Hillbilly Pilgrimage

So it has been almost 2 weeks since our pilgrimage to Kentucky and I think I'm still in recovery. We had a great time- but it was a whirlwind of a trip- especially for us. We live in Tallahassee, so we had to drive down to St. Pete Friday morning to fly to Knoxville that afternoon (Tallahassee does its best to be a black hole- sucking you in with ungodly high airfare). This means that when we came back- we didn't get to Tallahassee until 2am. Tuesday morning- ugh! Anyway, when we got there we took a quick tour of the UT campus (finally my hubby could see the most glorious stadium in all of college football). After eating at Calhoun's on the river we only had a little time to explore before bed.

Saturday we got up bright and early, spent the morning visiting family (they are a hoot!) and then off to Richmond,Ky for a wedding. The wedding was very nice, we all had fun seeing some of our old family friends. The guys got a little bit more of a glimps of Harlan as the Bride and her parents were from there. One of my dad's friends flew out from California to be at the wedding- poor guy missed the ceremony due to bad directions. It was great to see him though- for us he was the life of the party (when my brother-in-law wasn't dancing) and he may have taken more posed pictures than the wedding photographer (I think he even had her smile for the camera)!

Sunday we got up really early so that we could drive to Harlan (or the "Homeland") for church- which was great! After church we did some visiting and then some exploring. The exploring part was the main point of the trip for me. I *cough* miss going to Harlan and really wanted my hubby to see what it is like there. Even though I didn't grow up there, it is a huge part of my family and who I am. A couple of our favorite sites along the way (just to clarify, these do not reflect my family or who I am :o):

We then got to "go across the mountain" and see my mom's family. Whoa boy- this was truly the highlight! When I say backwoods- I mean backwoods! But I love it! And it was great to go back, especially because Jesse (hubby) got to meet my Aunt Rock and Tom Jack. He has heard so much about them and with names like those, who wouldn't want to meet them!? Unfortunatly our visit was short, but we really enjoyed it. Here is a picture of my Aunt's store (not exactly in operation now, just a gathering place for people to chat).
Monday we headed back to Knoxville but we got to stop in at Cumberland Gap on the way. Did I meantion that the whole trip was freezing?! It was kind of a fluke thing- but it was in the 40's a lot of the weekend- coming from FL, I was not prepared for that! But the GAP was beautiful and it was kind of a nice way to end the trip. I love going there. Well I know that was long and has lots of pics but trust me- I could have said A LOT more! I'll just have to save that for my scrapbook!