Got up and went to see Ryder. Forgot how tall he is. I feel like a midget next to him - and no I am not a midget. Midgets are under 4 foot 11 and I am 5 foot 1. Ryder has a beard and it is red! Wow how people seem to be different when you haven't seen them for almost seven months.

Ryder didn't want to explore parks with us so we took off on our own. We have seen some really pretty country. Roads here are all curvy and the speed limit is usually 55. Talk about people who don't obey the speed limit. It seems that even if you are going 10 miles over they still think you are going to slow. Don't know how they do it on these roads. If you aren't driving and try to look down at a map for any length of time you get carsick.

We spent too much time at some of the parks and didn't get to Cumberland National Historical Park until 5:30, which unfortunatley closes its visitor center at 5:00. Oh well, such is the life. We did spend some time looking around the grounds.

Yesterday we went to the two parks that I stopped at on the way back when I brought Ryder out here. The falls at Burgess Falls were more impressive this time. Probably due to spring runoff. Mom and Dad even took the hike to the Big Falls overlook which is about 1/2 mile of moderate hiking. Joyce and I went the rest of the way down to the bottom of the falls and took more pictures. That part is really steep and we thought we got a good workout until we got to Rock Island State Park.

At Rock Island State Park Joyce and I hiked or should I say went down the stairs, to the river. There is a sign there that says something like, Warning water rises quickly, when siren sounds move to high ground. The same sign says that when you enter the area you should be wearing a flotation device, which we somehow forgot to bring with us on this trip. The falls were beautiful and the siren never went off. The climb up let us know how out of shape we are when it comes to climbing stairs. But as usual we weren't done yet. When we went to the Twin Falls viewing area there were more stairs! What a workout. It was all worth it though.

Now we are in Nashville, with Ryder, who decided it wouldn't be too bad to spend a couple of days in the city with his crazy family. I think he almost changed his mind on the drive down here. We are up and getting ready to head out to see the sights. Should be a great day.

Ryder is coming home! Well, actually, I am going to get him and bring him home. Mom, Dad, Joyce and I left Boise friday April 16th at 5:00am. We drove clear straight through the night. Joyce suprised Mom and I by having us start doing Letterboxing. The way this works is people hide a box with a stamp and a log book in it and give you directions on how to find it. When you find it you put your own customized stamp that you take with you in their log book and stamp your own book with the stamp they left in the box. This is like a mini treasure hunt and has turned out to be pretty fun.

The first ones we did were just outside Evanstan Wyoming at Bear River State Park. The first box was hidden really well. It was buried in the leaves and debris under an overhanging rock. The other was under some debris near a tree. This last one had a bonus stamp hidden in a knot hole in the tree.

We found several in Land of the Lakes and even picked up what is known as a hitch hiker from the last one. The hitch hiker is now in the car waiting to land at its new destination.

We have seen a lot of beautiful country and are really enjoying our time together. We do not want to drive straight through another night however. We are currently at a condo in Fairfield Glen Tennessee and will see some of the state parks in the area while we are here.

Some of the other things we have seen on the way are Adam-ondi-Ahman, Far West, Independence Visitor Center, and a Nature park in Kansas City.