I'm still here! Did you wonder where I was? Yeah, it's summer and my sit inside and work on the computer knack has gone away. Probably because I've been busy enjoying summer.
So I'll get you all caught up in the next several posts of Summer with a promise to try to post more often so I don't get behind.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Summer = Cancer Free
Maybe the most exciting piece I have to share with you is that I had my 2 year scan about a month ago and everything came back clean and perfect! Yeah! So I've hit my 2 year mark which is the big milestone you want to hit for Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Apparently my chances of the cancer coming back went from about 15% to less then 2% now. I LOVE seeing that percentage going down.
I thought when I hit the 2 year mark I'd have a big celebration, some sort of party. But so far I haven't. I still might but nothing has really come to me as to what to do to celebrate. Any ideas?
So...the plan now on my health is that now I only have to go to the clinic every 6 months instead of every 3 months...yeah. But I still have to get scanned every 6 months (I thought it moved up to a year, oh well.) However, instead of a PET scan like I have been having, I only have to have a CT scan. Berry Barium here I come...mmmmm (ok really it makes me want to gag thinking about having to drink that stuff!)
And an update on my hair for history sake. Here is my hair growth of 2 years, minus some trims to get it to one length.
So that's the update. CANCER FREE!!!
I thought when I hit the 2 year mark I'd have a big celebration, some sort of party. But so far I haven't. I still might but nothing has really come to me as to what to do to celebrate. Any ideas?
So...the plan now on my health is that now I only have to go to the clinic every 6 months instead of every 3 months...yeah. But I still have to get scanned every 6 months (I thought it moved up to a year, oh well.) However, instead of a PET scan like I have been having, I only have to have a CT scan. Berry Barium here I come...mmmmm (ok really it makes me want to gag thinking about having to drink that stuff!)
And an update on my hair for history sake. Here is my hair growth of 2 years, minus some trims to get it to one length.
So that's the update. CANCER FREE!!!
Summer = Concerts
We've been going to a ton of outdoor concerts and events this summer and the best part is that they've almost all been free. Who doesn't love throwing a blanket down on some grass and listening to music? It's one of the true signs of summer for me!
We've been to see Peter Breinholt at Draper historic park, Ryan Shupe at some political event (I was there to hear Ryan not for the political event, so much so that I didn't even vote for the guy...should I be admitting that on here, oh well.)
We also went to the opening of the new Draper ampitheatre where we saw the Utah Symphony perform. It was fun because they performed movie themes like ET and Harry Potter.
Then we spent both nights at Draper Days this year. Have I told you how much I love Draper. I do...maybe I should save my love for Draper for another post...until then, just know that I LOVE Draper! We saw Collin Raye and then the next night was Beatlemania and Fireworks. Beatlemania was NOT good I didn't think but loved Collin Raye. I think Shane wouldn't have minded skipping both nights but he was a great sport to go with me both nights.
The 4th of July was spent in Sandy with some of my family. Not sure who performed but they played a bunch of songs from the 80's and so we all enjoyed it. And then of course the fireworks at the end were great.
This last weekend, Brigitte and I went and saw Tim McGraw in concert at Usana. We got grass seats at the last minute and had a great time. I hadn't been to a big country concert in a while so it was fun to go to one and hang out with Brigitte.
We've been to see Peter Breinholt at Draper historic park, Ryan Shupe at some political event (I was there to hear Ryan not for the political event, so much so that I didn't even vote for the guy...should I be admitting that on here, oh well.)
We also went to the opening of the new Draper ampitheatre where we saw the Utah Symphony perform. It was fun because they performed movie themes like ET and Harry Potter.
Then we spent both nights at Draper Days this year. Have I told you how much I love Draper. I do...maybe I should save my love for Draper for another post...until then, just know that I LOVE Draper! We saw Collin Raye and then the next night was Beatlemania and Fireworks. Beatlemania was NOT good I didn't think but loved Collin Raye. I think Shane wouldn't have minded skipping both nights but he was a great sport to go with me both nights.
The 4th of July was spent in Sandy with some of my family. Not sure who performed but they played a bunch of songs from the 80's and so we all enjoyed it. And then of course the fireworks at the end were great.
This last weekend, Brigitte and I went and saw Tim McGraw in concert at Usana. We got grass seats at the last minute and had a great time. I hadn't been to a big country concert in a while so it was fun to go to one and hang out with Brigitte.
