Cowboy Diplomacy?

After all the blogs about waiting, I can finally write about traveling! After leaving Des Moines, we traveled straight through to Smithville, Tennessee where we stayed at a fantastic lodge resort. We arrived at about 11:30 in the evening, so it was quite dark. We made our way to our cabin and crashed for the night, but we woke up to some of the most beautiful scenes – rocking chairs! After the stress of entering the Foreign Service, packing, moving, quitting my job, leaving family and friends, and driving 12 hours nothing looked more inviting than two secluded rocking chairs overlooking a creek.

We didn’t stay on the rocking chairs long. There were fantastic hiking trails that lead to gorgeous waterfalls and a great swimming hole. We were able to enjoy the great Tennessee outdoors most of the day. After cleaning up, we had dinner at the lodge. Since we were the only guests, we had private seating, our own waiter, and a private chef. It was fantastic! Although my cousin, Angela, was in Des Moines, we were able to see Steve, her husband, as well as where Angela was taking glassblowing classes. Central Tennessee really is a magical place – I’m sure Melissa will post pictures on her blog of Facebook soon.

As I write this, we are sitting in a hotel room in Nashville on our way back to Des Moines for the final leg of our trip to DC. Although not a big fan of country music, Nashville is a very nice town. It is surprisingly clean and friendly with Southern architecture, cuisine, and charm. Along with that Southern charm came my fantastic wife’s idea to get my anniversary present a few days early. Our third anniversary is in 9 days, and the traditional gift for year three is leather – and what better way to use leather than to craft a great pair of cowboy boots! So to some of you this may seem pathetic; and to others very fitting, but my new pair of Luccheses are the highlight of the trip. Seriously, how many other guys have a wife so great that they would buy them a pair of the same boots given to every sitting president since 1890, made famous by John Wayne, and a favorite of both Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush!