay going on as I type--well, not exactly, but she's currently "boooooooorrrrrrrreeeed"--sigh.)

Nana and Papa spent their 40th wedding anniversary here.  I'm certain there are many other racetracks Papa would have preferred, but he was a good sport. 

This felt like the epic line in epic humidity...at least to me who also found the price, epic.

I'm not really into driving fast. 

I felt like Bade looked.  Serious and cautious.

Another line.  Better attitudes.

Aunt Jacy kept us from dropping ball number two.  Other than swim with dolphins, our animal lover wanted nothing more than to ride a horse with Nana.  She got part of her wish.  Our party was too big and they ran out of horses.

Part of our party.

More.

We never really got an explanation for Hannah's horses head wear.  She let go of the reins once when her horse pulled away and had to ride with Sarah and our trail "boss" for a bit.

Nathan had a great ride.

Except for when he broke the trail boss's one rule---"Don't let your horse eat any grass!"

And Sarah, our little humidity monitor.  Her hair was very interesting in Tennessee.

A beautiful ride.

Kids with the guide--

Except Coop, who preferred to pose with the real star of the show, his horse.

We played some chicken foot.  And laughed a lot.

Let the kids run in the street a little.

Found a waterfall.

So pretty.

I love this pic!

Hmmm, was it still humid?  Check.

Cousins.

Uncle Jay is apparently pretty funny.


And other than the epic trip back home, that was the end of Epic Road Trip 2012.  All updated and only three and a half months later.  I did finish before Christmas.  Thanksgiving, even!  Go me.

Tomorrow we celebrate our third Thanksgiving as just the five of us, post-expat world.  For the second time in her eight years, our Hannah will share her day with Turkey day.  We've already celebrated with friends in her first ever sleep over.  I suppose I should post about the birthday we celebrated in August before I tackle that one though. 

Up next?  Move number 8 to New Jersey.  Job confirmed.  Timeline less confirmed, but looks like a January start for dad, a December house hunt (epic road trip #2) and, if all goes well, a home sell in there somewhere.  All those pesky little details will fall into place because they always do.  It definitely has NOT been sunshine and daisies these past few weeks.  In my sane moments, I know it will all be okay, but I have less than sane moments in every day life--add in stress, and those moments multiply.  For now, I'll leave out the ugly and focus on the pretty.  We're sad to say goodbye to friends that are like family, but blessed to have known them at all.  We're excited to move on to a new place where we'll meet more friends and have more experiences.  We're so blessed.  Tomorrow we celebrate our thankfulness and our beautiful eight year old.  Life is good.