Summer = Hiking
Brigitte and Tyler invited us to go hiking a few weekends ago. We hiked of Bells Canyon, not too hard of a hike and it was fun to see the views and the lake up there.
That hike inspired Shane and I to go on a few others. One other one that I really liked was hiking to Secret Lake (some spell is Cecret, I saw both and not sure which one is right.) It was a little early in the season for wild flowers but it was a good hike and fun to hike when it's so hot outside and then all of the sudden you come to a big pile of snow to walk across. Then the lake still had a frozen section in the middle.
The other thing we did which isn't really hiking, well hiking in your car out west. We went to Kennecott Copper Mine. Of all the years I've spent in Utah, I've never made it out there to see it up close! So it was a fun little afternoon trip one day. We didn't stay real long but still fun to see.
That hike inspired Shane and I to go on a few others. One other one that I really liked was hiking to Secret Lake (some spell is Cecret, I saw both and not sure which one is right.) It was a little early in the season for wild flowers but it was a good hike and fun to hike when it's so hot outside and then all of the sudden you come to a big pile of snow to walk across. Then the lake still had a frozen section in the middle.
The other thing we did which isn't really hiking, well hiking in your car out west. We went to Kennecott Copper Mine. Of all the years I've spent in Utah, I've never made it out there to see it up close! So it was a fun little afternoon trip one day. We didn't stay real long but still fun to see.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Summer = Family Time
We've been doing a lot of things with our families lately and it's been so much fun.
Christy and her family came up to visit and so one day we took all the kids to the Draper pool. It was actually my first time at the pool but it was so fun. The kids had a blast and loved playing with cousins.
My parents left on their mission to Arcadia, California the end of June. They had a big open house the night before their farewell and then Sunday was the farewell and setting apart. It was a very busy weekend but so fun to see everyone that came to support my parents. They're settling into everything down there a doing a great job.
Shane and I got to babysit Michelle's kids for their anniversary one night. We walked over to the park and played on the playground and let the kids run through the water park. We had so much fun and loved spending time with them.
My sister Lori had a baby boy in July. They named him JD (Jay Douglas) and it's their first boy. He's a cutie and I would imagine he's going to be dressed in blue and orange a lot when football season starts. We're just happy they didn't name him Gator! :)
We've also been entertaining at home. Shane's mom is in town so we were all able to get together for a dinner one night. It was fun to just sit around and talk and get caught up with everyone.
Also, Jeff and Whitney came over one night for tacos and a little Jazz Singer movie watching. Love all the music in it. Although Jeff grew up part of our family and even knew 90% of the songs, he had never seen the movie. So I introduced Jeff, Whitney, and Shane to the movie
and I think everyone thought the movie was a little better than they anticipated.
Christy and her family came up to visit and so one day we took all the kids to the Draper pool. It was actually my first time at the pool but it was so fun. The kids had a blast and loved playing with cousins.
My parents left on their mission to Arcadia, California the end of June. They had a big open house the night before their farewell and then Sunday was the farewell and setting apart. It was a very busy weekend but so fun to see everyone that came to support my parents. They're settling into everything down there a doing a great job.
Shane and I got to babysit Michelle's kids for their anniversary one night. We walked over to the park and played on the playground and let the kids run through the water park. We had so much fun and loved spending time with them.
My sister Lori had a baby boy in July. They named him JD (Jay Douglas) and it's their first boy. He's a cutie and I would imagine he's going to be dressed in blue and orange a lot when football season starts. We're just happy they didn't name him Gator! :)
We've also been entertaining at home. Shane's mom is in town so we were all able to get together for a dinner one night. It was fun to just sit around and talk and get caught up with everyone.
Also, Jeff and Whitney came over one night for tacos and a little Jazz Singer movie watching. Love all the music in it. Although Jeff grew up part of our family and even knew 90% of the songs, he had never seen the movie. So I introduced Jeff, Whitney, and Shane to the movie
and I think everyone thought the movie was a little better than they anticipated.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
4 Little Monkeys
This last week I had the opportunity to go to California and stay with my sister Christy and her family for the week. Christy just had her 4th Girl and needed a little extra help as she was recovering. So I flew down and stayed the week with her. The week was casual and we just hung out mostly so although I went down there to help out, I still consider it a vacation because it was pretty low key.
