Graceland.....home to the King

Here we are in Memphis, visiting Graceland with hungry boys in tow. We have not eaten at all today and it is 2:00pm, energy is subsiding. We toured the house, saw the graves, visited the plane and car collection. Smaller home than I had imagined. Such a shame he passed so early.
Definitely a cool experience and one worth doing, even worth skipping meals for.
Off to find food now......

Off to Memphis.....

Went to Nashvillle Palace for dinner last night and listened to various musicians, very country and very Nashville. We are pickin'up the local accent. Grilled chicken was microwaved into rock form, if ain't fried, it ain't good!

Woke up at 6am, and are now on a 3 hour trek to Memphis where we will stay the night and visit with Elvis.
Weather is hot and balmy, everyone still likes each other so we are having fun, good times ahead!

Thanks for caring enough to read my posts....is anyone out there? Put your cowboy hat on in honor of us today....need to start a new trend when we get home so we can continue to wear all our new hats.

Check in with us in Memphis where we will be sporting our new Southern look!

Grand Ole Opry

>

> Went to the gym, had CrackleBarrel breakfast with grits and grease and made our way downtown to the heart of Nashville. Went to Ryman Auditorium which is home of the original Grand Ole Opry.
> Went for some drinks and a bite to eat and listened to some live Country music, made me cry, I new I hated country music for a reason. So sad...heartbreaking really. Funniest thing... 22 years ago today Phil and I got married.....so weird! Weather is hot at 95 degrees.
> Tomorrow off to Memphis to see Graceland.

Arrival at Gaylord Resort and Spa......beautiful hotel!

We arrived at 4:30pm, made great time. Drive down was great, played scrabble, two pit stops and some beautiful sight seeing. Nice lush lands....too many deer hit along roadside though.
Kids went swimming at hotel while we toured the grounds, so beautiful. Rivers, jungle, park like settings throughout the hotel grounds, is enormous. Went for dinner at Jack Daniels..Phil says best ribs ever..lots of fried food and I was able to leave the restaurant with my unfinished wine..that is the best thing ever. Boys are happy......life feels pretty good today!
See the beauty of the hotel.

Crossing Over to the other side

Surprisingly easy! Less than 5 minutes...

6am Sunrise

Appreciating the beauty of the sunrise....

Early Morning Start

So, we are officially on our way. Up at 3am, on the road at 4am, so far so good. Driving to Sarnia and crossing into the US from there. Driving through Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, this will get us to Nashville where we will stay for 2 nights at the Gaylord Resort and Spa, then off to Memphis on the 31st.
Moods are good although Justin refused to play scrabble with me, silly boy! He will soon learn the consequences.
Phil is following behind in the 31'RV, impressive driving as he has 6 kids in tow, would make for a good Tylenol commercial.
Roads are slick as it has just rained, but we are on our way to sunny days........
Stay tuned!

Traveling Trailer......yeeehaaaaaa!!!!!!

The Stresses of Packing...what to wear?

The stress of packing for the sunny southern states is more than I want to think about right now, short shorts, cowboy boots, halter tops, bikinis....'yikes....what is about to happen here? I am not ready, need a few more days of low carb eating...

I am about to morph back in time, to a time when I was barely a few years old and people were singing about giving peace a chance.
The Wakarusa Festival if you care to google it at http://www.wakarusa.com/ will be something out of a movie, students camping in tents ~16,000 people in the mountains, all there to forget about everyday life, forget about work, bills, school, illness, and just BE!

Actually the more I think about it....this is going to be great.

I will learn to become a human BEing as opposed to a human DOing!

Maybe you should join me this week and forget about whatever woes you and just BE!

Wakarusa , we are on our way

Life....
Who would have guessed that my son would be diagnosed at the age of 17 with a brain tumour. Not in a million years.....well here we are almost one year later, two surgeries, 6 weeks of radiation and chemotherapy and we are on our way to Wakarusa.

Another life experience I never would have guessed. What's with all the surprises!

This is going to be one hell of a road trip, our quirky extended family of nine - Me (Paula), Philip (ex husband), Graham (new husband), Julie (new wife), Jacob (17yr old), and his siblings Lucas, Quinton, Sophie and Chloe...oh and did I mention we are bringing three of Jacobs good friends, Justin, Greg and Daniel.

All twelve of us on our way to celebrate life, friendship and the love of family, no matter what and who that family consists of.

You will want to tune into the dynamics of this trip as we create memories that will last a life time.

A few things you should know,

• We are staying in RV's (not my typical gig)
• In the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas
• Driving down in an RV to Nashville 
• Then off to Memphis, we will arrive at our destination RV in Wakarusa on June 1st

See, now you can appreciate how unique this will be....Waka Waka!!

This trip has been provided to Jacob by the 'Childrens Wish Foundation' an amazing organization that grants wishes to children that are dealing with a life threatening illness, the team that have worked on making this happen are truly special people and we are grateful for the experience they are providing us.
Support this organization so they can continue to bring wishes to children - Thank you!

I look forward to posting pictures, videos, good days, bad days and all the days in between as we head off into the wild blue yonder....