Cool sounding trip, Dorph! Right up your alley! Congrats big time to Robin! And Jan? Stop getting sick! That's an order! I'm sitting on the bed of our hotel room in Sevilla, Spain right now. We got in a few hours ago, we've had a poquito siesta, and we're trying to cobble together a plan for dinner. Since this is the birth place of tapas, I'm thinking we'll slap on our walking shoes around 9pm-ish and just walk from bar to bar to sample the local delights. Tomorrow morning I have an all day market tour and cooking class set up for just me while Steve attends his meeting, and then we have the whole rest of the week and weekend to get to know the city better. My Spanish is pretty weak, but that doesn't stop me from trying it out. I know from experience that one looks less foolish making mistakes while *trying* to speak the native tongue than one does by responding to every question with a loud "Do you speak English?" Our cabbie was cool and helped me with my pronunciation and after some slow exchanges he asked me if I spoke French (seeing as how I answered him in half French/half Spanish). He was fluent but for his heavy accent (as was I, but for mine) so we got a 20 minute personal run-down in the city in French. I hope I can shake this jet lag nonsense because I'm so thrilled to be here right now and I want to soak the experience in. Life is so short and uncertain. I want to seize every moment on this trip.

Great quote! I'm writing that one down. And Son of Sam, I remember him all too well. When he was on his rampage in NYC, I was traveling there a lot on business, & I remember just how terrified people were to go out at night.

When we start to travel like this.. I intend to take lots and lots and lots of photos.. and share with my internet friends... Thank you Jemdandy for sharing the info.... Bollinger Mill is only about 60 miles from his place in Fisk.. easy peasy day trip.. ...and Alley Millis just 85 miles.. another easy peasy day trip... Larry loves war history and museums, etc... and so battlefields are his cup of tea.. We have some friends that do civil war re-enactments and have been invited to attend some of those with them.. .. and Larry said "Most definitely !!".. We live quite close to Shiloh, and so one day we plan to go back there again to tour that battlefield.. Last time there, it started to rain.. so didn't get to see much.. but we did get to eat at a great eatery that did smoked catfish... deelish.. and worth the trip.. We would not have found it if it were not for the rain.. what a blessing eh?? Carolyn

My purple coneflowers & zinnias are just now going out. My hummers are gone and the robins are starting to come in. I am just above you living in the woods next to Fort Rucker. Visit us over on the butterfly forum