Some things I did do: Go to the park with Mia, walk Avery to school, take Eliza out to dinner to celebrate her getting baptized the week before, and held, fed and cuddled Emmy whenever I could. We did go to the beach on Saturday, it was overcast but still a fun time.
Eliza and I at Ruby's celebrating her baptism:
Being down there just hanging out made me more excited to be a mom one day. Christy's girls are so cute and full of energy and they made me laugh everyday.
Christy and I were able to go to a movie the last night I was there so it was fun to get out for a while. Also, my good friend Konstantina came down one night and we went to dinner and got caught up on each other's lives.
The 3 girls could not get enough of their new, cute, little baby sister Emmy. If they were home, one of them was usually holding her. They argued over whose turn it was to hold her and would often count to 10 (or 100) to signify it was now their turn to hold her.
All 3 girls surrounding their new sister:
One cute story about Mia. Mia is obsessed with iphones. If there is an iphone around she is begging to play a game on it. Whenever she would turn my phone on and see the picture of Shane on the front she would say: "There's Uncle Shane" and then flip the pages until she found the game she wanted to play. She knows how to turn the camera on to take a picture, how to pull up the pictures she has taken. She knew when I moved one of her games to another page on my phone. The girl is a crack up with the phone and she isn't even 3 yet!
Mia at the park so excited that I was going to take a picture of her going down the slide:
So it was a fun week and it was so fun to be down there and hang out with family and see their newest addition, little Emmy. And she is so little, I always forget how little they come!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Come Hail or High Water
What a week we just had. I hope I can remember everything that happened on our latest trip, and I have lots of pictures to share with you as well...time to settle in.
It all started when my work needed me to go to Atlanta for a week of meetings at our office out there. Myself and 2 co-workers flew out Sunday afternoon. Everything was good, we taxied out to the runway and the pilot hit the throttle. We were off...however, about 1/2 way down the runway (which is pretty fast but not fast enough to get in the air yet) all of the sudden the acceleration stopped and we were braking...hard. My first thought was we were on the wrong runway and some plane was landing on top of us. I had no idea what was going on but it certainly gets your heart pumping. We soon found out a door sensor came on and although they thought the door was fine, they were safe about it and aborted take off. Only problem was between finding a gate to go back to, fixing the sensor and filing paper work, we were delayed on the plane for 1 hour and 45 mins!! Not a great way to start a trip. We made it to Atlanta and by the time we got to our hotel it was very late and we were really tired.
Our meetings went great and we had a good week working. Wednesday night Shane flew out to meet me and we were going to spend the weekend down there. I had been to Atlanta several times before so we decided we would leave Atlanta and see another part neither of us had been to. We decided to go to Nashville.
We stopped by Stone Mountain Park on our way out of town Thursday. They claim to have the worlds largest piece of exposed granite. It also has a Confederate Memorial carving in the granite. There was a hike to the top that for some reason I thought we would be able to see the carving from the top. After sitting in an office all week if felt good to get outside and get a good hike in. However, it was a mile each way and the hike was straight up for the entire mile. I was pretty tired when we got to the top and was disappointed there was no carving to be seen. Although the view was pretty. After we made it down, we just drove over to the carving and took a picture. It was kind of cool to see.
On the way up:
The top:
The way down:
The confederate memorial carving...see the people (or small little dots) at the very top, that was us!
After that little adventure, we headed up to Chattanooga, Tennessee for the night. I just like saying the name of that city, say it, it's kind of fun. We ate dinner at my favorite dinner restaurant of the south...Steak n Shake. Yum. I was excited when we got to our hotel and I looked out the window and saw my favorite breakfast place...yes you guessed it, The Waffle House. Of course we ate there the next morning. I could live in the south because of those 2 places to eat!
Picture from our hotel room:
After breakfast we headed to Nashville, Tennessee. Those of you who have been watching the news know where this is headed but obviously driving into Nashville, we had no idea. We had a gorgeous drive up to Nashville and I still think it was one of my favorite drives I've ever been on. Just seeing something new, how green it was, the river and lakes we passed and up and through their mountains, it was gorgeous.
