Tennessee visit

The last Monday in May is designated 'Memorial Day' here in the US. It's kind of like ANZAC Day in NZ and Australia but I do find it a bit freaky on account of the country actually being at war right now. People get quite into the flag thing (they are everywhere in people's gardens, on their porches etc) and in a lot of cases, they stay up until the 4th July. A lot of people use the day to visit cemetaries, and I remember last year the one near the Berkley house was completely carpeted in flags. Who puts them there I dont know, but they were placed every couple of metres and the cemetary is acres and acres of ground.

This time Jamie had finished a week of nights so essentially had the Friday off, and had the weekend and Monday off and was not working until Tuesday @ 3pm. So we decided to go and visit Chad in Tennessee to check out his new house! Those of you who came to our wedding will remember Chad who was Jamie's best man and how he was about to head off for his 2nd tour in Iraq (why they call it a 'Tour' I'll never know, as it doesnt sounds very tour-like to me - more like try and dodge the things that shoot at you in a very expensive helicopter). Thankfully he is back safe and sound due to his skill and our 3x a day prayers for his safety and has bought a very cool house near his new base at Fort Campbell for the new job he has taken on with the 'Special Operations' people. In typing this, I wasnt sure how much I should say but there is plenty of internet info about the 'Night Stalkers' as they call them and I read most of a fascinating book about them whilst we were there so I have added in some links.

Well, we had a VERY cool time, it was quite the relaxing getaway! We enjoyed touring through his very cool house (you view things quite differently when you have been doing your own rennovations!) sampled the local BBQ cuisine, assisted with Chad's purchase of his own BBQ, went to what is surely one of the largest shopping malls on the planet (one website says they have over 1 million square feet of shopping), relaxed in the sun and walked down the main street of Nashville where I have never seen so many cowboy boots in one place!

We had a great time (thank you Chad!) and will continue our adventure next week when he comes with us to Australia!