Weekly Journal - June
Saturday - 1st June
Sunday - 2nd June
Monday - 3rd June
Bank Holiday - for the Queens Golden Jubilee.
I finally managed to start painting the ceiling of my porch.
We had a barbecue at my parents house, because it was my brother John's birthday we rang him up.
Tuesday - 4th June
Bank Holiday.
I started thinking about what things I need to take to America.
Wednesday - 5th June
Thursday - 6th June
Friday - 7th June
Saturday - 8th June
Sunday - 9th June
The taxi arrived at my house just after 8am. The taxi then drove to my parents house to pick up my parents and my brother David.
Once all the bags were packed into the car, we climbed in and proceeded to Manchester airport.
Our flight was to Philiadelphia and then we had a connecting flight.
On the flight to Philidelphia we could choose which film to watch on the LCD screens attached to the seat in front, I watched Lord of the Rings (Part I).
We arrived at Philidelphia at about 3.15pm (east coast time). Immigration took too long and we missed our connecting flight. We arranged a later flight, Dad rang John & Alicia to tell them the new arrangements.
John and Alicia met us at the airport, we picked up our hire cars (Mum & Dad had a red Dodge Neon, David & I had a white Dodge Neon) and followed John & Alicia to Inn that was our accomodation for the next few days. Below is a picture of our hires cars and my brothers pickup.
Monday - 10th June
My aunt Moira arrived at the Inn we were staying at (she had stayed with her brother Gerard's family the previous week).
One of my brother John's professors took us out for an expensive meal and he paid for us all.
Tuesday - 11th June
In morning we went in search of wedding presents for Alicia and John.
In the afternoon we went on a short walk around a lake near where John and Alicia live. Their dog, tasha had a quick swim.
Wednesday - 12th June
We packed all our things into the cars and we drove south through Kentucky and into Tennessee where the wedding will be held.
In the evening we ate at a Japanese restaurant.
Thursday - 13th June
We met Alicia's grand parents. Originally her grand father was going to give Alicia away at the wedding, but he had a heart attack earlier in the year.
In the afternoon we travelled to Camp Placid and started getting things ready for the wedding rehersal.
My brother's wedding
It was really hot when we set out all the benchs in preparation for the out-door wedding. Just before the rehersal it started raining, but fortunately the rain stopped in time.
In the evening we went out for another meal. I was beginning to think I might explode if I ate anything else.
Friday - 14th June
I had a small panic in the morning... in all our travelling all my shirts had suffered so I had to borrow an iron and sort out a couple of wrinkled shirts.
We all (families of the bride and groom) went out for breakfast. By now I was starting to feel like Jabba the Hut!
Late in the morning their was a little chaos at the guest house. There had been a dispute between the management and the maids. The maids went on strike so the management sacked them all. To add another touch to the drama the electonic keys to the rooms of many of the wedding guests stopped working despite us all having booked the room for another night.
The wedding was held in the late afternoon / early evening. While we were getting ready for the big event it started to rain! This isn't supposed to happen, especially when you are having an outdoor wedding! We drove to Camp Placid in our cars and we needed to use our windscreen wipers.
The rain stopped soon after we arrived at Camp Placid (hurrah). Most of the wedding pictures were taken before the Wedding. After the pictures were taken I supervised people parking, making sure that nobody parked in the leaching area (sewer) despite how green the grass looked.
All the expected guests arrived for the wedding, though a few were a little on the late side. The wedding went well and we all then moved indoors for a buffet meal. Everything went well and then John & Alicia went on their honeymoon with their dog.
Saturday - 15th June
Time to pack again. We took Moira to the airport in Blountville, then we (my parents, my other brother and myself) drove to the Smokey Mountains where we had booked a cabin. It took a bit of finding, after driving down numerous gravel tracks we found our cabin.
Sunday - 16th June
I discovered that the sofa bed was a bit lumpy.
It was nice not to have to rush anywhere today. We had a short walk around the area, we found several cabins but no bears.
Monday - 17th June
The sofa bed was much better after Dad adjusted some of the springs.
While we were eating breakfast we heard a strange noise. My Dad looked outside and saw a squirrel eating the cabin!
We played being tourists and purchased some post cards etc.
While walking in the forest on one of the tracks we saw some bear prints, but no bear. We caught up with some walkers and they said they had seen a small bear, so we must have just missed it.
Later in the day we went to the Aquarium in Gatlinburg.
Tuesday - 18th June
We did a small amount of shopping then we drove for miles up the Smokie Mountains. We walked (from the car park) to Clingman's Dome the highest peak in the Smokie Mountains, also known as old smokey
We seemed to be getting into the swing of walking, so we went on a couple more walks on the way back to the cabin.
Wednesday - 19th June
I finally found somewhere to purchase stamps so that I could send post cards to friends. I also purchased a hat to keep me cool in all this humid weather.
Thursday - 20th June
We had a long drive over the Smokey Mountains to Cherokee. We looked around a traditional homestead (farm). Everything seemed to be made of wood.
We followed another trail into the forest, but when Dad's pedometer said we had walked much further than the map said the trail was we decided to head back to our cars.
Friday - 21st June
Dad purchased a new digital camera.
We went on another walk up "Low Gap Pass". The pass wasn't low and it was really hot. After tripping on numerous tree roots, slipping on countless stones I was starting to go off this walking holiday idea.
Saturday - 22nd June
I had a lazy day, I didn't go more than a hundred metres from the cabin. Well I am supposed to be relaxing on holiday.
In the evening we all packed our cases, tomorrow we are driving back up Tennessee, through Kentucky and into Cincinnati in Ohio. A long drive!
Sunday - 23rd June
John rang us to say he wasn't in Cincinnati yet. The drive back from the east coast had taken longer than he anticipated, but he said to ring when we return as he would be back there before us.
John and Alicia met us in the Inn in Cincinnati and we ate at a Mexican restaurant. This time I had chicken which was much better than the beef I had the previous time.
Monday - 24th June
With a bit of encouragement I managed to close my suitcase. We visited John & Alicia then it was time for our flight home. We returned our cars without any difficulty, though I was a little concerned about the flashing fuel light.
We had a bit of bother with our flight from Cincinnati to Philadelphia... it was overbooked. Once we all go on board there was another problem... there was too much luggage so some of the passengers travelled without their luggage. The reason for the luggage problem was an American firm was sending 30 people to live in Spain for several months and they all had lots of luggage!
The sky was rather dark when we landed in Philadelphia, we were one of the last plane to land before the thunderstorm... yes more delay (aaghh).
Our plane finally arrived at the terminal slightly more than an hour late, by the time we started queuing for the run way we were 2 hours late. When we took off I counted about 50 planes queuing for the runway.
Tuesday - 25th June
We made up some time in the journey accross the Atlantic so we were only an hour late, but our taxi wasn't waiting for us at the airport. My Dad phoned the taxi firm and a taxi was despatched to pick us up.
Guess who was really tired when I arrived home? Guess who whose lawn needed cutting?
Wednesday - 26th June
Back to work. It was horrible trying to get back to British time from American East Coast time - 5 hours difference.
Thursday - 27th June
Friday - 28th June
Saturday - 29th June
I did some overtime to try get some urgent things done at work.
Sunday - 30th June
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