We got there Friday afternoon and knew it was supposed to rain on Saturday so we bought a pass that we could choose to do 5 different activities. Since it was hot and sunny we walked around downtown, walked across the pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland River, around Music city, got some ice cream and then went on a Duck boat tour. We've never done a Duck boat tour and I've heard good things about them but wasn't that impressed with ours. We did learn some interesting facts, like Tornadoes rarely go through a downtown area, Kentucky is only 45 mins away and we took a cruise down the Cumberland River (all relevant information a little later.)
Cumberland River and LP Stadium where the Tennessee Titans play (notice the tall banks of the river)
Then we headed over to Opryland resort, we got some tickets for a backstage tour of the Grand Ole Opry House for the next day and walked around the hotel and resort. It was gorgeous inside and so relaxing to see the grounds, they had a little water show to music, etc. Then we ate dinner at Opry Mills shopping center and went and checked into our hotel.
The next morning, sure enough we woke up to rain. Not really thinking that much about it, we went about our days activities. It rained and rained and rained! I thought, wow, I haven't seen it rain this hard for this long, ever. But I think we both just figured, well it's probably normal for Tennessee, I mean, it is really green here. So we just kept on going.
We saw The Hermitage, President Andrew Jackson's Mansion, 8000 square foot house on 1120 acres of land. The house was huge and really cool to see, especially after just being in Nauvoo and seeing their tiny houses compared to this one. Unfortunately we didn't get to see much of the grounds because we didn't have umbrellas and remember...it was POURING.
We then headed over the the Opry House and took a backstage tour. I loved the tour and found it all fascinating to hear the history, see the dressing rooms, we got to go on stage and even stand on the famous center stage wood circle that is so famous. I love the picture of Shane and I because as many of you know, Shane is not a country fan so I don't think he was as impressed as I was and it kind of shows in this picture. :)
By now we are soaking wet. I don't know why we didn't go buy umbrellas but I kept thinking, oh it will slow down, and oh, well we are doing all things indoors today. However just to get from the parking lot into anywhere we were getting drenched. It was hard to see where we were driving with how much water was coming down but we just kept going still not thinking that much about it.
We headed over to the only full size replica of The Parthenon in the world. Kind of cool but we didn't stay that long...notice the pouring rain still.
Shane's favorite picture he took of the trip, he thinks he's the Incredible Hulk! Authors note: Shane just informed me he was being Samson not the hulk. Both are a good reference though.
Next we headed over to The Country Music Hall of Fame. Thinking again we could just park next door and run in, only to find out Jimmy Buffet had a concert nearby and the 'event' parking was $20 anywhere near the Hall of Fame. So we found some parking about 5 blocks away, took a short cut through the convention center and as we were walking over we heard this alarm going off. It wasn't super loud but we heard someone say 'oh that's the tornado siren.' No one else seemed alarmed by it and kept going like they didn't hear anything...so we did too. We got into the museum and had been there about 5 minutes when the alarm sounded inside, loudly and told us to get into the stairwell to wait out the tornado watch. At this point I'm thinking 'are you kidding me?' Then I remembered our duck boat tour saying that tornadoes rarely go through a downtown area and we were right in downtown. So I still really didn't feel that nervous about it. Finally they let us out and we enjoyed the rest of the museum.
Standing in the stairwell
See, it's fairly common if they have to post a sign about it in the stairwell:
Elvis' car and gold piano, notice how wet Shane's shirt is and we've been inside for a good 30 mins. by now.
When we got back to our car...even more soaking wet. My feet are wet, my little sweatshirt jacket it dripping wet, but it was only 5:00, so we thought, well we've never been to Kentucky before...let's go to Kentucky for dinner. So even though by now we're seeing signs everywhere that there is standing water, we keep going. We get to Kentucky eat dinner, drive by Kentucky Downs race track (bingo was just getting out so we didn't stay...and it was still raining!!) On our way home we stop at K-mart for a few treats and when we try to get back on the freeway we can't because the on ramp is flooded so much that they closed it. So we get out my iphone (so handy) and take side streets back to our hotel.
Only at this point do we realize we might have a serious situation on our hands. We get dressed into dry clothes and I'm so happy to have my wet clothes off of me, we turn on the TV to see what's on to watch. Only...every station in Nashville has the news on and weather tracking tornadoes and road closures due to flooding. The news kept telling everyone not to leave their homes, and just stay indoors. All of the sudden I thought, are we going to be able to get back to Atlanta to drop off our rental car and catch our flight home? Sure enough we find out, the freeway we took up from Atlanta to Nashville was closed. After most of the tornado watches had passed, we went to bed.
