See Rock City

Jennifer drove up to visit this weekend, and we had a blast.

She got in on Friday in time for dinner, so we went to Rafael's. Man, that' stuff is good. Jennifer was very impressed with the Chicken Alfredo. I had the lasagna, as usual. Garfield, eat your heart out. Then we watched Apollo 13, which is just an awesome movie if you haven't already seen it. I also recommend the book, by Jim Lovell.

Saturday was a pretty busy day. First, we drove over to Lynchburg to tour the Jack Daniel's Distillery - home of Fine Tennesee Sippin' Whiskey. The tour is really interesting, the tour guides are funny and full of stories, and best of all - it's FREE. Yes, FREE! Also, you get a little bit of buzz just breathing the air. It smells kind of like Rozier, only cleaner. After the tour (and some free lemonade, courtesy of Jack himself) we strolled over to historic downtown Lynchburg. There's some cool little shops, and a place that makes furniture out of the old barrels. Pretty neat.

After a late lunch at the apartment, we hit the road to go SEE ROCK CITY. It's actually fairly convenient to Tullahoma, not much longer than the drive to Nashville. After a short detour

Jennifer: Exit 174?
Lee: I thought it was 175?
Jennifer: Exit 174!
Lee: Oh, I could have sworn it was 175!
Jennifer: Well, it's not!
Lee: Ah, crap.

we finally found the place. Another hitch in the plan was that we forgot that Rock City, which is just (and only just) south of Chattanooga is in fact in the Eastern Time Zone. So we lost an hour and about 15 minutes. We wound up being the last people admitted into the place. We rushed a little more than we would have liked, but it was still very cool. Wriggling through the Needle's Eye and Fat Man Squeeze was pretty neat, and the view from the See Seven States sign is breathtaking. There's also a bunch of creepy-looking gnomes.

We got a bit of treat after we were done with the normal Rock City attractions - it seems that around this time of year, they also run their own Corn Maze. It wasn't as neat as the one that Shelby Farms does, but it was still kind of fun. I'm still looking forward to the one back home.

Dinner was at a Cracker Barrell in Chattanooga. Them's good eats. Driving back to Tullahoma on I-24 was a little hair raising in the dark, but not terrifying. If you haven't flown up and down the foothills of the Smokies in the pitch-black night while listening to Johnny Cash, I highly recommed it. Johnny goes well with the hills.

Today I took Jennifer up to see the school before she headed back. I think she liked seeing all the deer. Fortunately for us none of them tried to pull anything crazy, like a knife or something. I was informed that my desk is dull and needs to be decorated. I'll work on that and keep everyone posted.

The rest of the day is pretty dull in comparison after Jennifer left. I finished homework, ate dinner, and watched a little tv. Oh, I got a See Rock City t-shirt. Neat, huh?