We woke up at 4:10am to make it for a 6am flight out of Sítoon.  Nothing that eventful except for the choice to bring a laptop, iPod and digital camera makes for a longer than usual security check.  (Mental Note: Wear something that doesnít require a belt but still stays up without a belt)  We landed in Minneapolis, MN and stopped for our usual Cinnabon treat before finding our gate.

It was a bit odd because the last time weíd been there was in November with Kev & Lue and Mark for the National Youth Workerís Conference in St. Louis ñ so it felt like we were missing some people this time.

Our flight into Charlotte was a little bumpier than others and Sue started to feel a bit sick towards the end, but it wasnít anything we couldnít handle. It felt good to walk out into the 27-degree heat and actually get a taste of summer.

Somehow the economy car we rented got bumped up to a Dodge Magnum station wagon/muscle car so weíre driving in style and power.  Weíll figure out the gas cost later.  ?

We stopped at a outlet mall in Gaffney for a Pottery Barn stop (no $ spent ñ whoohoo!  It can be done!  Take that Ikea!)  Then we drove through Ashville, NC (our eventual stop for the Cove) to Pigeon Cove, Tennessee.  Weíd thought about booking it straight to Nashville to try and get that in while we were down here, but it just felt like too much driving for a vacation.  Weíll save it for next time.  Gorgeous scenery was all around us on the drive in.  Take the best shots from Cold Mountain and youíll have a good idea of what we were driving through today.

It turned out that somehow Holiday Inn Express had booked us into two rooms.  When we moved into a single room (weíre not THAT far along in our marriage) it was a room with two double beds, not the single king weíd booked online.  When I called down, the guy said all he had left was a wheelchair room but it had a king size bed.  I said okay, so long as we werenít putting anyone out.  When we got downstairs to swap keys, he realized that the wheelchair room was actually closed because of a leak.  Now the only room he had left for us with our king size bed was a Jacuzzi room.  We were more than happy to switch to that room!

We found a Atlanta Bread Company (a distant relative of the St Louis Bread Company we think?) restaurant for supper and now are ready to sleep a long, peaceful sleep with visions of Holiday Inn Express cinnamon buns dancing in our heads.