The Lake of the Bear

Well, this wasn't exactly in Bear Lake, but we did take this opportunity to shoot the tube. It was super fun, but just a little chilly so we only went down once. I must say I'm a fan of whoever stole those street signs to use for dam building instead of the plywood, cause they worked VERY well, and we shot through that tube at warp speed.

Here we are at the lake, gotta love that crystal blue water.

I lied, there was a third and fourth picture of the babies, although Hannah is looking at me like she can't believe I would dare take a picture of her when she is so hot and sticky, but who could help it with those adorable big brown eyes?

And then there was this fun adventure- don't worry, everyone over the age of 3 is wearing a swimsuit :)

In the SLC

I am a terrible Auntie and only took 2 pictures of my adorable little nieces this trip. We'll just observe that I took every opportunity to squeeze them so it didn't leave much time left for taking pictures.

Here they are wearing their new cowboy boots. Too bad their pants and skirt are a little too long to see the boots, 'cause they're adorable.

We got together with all of the Morgan girls and our dad's for a fun and tear filled night to remember our wonderful Grandma and Grandpa Morgan.

Me and my wonderful Dad, he's a good one.

Natchez

So, it got to be Thursday, and Louise and I suddenly realized that we hadn't planned for anywhere to stay on Friday night, oops. With all of the South open to us, (or just the parts that could be reasonably considered to be between New Orleans and Houston) we decided to head up to Natchez, MS upon the recommendation of my mom.

These are my toes in the Mississippi River.

Louise and I overlooking the river.

What you can't see here is the saloon behind the biker couple photographers where we ended up kind of accidentally that evening. After ordering a ginger ale and a diet coke, and then asking for a food menu, the waitress looked at us suspiciously and said "Y'all aren't from round here are ya?" She let us have our drinks in our styrofoam cups for free. We sat around awkwardly finishing our drinks wondering how we ended up in a saloon in Mississippi with a little person with a white goatee and a green bowler hat behind the bar (read: leprechaun).

This is our lovely room in the picturesque Dunleith Mansion and B&B. It was in the basement and nice and cool. Our stay also came with a four room 2 hour tour by (read this next part with the thickest southern accent you can muster in your head) David, who is a native Natchezian, and doesn't believe in rules, so we went behind those ropes into the dining room and we sat on the furniture in the library, and learned about way back when, when he was in high school and you wouldn't BELIEVE the parties they used to have when the Carter parents were away!

Nawlins

We spent 2 lovely 187 degree days in New Orleans. It's a very colorful fun city, but I must admit it's not the nicest smelling place I've ever been to.

Here I am looking out over the Mississippi River- somehow I always thought that this was supposed to be the ocean.

Jackson Square- the whole time I had this song by Mason Jennings going through my head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa7FLzaJRB4

We also made a little stop at this famous little spot to have some beignets- they were delicious, but I wouldn't recomend touching the tables since each order is served with about 7 lbs. of powdered sugar and the entire cafe is a bit sticky.

Tennessee

Louise is going to be residing in Houston from now on, I'm terribly sad, but we sure had a fun time getting there. And I promise, there was only room for the two of us in this car.

The first stop was Tennessee, well there were two stops really, first night in the Smoky Mountains, second in Nashville. Now any of you that know me well, know that I don't especially like country music. But in Nashville, it's just what's done, so I lived with it.

One of our most important missions was to find some cowboy boots. 3 for the price of 1 boots to be exact.

The first stop was Boot country, which was a bust. We were quite disappointed, but eventually, after walking around in the 347 degree heat, we found another place in a basement under some sort of Dolly Parton store/museum that had a much better selection.

This is what we ended up with, matching boots on either end for Louise and I and the ones in the middle for her sister.

Oh, and there was also a little people conference happening, so I was expecting to see a TLC camera crew around every corner. And some guy with crunchy hair laid down on some bar stools that were about to be repossessed from a bar to lay in her lap and sing to her.

Oh, and one of our first stops was at Prince's Hot Chicken. It was in the ghetto, but it was some delicious chicken. And I'm very glad I took my friend Pat's advice to not be a hero and only get the mild, because even the mild was super spicy. Apparently the recipe started when the owner's girlfriend was trying to get back at him for fooling around by dumping way to much spice in the mix, but it backfired and he loved it.

And there was some sort of classic Chevy gathering at our hotel with about 30 old Bel Airs in the parking lot. Grandpa Morgan would have loved it.

Amazing Show

Went to an amazing show at the 9:30 club tonight. The Romany Rye, who opened for Ezra Furman & the Harpoons, who opened for Delta Spirit. I'd been wanting to see Delta Spirit for more than a year now, and it was WELLLL worth the wait.

This was one of my favorite songs from tonight (this recording is obviously not from tonight, but you'll get the general idea). The drums were amazing!!

Consumer Vigilante Rides Again

I live 6 houses away from the Exxon gas station on 2720 South Glebe Rd, Arlington, VA 22206, and fill up my car there on a regular basis. I brought my car in at 4pm today to get an oil change and my safety inspection. I gave my car keys to the mechanic and walked home to wait the 1/2 hour that he said it would take to complete the work.

I then received a call asking for my car keys, I let them know that I had left them with the mechanic. Then they took another hour and a half to locate my car keys that the mechanic had left in another customer's car.

I was perfectly fine with the situation, since I was pretty comfortable at home and I was just happy that they had found my keys....... until I found out that the oil change had not been completed because the mechanic had gone home. I have a busy holiday weekend ahead of me, and I will be out of town for the next two weeks. I specifically left work early so I could get an oil change and a safety inspection done on my car.

I then asked the manager if it would be possible to get a discount on the oil change if I brought it in the next day. The manager was incredibly rude and called me a nasty person and said that they had found the keys "for my convenience", as if he and his employees were not responsible for my property when I leave it in their care for work to be done on my car.

The manager also blamed everything on the mechanic and would not take any responsibility for the situation himself. I don't care what the organization is, the manager is responsible for what happens in their store/company/country.

This is the worst customer service I've received in a very long time, and it is enough to make sure I never use Exxon again. In the future I will be going out of my way to fill up my car at another gas station on the way home.