Our Saturday night in Nashville
I woke up about 7 the next morning to a tornado hitting our hotel and we were on the top floor of our hotel. I couldn't believe the hotel hadn't sounded their warning for us! Ok so I was pretty out of it and it was just wind and rain but I really kind of thought it was a tornado when I first woke up. When I was finally coherent we got up and as I turned on the TV the satellite was out, we had no TV. We got on the internet to see what our situation was. The storm was to the west so we couldn't go that way. The roads to the south were all closed. The storm was headed east but there was one freeway still open to the east that we could take. We had to act fast because I knew that if everywhere else was closed and the storm was headed that way then that freeway was sure to be closed soon as well. We threw all our clothes into our luggage and by this time I'm feeling a little panicked that we might get stuck in Nashville. We got to the lobby and walked past about 20 people sitting there not daring to go out. And we headed out.
I have to give props to Shane who did an amazing job driving. However, I was scared to death. It was still pouring rain so between the rain coming down, the water on the roads and the spray from other cars, we couldn't see the road all that well. At one point we were in the middle lane and we came down a hill where the right 2 lanes probably had a good foot or more of water covering them. I felt like the movie Twister where they're running from the storm and keep looking back to see how close the storm is coming. Luckily we out ran the storm and made it through just fine but I'm sure that part of the freeway was going to be completely covered in water shortly. We drove for about 30 mins and as we got out of Nashville, the rain slowed and then completely stopped and the rest of the drive was clear and fine. My heart was pounding for that time but I was sure happy to be out of Nashville.
Here are some pictures we took on Friday and Saturday and then a similar picture taken just a day or 2 later that I got off the internet. Very sad to see the devastation and having just been there in person makes it all the more real then just seeing it on TV. We really do feel fortunate we were so safe and able to get out of there on time and safe.
Notice the red rollercoaster looking thing and how far above the water it is...they called it a sculpture
Inside Orpyland Resort and Hotel
Inside Opryland resort after the floods:
Opry House and Opry Mills shopping center (the water is supposed to be the parking lots and grounds of the Orpy House)
So I took this picture because I thought the speed limit sign was so random:
Same picture taken a little further back
I-24, the freeway we drove into Nashville on:
Nashville received 13 inches of rain in 2 days, 9 inches of that fell on Saturday and we were running around thinking it was normal. The Cumberland River rose 12 feet above flood level. Apparently that kind of rain is NOT normal for Nashville...
Nashville was fun and a trip I'll never forget but I'm checking Nashville off my list for quite a while.
Our flight home was also delayed for almost 2 hours and they had to kick 2 people off our flight as well. One wouldn't put her seat up and started swearing at the flight attendant. The other guy wouldn't check his luggage when there was no room in the overhead for it and pushed a gate agent. Fun times, fun trip and I was oh so happy to be home, back in my own bed. Home sweet home!
It all started when my work needed me to go to Atlanta for a week of meetings at our office out there. Myself and 2 co-workers flew out Sunday afternoon. Everything was good, we taxied out to the runway and the pilot hit the throttle. We were off...however, about 1/2 way down the runway (which is pretty fast but not fast enough to get in the air yet) all of the sudden the acceleration stopped and we were braking...hard. My first thought was we were on the wrong runway and some plane was landing on top of us. I had no idea what was going on but it certainly gets your heart pumping. We soon found out a door sensor came on and although they thought the door was fine, they were safe about it and aborted take off. Only problem was between finding a gate to go back to, fixing the sensor and filing paper work, we were delayed on the plane for 1 hour and 45 mins!! Not a great way to start a trip. We made it to Atlanta and by the time we got to our hotel it was very late and we were really tired.
Our meetings went great and we had a good week working. Wednesday night Shane flew out to meet me and we were going to spend the weekend down there. I had been to Atlanta several times before so we decided we would leave Atlanta and see another part neither of us had been to. We decided to go to Nashville.
