A Damn-Near Tornado

Whirlwind. Yep, that's what I'd call it. A fast-paced-wear-you-out-weekend whirlwind.

Let's get started.

Friday night I left work at around 10 pm and headed back to the apartment to pick up A and my already-packed bag. We were on the road by 11, ignorantly thinking we had a chance to make it the whole way home that night. Yeah right. We stopped half way and stayed in one of Marriot's new business targeted hotels - but not a Courtyard. We paid full price for about three hours of sleep, because we were up at five and gone by six in the morning. The continental breakfast (coffee) helped out.

Saturday morning it was on the road again. Like I said we were on the road by about 6 am so we could get to Knoxville for the VOLS game. We got there around 10:30 or so, parked on the strip at Rocky Top Books, walked up to Liquid, sat down right up against the rail looking over the strip, and ordered a few beers. I had scored tickets from a season ticket holder here at work who was not going to use her tickets. So we relaxed as opposed to trying to buy them. Kickoff was at 12:30, so we started walking towards Neyland Stadium at around 11:45. We got in, saw the band making the Power T, the team ran through it, the ground shook, and the game was on. We beat Ole Miss rather easily, but our offense still has a lot of work to do in preparing for Georgia this weekend. They need to step it up a bit. Anyways, a win is a win, and we won, and that's it for the game - GO VOLS.

We left with about four minutes remaining in the game, which ended up making a huge difference in the amount of time it took us to get out of Knoxville. We kept driving towards home. We got there later, at around 6:30 or so and picked up my Mom, and kept driving. We went up to see my sister,brother-in-law, and nephew, who live about forty-five minutes away from my mom. We ordered pizza. It was good. I was tired. So was A. We went home. We crashed immediately. It was a long damn day.

Sunday, after attempting to recover with sleep, we woke up and got started on "keeping in touch." We really didn't get a good start until lunch, where we ate at the very best fast food restaurant in the world, only found in the region. MMMmmm. It was great. After lunch with mom we headed over to my grandmother's for a visit with her and dad. It was pretty cool. She took us to an antique store downtown where she had a lot of stuff from several years ago when she moved from her big ol' house on the hill to the condo she lives in now. Since we are moving into a house, she thought we'd be interested in some of it. We got a few lamps and a beautiful oak dining room table that was my mom's. Needless to say we are very grateful we won't have to be entertaining on a card table. Thanks mom, lulu, and dad.

Sunday night we went back up to see the R,W, & A fam. We picked up some Zaxby's chicken on the way and dined in. It was awesome chicken. So far I don't feel like I have the bird flu so I think we are ok. After dinner and of course playing with my wonderful nephew whom I made laugh - by the way- we headed to a Marble Slab Creamery to meet P & K for dessert. We ended up getting our ice cream and eating it on a bench outside. We stayed and talked for damn-near two hours. It was great to see them again, and we are excited about them coming to visit us in the new pad. After ice cream we headed back to base camp at mom's.

Monday morning we woke up early to get an early start on the long drive. We ate biscuits and gravy at the heavenly Bean Barn. We ended up buying a gallon of sweet tea there because the kind they make here just doesn't size up. We stopped in Knoxville to meet T for lunch at Moe's on the strip. It was great too, and we ended up talking to T for a long time after the time it took us to actually eat. I even saw a guy I haven't seen in years. I used to play soccer with him and his dad was our coach for a while. He seemed to be doing well, he was obviously working, and it was great to see him.

After lunch it was on the road yet again. We kept at it, and finally made it back home at around 6:00 pm. Whew. We unpacked the loaded-down car, carried all that stuff up three freakin' floors of apartment, and then went to eat at the Mexican spot we love. When we got home we were a bit numb and brain-dead. We ended up watching Cellular and The Longest Yard from Netflix. They were both pretty good. I give them three and four stars, respectively.

So, now you know what I was talking about with the whirlwind. It was damn-near a tornado.