WAAAAAAAAAAH!!

Is it already over? *sigh* We had the BEST time down in Tennessee with our DG friends. There were 27 Dave's Garden subscribers down there, and by the time all the spouses, significant others, kids and friends were included, the count was around 72, I believe! There were liberal doses of hugs, lots of laughs, and -- holy COW -- a lot of plants traded. Howie and I tent camped, and we learned the tent sites were quite a ways away from the RV spots and main "civilization". At first, we didn't like that (especially considering the shower house was that far), but in the end we found it was nice because it gave us the chance to get away from the crowd a bit and greet each morning at our own (very slow) pace.

The campsite was sheltered (if you can call it sheltered) by some trees which attracted some huge emerald beetles. They kept their activities up in the top part of the trees, thank goodness. The few we saw were, ummmm, otherwise occupied (read: mating). We enjoyed being serenaded by a mockingbird, both day and night. Horseshoe counted sixteen songs coming from it one time -- just amazing. I'm not sure if I'd enjoy having one sitting outside my window every night, but it was fun for a couple days. We also enjoyed freshly brewed coffee with Horseshoe each morning, courtesy of Shoe and his cast-iron dutch oven. Seeing Shoe and his daughter enjoying each others' company like that made me wistful; I think it's wonderful they have a good relationship and have been able to enjoy a week's camping together like that. I bet mamma's going to be glad to see them back, though!

There's just so much to tell about this weekend, I don't know how to write it all down. The weekend went way too fast, just like they always do. I can't believe it's over, but it is. DH and I left Tennessee about 1:00pm and pulled in at home around 10:15pm. Unlike the ride down, which was lovely and cool because we drove overnight, the trip home was horribly hot and sticky because we drove home in the heat of the day. Our poor puppies were sacked out flat in the back seat, panting hard and looking pretty listless. We stopped often, gave them water (and even Gatorade at one point!) and let them (and us) stretch. But, oh, how interminable that drive seemed!