Arriving at the hotel last night, we were all ready for a rest. Maxie amazed us with his memory of hotels and headed straight to the bathroom to plop his head down in the toilet. We quickly lifted the lid for him and laughed at his ability to find a good cold drink when he needed one. Two walks and more water later we were settled down for the night. The hotel where we stayed was one where we had previously stayed. The Hampton Inn in Lexington, Kentucky, is the place to go if you are traveling with pets. Although the hotel was completely packed, there was an assortment of dogs all getting along peacefully. The hotel has dog friendly easy access and a dog park of sorts in the back complete with bags provided.
This morning we got up early and after a complimentary breakfast of waffles and egg biscuits we headed on our way. As we headed out of Lexington and on through Kentucky I was struck by the amazing color of green and the enormous number of trees in layer after layer of hills and low mountains. Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina have a very different terrain than Central Illinois. We have flat land with fields after fields of corn and beans. And then more fields of beans and corn. We saw valleys and hollers of tall trees, some covered with vines. I’m not talking about trees lining the highway; I’m talking about the Smokey Mountains, flowing hills and fog rising up like smoke, vistas. I was so taken with the extreme beauty of it. The weather started out beautiful, with the temps in the high 80’s. The number of car/truck accidents rise with the temperature. At present we have seen three multiple vehicle accidents, luckily not involving us. It sometimes makes it slow going. We made a number of stops for the dogs and for gas/food but by the middle of the afternoon we hit the rain. Our son called us earlier and jokingly told us that when we hit the humidity we were almost there. Within an hour of arriving at their home we got rain. Multiple rain squalls. Hard hitting large drops of rain that disable us from seeing ten feet in front of our car. We were ready to pull over when it just stops, we drove right out of the rain and then 20 minutes later we see it coming, the grey and dark blue clouds over head and sheets of rain start coming down. By the time we hit North Charleston the rain is gone but the humidity is rising from the highway like reverse rain.
After a warm welcome and a dog walk to relieve the dogs, we see the “new” apartment (the kids moved from a one bedroom to a two bedroom) and make plans for this evening. We decide that since Jess needs to work until 9:30 we will meet her and the go see Toy Story 3. It is just out today and we are hopeful that we will be able to get tickets for the last showing of the evening. We left the two dogs in their air conditioned apartment gated with some of their toys and all of their rabbits, cat and many fish(see past blog). We are so lucky. We did get to see the last show (10:30PM) although it was the 3D version which, Ben and Jess are happy about seeing, but I could have done without. On the other hand it was a very enjoyable movie. I loved Toy Story 1 and 2 so had high hopes for this third sequel. I was not disappointed. It had all of the old characters including Mr. and Mrs. Potatohead and even Slinky Dog. Very Cute! A 5 star for the whole family (there was a part that might be kinda scary for very young kids).
It’s now 1 AM and I realize that this is the first time that I have not published a blog post early day. I am late with this one so I will post another one today as well. We are heading to the beach after we all get some sleep.
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