Birthday boy

Today is Stuart's birthday. To celebrate, we've chosen to spend the night in Newport, TN. Not familiar with Newport? It's a tiny little town on I-40, north of Sevierville, Gatlinburg and Dollywood. Our KOA campground is not far from the interstate, and sounds much closer than it is. We gave up, came inside even though the night air is cool, and turned on the air conditioning to drown out the noise of the trucks.

We spent the first two nights at Tanglewood County Park, in Clemmons, NC. One memorable November in the early 1990's, we found ourselves in Clemmons the week after Thanksgiving.  I was working, and feeling a little off-balance, as my darling grandmother had died three weeks earlier.  Stuart made the trip with me, and played tourist in Winston-Salem while I worked.  How we got into Tanglewood Park without knowing there was a Christmas light display, we'll never know!  The first night, when I returned to our little travel trailer, I insisted that Stuart get out of bed, get dressed, and get in the car...I had a great surprise for him!  We oohed and ahhed at the lights, and laughed at ourselves for being so unaware.  That evening was the perfect tonic for my sad heart.  This week, we learned that Tanglewood campground has been closed for more than 10 years.  TheForsyth county park is huge and beautiful, and the new-and-improved campground is just as pretty and peaceful as our vague memory painted it.

Tomorrow, Berea, KY.