Tuesday, August 22, 2017

the eclipse, and a quick little road trip

After church on Sunday, we went our separate ways for lunch, then all met back here at home to pack and head to Spring Hill, Tennessee, where Todd's brother Tim, his wife Tracy, and their three boys live.  There were seven of us going, my six, plus one.  And I have to say, our little Madame Blueberry (my car, and Chevy Traverse) handled us all quite nicely.  I was pleasantly surprised.

We made it there without stopping.  It's only about three hours from here, and I was so thankful that we didn't have to travel with heavy traffic.  I had been dreading that part.  When we got there, we unloaded our things and got settled a bit and took a tour of their new house.  Well, new to me...I hadn't been there before.

We ended up eating dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant (my FAVORITE!) then went back to their house and hung out.  We had birthday cake for Rachel, since that day was her eighteenth birthday, and some of them went outside, and then Tracy and I had a chance to sit and talk.  We really don't see each other often enough, and when they're in town, it's for a reason, like a graduation or Christmas, so we never get alone time.


I had a couple of favorite rooms in their house.  The lighting is weird, but this is their dining room.  The colors are gray and turquoise.  That is my favorite color combination.  (Also, is anyone else like me and love to look at people's houses?  Just me?  Okay.)

I also LOVE their bedroom.  I love a statement wall like this one.


(Ignore their bed that is on the floor and awaiting its new set.)  I love navy in a bedroom, and particularly THIS navy, because it has hints of royal blue.

Anyway, on Monday, we got up and had breakfast and piddled around their house until we left to drive to Lebanon for the eclipse.


Tracy and me, all dressed and caffeinated.

We got lunch on the way and pulled into a state park to use their restrooms and ended up staying there because it was shady and we could see really well.


We call these three the triplets.  Jonah and Noah were born on March 10 of 2003, and Nathan was born a short few weeks after them.  My in-love's went from two grandsons to five in about four weeks.


Love these two.

Apparently, I had no pictures of Drew and Todd.  Typical.


Required picture.  It's not good, but oh my goodness gracious!  I was so skeptical that we would be able to even see the eclipse and wasn't super excited about it, but it was AMAZING.  The temperatures dropped, the lighting outside began to change, and all the nighttime bugs came out.


This was at one thirty something.  Look how dark it was!  I might have cried a little.  The magnificence of God just blows my mind, and that He could make this happen and that we would see it is just a beautiful thing.  Tracy and I were both about to lose our minds over it all.  She teared up as well, and there was screaming involved.


This was while we were waiting, and they had no idea I was behind them.


And here's the whole group of us.  We had a great time, and I am so glad we went and were able to witness the totality of the eclipse.  We were missing one of our nephews, who opted for going to school that day.

We said our goodbyes right after this, and began the long trek home.  Lebanon is past Nashville, so we had lots of heavy traffic coming back and a couple of wrecks, so we drove most of the way home on back country roads.  Three and a half hours turned into about six.  Maybe five, but we stopped a lot, too.


Like at this place, in Bolivar, TN.  This particular building is abandoned now, but some of the newer buildings on the property are still in use.  This is a mental health facility, and I grew up hearing horror stories about this place.  I wanted a lot more pictures, but since we were technically trespassing, Todd wouldn't linger too long for me.  How creepy does this place look?!  There are buildings to the left of this one that are also abandoned and look straight out of a horror movie.  There's ivy growing up the walls and they have barred windows, and well...you can imagine for yourself.

We ordered pizza on the way home and then brought it home to eat.  We finally made it back by about seven fifteen.  We ate, I made coffee for Todd and me, I read a little, then took a shower and crashed.
It was a really fun day and a half.

Thanks for reading!  Love to all.

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