Erika Bonham dot com

February 21, 2006

So here we are in Tennessee and it is beautiful. And a tad bit cold.

We had a crazy trip out here. We were supposed to fly out of Ontario airport (Ontario, CA not Ontario Canada) at 8:10 AM on Saturday. We arrived there around 6:30 AM and discovered that our flight had been cancelled due to weather issues in Dallas (we had a lay over there). We were rescheduled to fly out at 2:30 PM. We actually left Ontario at 3:00 PM or so which means we had a little more than 8 hours to hang out at the airport. No where to go, not much to do. We know that airport very well. Lots of walking/strolling and doing all we could to entertain Ethan.

So, we left at 3 PM and arrived in Dallas a little over two hours later. Our flight leaving Dallas was also delayed, so we got us some Starbucks and pizza and hung out. A little bit before our flight was to leave, we ended up plugging in our laptop next to this couple with a little one of their own and made some new friends. They live in Nashville and we may end up meeting them for lunch this next weekend when we head back over there. They were very cool…maybe too cool for us, but they seemed to like us. We discovered they were Christians and had a ton to talk about with them. The girl is in a Christian band I was vaguelly familiar with quite a few years back. It was very cool.

We finally boarded the plane to Nashville around 10:30 PM Dallas time (8:30 PM California time). We then proceeded to sit on the plane for over an hour as the plane was de-iced. I have to say at this time that my son is a trooper. He was awesome. He hardly fussed the whole day and was a great sport. He was so happy and good for the hour we sat there, hardly moving and then fell asleep right as the plane took off. He cried a few minutes at one point, but man. He was SO GOOD. I must also mention that our dear friends Eric and Tisra Fadely were waiting for us in Nashville. We were supposed to arrive there at 5:00 PM Nashville time. We got there at 2:15 AM. We were leaving California when we were supposed to be arriving in Tennessee. Eric and Tisra were awesome. They are awesome. They waited and waited for us. Eric spent an hour waiting at the airport for us, took us back to their place, and got us settled. They missed church, made us crepes, and were just so wonderful. We are eternally grateful. Their house is lovely and their children adorable. We got a little time to visit, but we are very much looking forward to next weekend when we get to spend a little more time together.

Eric drove us back to the airport Sunday morning and we picked up our rental car…initially a silver Dodge Neon. They inspected it, we loaded it up. We drove three feet and someone stopped us and told us we had a flat tire. We waited another 1/2 hour, got upgraded to a Hyundai Sonata and finally were on our way to Knoxville.

Two hours or so later, we arrived in Clinton, Tennessee. Andrew welcomed us to their cute little place. I forgot to mention. There was snow. We actually saw some snow fall when we got to Andrew and Pam’s place. Very cool. It isn’t too cold, really and it is so beautiful here. So spacious and simple. I like it. Everywhere you look, there is something pretty. We have eaten at Cracker Barrell, Big Ed’s Pizza, and Hard Rock Cafe Gatlinburg. The food is very different here. People’s habits seem different here, too. We have explored Knoxville, Gatlinburg, and the Smoky Mountains. Ethan is adjusting well and loves his uncle, auntie, and their dog Abby. We are finally catching up on sleep and enjoying ourselves very much. It is so cool to see where Andrew and Pam live and to be here.

Tennessee is the place to be:)

♥