Rest and Relaxation

Ok, well R&R is obviously over ... Earl left last Saturday morning.

Some awesome things that we did on R&R:
 - We drove out to Gatlinburg, TN for a nice little 4 day vacation
 - We rented a cute little cabin just above downtown Gatlinburg in the Smoky Mountains
 - We went to the awesome Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg
 - We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe
 - We drove through the gorgeous Smokey Mountains National Park




Gatlinburg and the Smokey Mountains are such beautiful places, I wish we had had more time to explore everything. That definitely won't be the last time we visit there though!

We also went and toured the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, TN

 

Im not a big fan of Jack (unless it's mixed with Coke, of course), but it was really cool to see how everything was done, and to learn the history of the company and that the distillery is located within a "dry" county (which is a bit ironic, honestly).

It's weird being here by myself again ... I have to think of things to keep myself occupied.
I also keep thinking that he'll just be gone for a week or so ... But we still have a few months left in the stupid deployment, unfortunately.

It was hard letting him go again, but we had a great two weeks together.




 In other news ... I officially hate spring in Tennessee.
We've had severe storms blow through every few days or so, and it's a bit annoying what with all the warnings.

I miss CA again .. I miss the beach ... I miss the fact that we dont get tornado warnings in CA almost every single day during the spring (yes, we have earthquakes, but I can deal with an earthquake!)

Spring Time Storms

So it is definitely Spring Time out here in the South.

With Spring comes the storms and with the storms comes ... Tornadoes.

Yesterday we had a pretty intense storm pass through, leaving behind a good amount of damage. As damaging and as scary as the storm out here may be, I still absolutely love them. They make the storms out in California look weak in comparison.

I especially love the feel of the storm making it's way in. Everything just kind of comes to a stand still, like the world is just waiting for something to happen. It's all very ominous and a bit freaky. Then comes the fierce winds! And right behind that comes the pounding rain and the thunderous lightning.
It is definitely a sight to behold.

Yesterday I got caught sitting in my car as the storm reached it's peak. Since I was on post getting groceries, for the first time since moving out here, I heard the dreaded "tornado sirens" go off. To be sitting in my car all alone, with the wind and rain thrashing at the windows and hearing the sirens going off in the distance ... Is a very scary experience indeed.
I had to keep telling myself that a silly little tornado couldn't possibly flip over a small Honda civic (even though those silly little tornadoes could easily demolish huge buildings).

As scary as these storms and tornado warnings are, they're definitely something to be admired, if only for the sheer power that this earth can produce.

With every storm, though, comes damage in its wake.
I believe this has been the roughest storm we've had this year, with more than several people being injured (non-life threatening, though!) and thousands of dollars worth of damage done to properties all over the Middle Tennessee area. It was bad, but not as bad as some have been in the past, thankfully.

 I will always appreciate the force of nature out here.