South Carolina to Salt Lake City in 4 days!

Why is all my posts are so delayed?!?! Lame. Go ahead throw the tomatoes at me. If you dont have any, we have too many, and my bets are they are rotten in the fridge....

Ok so I sort of left y'all hanging. Donavon graduated from Recruiting School that was at Fort Jackson, SC. He left at the beginning of August and Graduated on September 25th.

Issac and I flew out to Raleigh and Tommy picked us up at the airport and drove us down to SC where we met up with Donavon. Graduation was the next morning and afterwards we didnt waste much time on hitting the road. Yup.... we DROVE home, with a 1 year old. Oh might I add that we left Salt Lake at 8 something AM and didnt get to Ft. Jackson until after 9pm. Ew!!!

And double, no make that quadrillion times more ew... the humidity!!! YUCK! I know everyone says the south is humid but no one ever said it was like the Amazon!!! Oh yuck!! So gross!

Graduation was great, I felt proud of my man. There wasnt much family there supporting their soldiers, which was kind of sad. They showed some great videos which I loved and will share with you one of these days. I was sort of mad at my camera, at the last second it wasnt focusing, something obviously got accidently pushed and so the pictures turned out like crap and this is the only decent one.
Our plan was to stop in Knoxville and stay the night, but Issac was doing so well we drove all the way to Nashville on the first leg of the trip. We got into Nashville and started looking for a hotel. For those of you who have never been or just dont know The Gaylord Opryland Hotel is massive, and exquisite. We stopped there first and to our luck, they were almost sold out and had a few 'parlor suites' left they wanted to get rid of and offered it to us for $99. It was more of a party room, for those not really planning on doing much sleep so it was a massive living room, kitchenette and bathroom with a pull out bed. However it overlooked the gardens and was gorgeous. Once we got settled in we ran back out to grab some Jack's BBQ.

If any of you watch the Food Network, there are alot of BBQ competitions and This guy ALWAYS WINS! Donavon used to be stationed at Fort Campell, KY (not too far away) and used to spend a lot of time doing the honky tonk scene and said it was worth it.

So we waited in line, and it was GREAT!! Wow, I crave. Jack's is on Broadway, by the Ryman so we walked along Broadway and listened to the music pouring out of all the bars. I would have loved to bar hop all night and listen but we had Issac and no babies aloud! Would have loved to go into the Ryman but it was closed. Issac was terrified of Elvis, and Donavon didnt focus. :(While walking we stopped in and got some Cowboy boots, or should I say Cowboy & Cowgirl! Buy one pair, get TWO FREE!!! I bought a pair and got another free and we got a free pair for Issac for in a year or two. Those arent the ones Issac got, his are brown and green, mine are the red ones on the floor, and I got an identical pair in brown. Maybe one of these days I'll take pictures of them.Also, I suppose I should mention that once we got to the hotel; Issac my dear took off walking!! He'd been trying to walk back home but would take a step and fall. He full on walked a few feet over to his Daddy a few times! So glad Daddy was there to see him really WALK on his own.
This is one of the waterfalls that was inside our hotel. An attempt on my part, but I really needed a tri-pod!
The hotel had 3 garden rooms or whatever you want to call them, very large, one had a river going through it and you could take rides on little boats around the garden, others had shops, resturaunts, etc. The place was HUGE! Amazing. I'm in love. I love Nashville! I'd live there in a heart beat!Here are some shots of our room, and around the hotel. If anyone goes to Nashville, stay there! If not, at least go!
I also want to mention that I'm in love with the southern hospitality. Now why cant EVERYONE be like that? Seriously! For instance on our way to check out of the glorious hotel we were dragging our cooler, Issac, the stroller, and a duffle bag and 2 suitcases. A woman approached me and insisted that she roll the cooler for me to the lobby since she was on her way anyways. An while waiting at Jack's the people in line around us became short timer friends and loved playing and entertaining Issac.
The next day we headed back out and drove up to St. Louis and stopped at the arches. The last time I made this drive we drove by late at night and I didnt get to see them all too well. Painful reminder for my mother I'm sure :) (For those of you in the dark, after 2 or 3 weeks of meeting Donavon, I ran away with him on a road trip to the East Coast).

I've just got to say I never grasped that this arch is so HUGE!!!!!! Wow. I couldnt even get it in 1 picture without standing forever away! Amazing! Loved it! It was sold out for the day though and we couldnt go up in it.

After our pit stop we kept on going. Stayed the night in a ehhh not so nice motel in Kingdom City, MI and then kept on going the next day, and the next.

The only other highlight after that was we did stay in Cheyenne, WY at the Little America Hotel. Just got to say, for the price, not worth it. I totally felt like I was staying with Grandma Betsy who hasnt changed a thing in her house since 1955. The bathroom, pepto bismol pink and the room stunk like old people too (no offense to old people). I suppose its more of a stale crusty air smell, with a hint of mildew and dust? Dont know how to explain it. The lobby was decieving by being updated and luxurious. Boo!

We left South Carolina on a Friday around 1pm EST and made it home by 4ish MST on Monday. We planned on getting home on Tuesday night or Wednesday afternoon. I'd say we made good time.

Issac did an amazing job, I must say we invested in a portable DVD player and he watched a lot of Baby Einstiens. He was a trooper though! So proud! Here he is in the car snuggling with Blankie and watching a movie. Such a handsome boy!I'm not exaggerating when I say I love Nashville, or Tennesse in general. Such a beautiful State. I was pretty much sold on moving there and getting a big house on the river, until Donavon mentioned water mocassins. No thanks! Ew! But still.... I've always dreamed of living in the 'South' and I suppose I would settle for some honky-tonk Nashville :)
Also have to say although I may depise the Army on some days, they have given me the chance to see this beautiful country in which my husband defends on a daily basis! Such a great opportunity!!
Fun Fact: Donavon drove over 9,000 miles in 2 months. Sound fun?