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Barbara
Fritchman Thompson Diary
Week
of 10 July 2006
Latest Update: Sunday, 16 July 2006 2:30 p.m.
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Monday,
10
July
2006
Hi,
yes I am back. Had a wonderful time. There were a lot of "firsts" for
me on this trip of which I cannot wait to share with you. Hopefully Bob
will have time to sort some of my pictures for me to post later this
week. He is terribly busy with the new book deadline.
I finished the Anne Perry and
started and finished another Kate
Shugak while on the trip. Very surprising ending for this one, Hunter's Moon.
She most definitely
left me hanging and anxious to read the next one.
I stopped at the gym on the way
home for Metabolic Effect class,
fixed a light dinner, and mowed the lawn. We are in the middle of
watching the first episode of a new season of Monarch of the Glen.
As it is getting rather late I will sign off for tonight. More about my
trip tomorrow night.
Tuesday,
11
July 2006
Thanks
to Bob for putting my pictures up for
you to share. We had a very busy and exciting three days in
Chattanooga, TN.
The bus
picked us up
here in Winston at 7 am. We arrived in Chattanooga at 3:45, about a
half hour later than we were supposed to due to some traffic slow down.
We spent the afternoon touring the Tennessee
Aquarium.
The main building houses five floors of fish including one floor of
various species of sea horses. The other floors contained huge tanks of
fish from all over the world with each floor representing a specific
geographical location.
The second and smaller building was two floors. The top floor was more
open with ponds and natural habitat areas.
These large guys in the first picture were actually in a large pond in
the middle of the floor where you could pet the fish. And of course,
the butterfly house was terrific. After we toured the two buildings we
went across the street to the IMAX theater where I saw my first 3D
movie. From
there we went to our hotel to check in and grab some dinner.
The next morning we made our first stop at Ruby Falls,
on Lookout
Mountain. The main
entrance looks like a castle.
Of the dozens of pictures I took I tried to post the ones that showed
the various beautiful rock formations.
The walk to the end of the cave and Ruby Falls was well lit making
picture taking easier. This is the other entrance sign which I took a
picture of from the top observation deck after we toured the cave.
Our next stop was Rock
City. We walked a trail
which
wound around and through the
rocks in the mountain to very top
where you can see seven states, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Unfortunately it was
too hazy to see much beyond the Tennessee, and Georgia line. A picture
of mom and dad at the top. If you check out the link to the trail you
can see pictures. I took some but they really did not turn out all that
well.
After lunch at Rock City we went on to the
Incline
Railway. This is the third
attraction of the Lookout Mountain
package but overall sort of disappointing. We waited for about 45
minutes in line to get on the train which goes down this steep
mountain. As one car goes down it pulls the other one up on the same
track, switching about midway down. At the end of the track you can get
off to do some shopping at some of the little shops or get something to
eat. Unfortunately the lines were so long we had to stay on the train
and just ride back up to the top.
On our way home Sunday morning we made one last stop at the Lost Sea in
Sweetwater,
TN. This cave was not as well lit making it very hard to get
pictures but was equally as interesting. At the end of the
cave
are several natural aquifers and a large underground lake. Once we
hiked the mile down to the lake we boarded large flat bottom boats for
a ride on the lake itself.
If you are ever in that area of the country I highly recommend spending
a few days in the Chattanooga area and seeing some of the sights. The
aquarium is located on the river front and in the downtown area proving
a lot of things to see and do.
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Wednesday,
12 July 2006
No update.
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Thursday,
13 July 2006
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Week]
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[Sunday]
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Week]
Last night it went straight to the gym from
work, ate dinner, watered the front yard plants, walked with Stephanie
and finally crashed on the couch until last time out for the dogs.
Tonight Bob and I went to the library and dinner at the Chinese
restaurant. Paul met us for dinner then he brought him home while I
went on to the grocery store. Lots of chores left to do so I best get
busy. We had a pretty good thunder storm while we ate dinner but it
seems to have passed on through. At least we had a little rain to soak
the grass and plants. Things are really starting to get dry with the
heat. It was almost 100 today between the actual temperature along with
the humidity.
I am reading the next to the latest Lee Kelley dog mystery, Twas the Bite Before Christmas.
Jack, dog trainer and kennel owner in Maine and his finance Jamie who
is the local county medical examiner are investigating the murder of a
wealthy family's maid. In addition to finding the killer they are also
investigating the comings and goings a strange man called the professor
and some very mysterious lights that go off and on in the house.
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Friday,
14 July 2006
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Yippee Skippie it's Friday. We had another
thunderstorm roll through just as I got home. We had 1.13 inches of
rain in about half an hour. Lightning and thunder popping all over the
place. One loud boom hit very close causing me to almost levitate off
the sofa. I had just stuck my fork in my bowl of salad when I jumped.
Luckily I only flipped a little over the side of my bowl but I came
close to tossing my bowl.
Before the storm came through it was 90 degrees with the heat index in
the mid 90's but has now dropped down to 73. More of the same is
expected for tomorrow. There appears to still be some bad weather in
the area so I best not walk tonight.
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Saturday,
15 July 2006
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The weekly house cleaning chores are
completed. It took most of the morning to get stuff put away from my
trip last weekend as well as the general clutter that accumulated over
the week. After I finished inside I headed for the outside. After
picking up numerous limbs and small sticks blown down from last nights
storm I did some weeding in the natural areas then mowed. It was hot
and muggy already at 11:00 am. Right now we have a temperature of
90 degrees with a heat index of 95.
I shall spend this afternoon cleaning and filing stuff off my desk,
writing checks, etc. in between hand shots for Bob.
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Sunday,
16 July 2006
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Golf this morning. Not nearly as warm as it
was yesterday. We had a really nice breeze most of the morning as well.
Today is to top out only in the high 80's or low 90's but will
get progressively hotter each day of next week.
We are still building the SOHO system this afternoon. I will be
available for pictures as needed. Between building sessions I will
watch the race and/or the golf and read the paper.
Last night I finished the Lee Kelley. I will pull something else from
my TBR shelf.
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Copyright
© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 by
Barbara
Fritchman
Thompson. All Rights Reserved.