We stopped by Stone Mountain Park on our way out of town Thursday. They claim to have the worlds largest piece of exposed granite. It also has a Confederate Memorial carving in the granite. There was a hike to the top that for some reason I thought we would be able to see the carving from the top. After sitting in an office all week if felt good to get outside and get a good hike in. However, it was a mile each way and the hike was straight up for the entire mile. I was pretty tired when we got to the top and was disappointed there was no carving to be seen. Although the view was pretty. After we made it down, we just drove over to the carving and took a picture. It was kind of cool to see.
On the way up:
The top:
The way down:
The confederate memorial carving...see the people (or small little dots) at the very top, that was us!
After that little adventure, we headed up to Chattanooga, Tennessee for the night. I just like saying the name of that city, say it, it's kind of fun. We ate dinner at my favorite dinner restaurant of the south...Steak n Shake. Yum. I was excited when we got to our hotel and I looked out the window and saw my favorite breakfast place...yes you guessed it, The Waffle House. Of course we ate there the next morning. I could live in the south because of those 2 places to eat!
Picture from our hotel room:
After breakfast we headed to Nashville, Tennessee. Those of you who have been watching the news know where this is headed but obviously driving into Nashville, we had no idea. We had a gorgeous drive up to Nashville and I still think it was one of my favorite drives I've ever been on. Just seeing something new, how green it was, the river and lakes we passed and up and through their mountains, it was gorgeous.
We got there Friday afternoon and knew it was supposed to rain on Saturday so we bought a pass that we could choose to do 5 different activities. Since it was hot and sunny we walked around downtown, walked across the pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland River, around Music city, got some ice cream and then went on a Duck boat tour. We've never done a Duck boat tour and I've heard good things about them but wasn't that impressed with ours. We did learn some interesting facts, like Tornadoes rarely go through a downtown area, Kentucky is only 45 mins away and we took a cruise down the Cumberland River (all relevant information a little later.)
Cumberland River and LP Stadium where the Tennessee Titans play (notice the tall banks of the river)
Then we headed over to Opryland resort, we got some tickets for a backstage tour of the Grand Ole Opry House for the next day and walked around the hotel and resort. It was gorgeous inside and so relaxing to see the grounds, they had a little water show to music, etc. Then we ate dinner at Opry Mills shopping center and went and checked into our hotel.
The next morning, sure enough we woke up to rain. Not really thinking that much about it, we went about our days activities. It rained and rained and rained! I thought, wow, I haven't seen it rain this hard for this long, ever. But I think we both just figured, well it's probably normal for Tennessee, I mean, it is really green here. So we just kept on going.
We saw The Hermitage, President Andrew Jackson's Mansion, 8000 square foot house on 1120 acres of land. The house was huge and really cool to see, especially after just being in Nauvoo and seeing their tiny houses compared to this one. Unfortunately we didn't get to see much of the grounds because we didn't have umbrellas and remember...it was POURING.
We then headed over the the Opry House and took a backstage tour. I loved the tour and found it all fascinating to hear the history, see the dressing rooms, we got to go on stage and even stand on the famous center stage wood circle that is so famous. I love the picture of Shane and I because as many of you know, Shane is not a country fan so I don't think he was as impressed as I was and it kind of shows in this picture. :)
By now we are soaking wet. I don't know why we didn't go buy umbrellas but I kept thinking, oh it will slow down, and oh, well we are doing all things indoors today. However just to get from the parking lot into anywhere we were getting drenched. It was hard to see where we were driving with how much water was coming down but we just kept going still not thinking that much about it.
We headed over to the only full size replica of The Parthenon in the world. Kind of cool but we didn't stay that long...notice the pouring rain still.
Shane's favorite picture he took of the trip, he thinks he's the Incredible Hulk! Authors note: Shane just informed me he was being Samson not the hulk. Both are a good reference though.
Next we headed over to The Country Music Hall of Fame. Thinking again we could just park next door and run in, only to find out Jimmy Buffet had a concert nearby and the 'event' parking was $20 anywhere near the Hall of Fame. So we found some parking about 5 blocks away, took a short cut through the convention center and as we were walking over we heard this alarm going off. It wasn't super loud but we heard someone say 'oh that's the tornado siren.' No one else seemed alarmed by it and kept going like they didn't hear anything...so we did too. We got into the museum and had been there about 5 minutes when the alarm sounded inside, loudly and told us to get into the stairwell to wait out the tornado watch. At this point I'm thinking 'are you kidding me?' Then I remembered our duck boat tour saying that tornadoes rarely go through a downtown area and we were right in downtown. So I still really didn't feel that nervous about it. Finally they let us out and we enjoyed the rest of the museum.
