Have you ever had a flying dream? Hot air ballooning is a little like that. You float above your normal plane of existence just high enough to see your surroundings from a whole new perspective, but different than looking out the window of an airplane, because you still feel like you are part of your surroundings. Our balloon pilot Chris said it is the closest you can get to being a bird. For about an hour we hovered between 2300 feet high and ground level (w...

Crossing the panhandle of Texas was something we had to do. I don't know that Amarillo, TX is on anyone's bucket list, and the drive through Oklahoma to Texas was one of the long legs of the trip just to get it done, but there were a few interesting and thought provoking moments. Now I told the kids that I read you might see buffalo in Oklahoma. My hope was to drive through reservation land where the buffalo really do roam, but our only sighting was along a ro...

They don't call it Hot Springs fer nuthin'! The water that comes from natural thermal springs in the mountain can get up to 140 degrees F. It was the first national park before there were national parks. The federal government, by act of Congress in 1832, created a reserve so that the public could access the healing waters, and it has been a popular place ever since for celebrities, athletes, and just plain folk to refresh, relax and rejuvenate in the spas that...

"Early morning, April fourShot rings out in the Memphis skyFree at last, they took your lifeThey could not take your pride" These lyrics from the U2 song trigger the emotion felt in Memphis at the National Civil Rights Museum. It is a powerful place. As the kids sat at the restaurant counter where African Americans would not be served, as they walked off the bus Rosa Parks was told to leave, as they peered through the bars of the Birmingham Jail cell where Mar...

"One Forward!" is what Stoney, our rafting guide called out when we had to dig in our paddle blade to the mighty Pigeon River and pull to help maneuver our raft. In the heart of the Smoky Mountains on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina flows the Pigeon River, but you need to know when it flows. The river, once polluted by a paper mill, is used primarily now for hydroelectric power and the new industry of white water rafting tourism. Certain days of the...