The Campbell Circus goes on Tour

Well, after months of planning and preparation, our cross country trip is finally here! We are so excited to be setting off on a four week adventure together. We took off yesterday, right after Ryan finished up his responsibilities at church. It was an odd feeling when we drove away and for several hours he kept saying, "I can't believe I don't have a job." It's a little scary, but we're

also excited about these months of family time.

Yesterday afternoon, we drove the first stretch and stopped at Ridgecrest, near Asheville, NC. It's one of our favorite places, where we have tons of memories from our 4 years serving on summer staff there. They also give a great ministerial discount, so we try to stop there whenever we need a resting place. We enjoyed pizza at our favorite pizza joint, My Father's Pizza and then we savored some ice cream at Kilwin's to celebrate Abby and Isaac's baptism yesterday morning. It was a great way to kick off the trip. We returned to the hotel just in time to watch the KY Wildcats defeat the UNC Tarheels to advance to the final four. We were squaling and screaming like a bunch of idiots in that hotel, but it was fun.

This morning we packed up and made our way to Nashville, TN. We stopped off for lunch at Fazoli's, which is a restaurant that was a staple for Ryan and I when we were dating. We can't get it where we live, so we thought we'd take advantage of the cheap eats. The kids absolutely loved it (especially the breadsticks) and they were asking if we could find another one on our way home.

After that, we spent the afternoon exploring the Hermitage, which was the home of President Andrew Jackson. That was such a neat place. My favorite feature is that they have a very easy to use audio tour that is included with your ticket. They have one for the kids and the adults, so everyone can listen at their own level and learn lots about all there is to see. It was very well done. The tour and grounds were informative, well-kept, and yet child friendly. I highly recommend it!

After that, we made our way to hotel and then met up with some friends for dinner. We ate at the Caney Fork River Valley Grille and the kids had a blast petting the catfish in the restaurant. We decided we wanted to extend our visit with our friends, so we walked over to the Opryland Hotel and enjoyed chasing our children through the various flower gardens and waterfalls. It was a great start to the trip. Tomorrow we're moving on to a new city and making a little more progress toward the Pacific Coast.

Isaac was enamored with this cool tree at the Hermitage.

Getting ready to enter the mansion, and Abe was out cold (which may have been a good thing.)

Flowers were blooming everywhere, so pretty!

They were listening intently to their audio, which must have been explaining the purpose of their boot scraper. At first, Lily told me that this must be where they lock up their bikes!

Abe awoke in plenty of time to enjoy romping the grounds. Here, he and Isaac were exploring a slave cabin.

The tomb of Rachel and Andrew Jackson. From the lengthy and kind inscription on her tomb, he obviously loved her dearly. On his own tomb, he simply had inscribed, "General Andrew Jackson." along with his birth and death dates.

This donkey cracked us up as he talked and smiled on command.

The Campbell and Rainey kids had a great time sharing dinner at the Caney Fork River Valley Grill!

All of that romping around the Opryland Hotel made for some very thirsty kiddos!