Standing in the stairwell
See, it's fairly common if they have to post a sign about it in the stairwell:
Elvis' car and gold piano, notice how wet Shane's shirt is and we've been inside for a good 30 mins. by now.
When we got back to our car...even more soaking wet. My feet are wet, my little sweatshirt jacket it dripping wet, but it was only 5:00, so we thought, well we've never been to Kentucky before...let's go to Kentucky for dinner. So even though by now we're seeing signs everywhere that there is standing water, we keep going. We get to Kentucky eat dinner, drive by Kentucky Downs race track (bingo was just getting out so we didn't stay...and it was still raining!!) On our way home we stop at K-mart for a few treats and when we try to get back on the freeway we can't because the on ramp is flooded so much that they closed it. So we get out my iphone (so handy) and take side streets back to our hotel.
Only at this point do we realize we might have a serious situation on our hands. We get dressed into dry clothes and I'm so happy to have my wet clothes off of me, we turn on the TV to see what's on to watch. Only...every station in Nashville has the news on and weather tracking tornadoes and road closures due to flooding. The news kept telling everyone not to leave their homes, and just stay indoors. All of the sudden I thought, are we going to be able to get back to Atlanta to drop off our rental car and catch our flight home? Sure enough we find out, the freeway we took up from Atlanta to Nashville was closed. After most of the tornado watches had passed, we went to bed.
Our Saturday night in Nashville
I woke up about 7 the next morning to a tornado hitting our hotel and we were on the top floor of our hotel. I couldn't believe the hotel hadn't sounded their warning for us! Ok so I was pretty out of it and it was just wind and rain but I really kind of thought it was a tornado when I first woke up. When I was finally coherent we got up and as I turned on the TV the satellite was out, we had no TV. We got on the internet to see what our situation was. The storm was to the west so we couldn't go that way. The roads to the south were all closed. The storm was headed east but there was one freeway still open to the east that we could take. We had to act fast because I knew that if everywhere else was closed and the storm was headed that way then that freeway was sure to be closed soon as well. We threw all our clothes into our luggage and by this time I'm feeling a little panicked that we might get stuck in Nashville. We got to the lobby and walked past about 20 people sitting there not daring to go out. And we headed out.
I have to give props to Shane who did an amazing job driving. However, I was scared to death. It was still pouring rain so between the rain coming down, the water on the roads and the spray from other cars, we couldn't see the road all that well. At one point we were in the middle lane and we came down a hill where the right 2 lanes probably had a good foot or more of water covering them. I felt like the movie Twister where they're running from the storm and keep looking back to see how close the storm is coming. Luckily we out ran the storm and made it through just fine but I'm sure that part of the freeway was going to be completely covered in water shortly. We drove for about 30 mins and as we got out of Nashville, the rain slowed and then completely stopped and the rest of the drive was clear and fine. My heart was pounding for that time but I was sure happy to be out of Nashville.
Here are some pictures we took on Friday and Saturday and then a similar picture taken just a day or 2 later that I got off the internet. Very sad to see the devastation and having just been there in person makes it all the more real then just seeing it on TV. We really do feel fortunate we were so safe and able to get out of there on time and safe.
Notice the red rollercoaster looking thing and how far above the water it is...they called it a sculpture
Inside Orpyland Resort and Hotel
Inside Opryland resort after the floods:
Opry House and Opry Mills shopping center (the water is supposed to be the parking lots and grounds of the Orpy House)
So I took this picture because I thought the speed limit sign was so random:
Same picture taken a little further back
I-24, the freeway we drove into Nashville on:
Nashville received 13 inches of rain in 2 days, 9 inches of that fell on Saturday and we were running around thinking it was normal. The Cumberland River rose 12 feet above flood level. Apparently that kind of rain is NOT normal for Nashville...
Nashville was fun and a trip I'll never forget but I'm checking Nashville off my list for quite a while.
Our flight home was also delayed for almost 2 hours and they had to kick 2 people off our flight as well. One wouldn't put her seat up and started swearing at the flight attendant. The other guy wouldn't check his luggage when there was no room in the overhead for it and pushed a gate agent. Fun times, fun trip and I was oh so happy to be home, back in my own bed. Home sweet home!
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