We Take Ourselves With Us

Sometime during the winter, CBS Sunday Morning (which we watch every Sunday as a family; Harper expresses great displeasure whenever Charles Osgood deigns to call in sick) ran a feature on the Mammoth Caves.  We watched in awe. "We want to go to there," we thought.  With a bit of time on Google Maps, we realized we could visit the caves in Kentucky and then visit Tennessee: Nashville, Memphis, Dollywood!  And so ... We're on summer vacation in the South.  As my Southern-born and named son Penn observed, "You know you're in the South when the church is selling fireworks as a fundraiser."  Note, he said this just as we pulled into Zaxby's--where fried chicken fingers are an art form. Our trip began in the land of another chicken delicacy: Buffalo.  After getting our Upstate-on at Anchor Bar. Fried pickles, wings, wing dip, wing nuggets, beef on weck? Um, yes. We settled down at the gate, where for the first time in my hundreds of f...

Like most of our trips, this one started at about 3:30 am as we dragged sleepy selves to catch a 6 am flight.  Look at the joy on Harper's face.  By the way, her disappointment was as driven by our refusal to buy her a salad out of the "fresh" vending machine at 4:30 am as it was at the time of day.  Seriously? Vending machine salad? We had a pitstop at JFK, long enough to pick up some Baked by Melissa minis, which made everyone a bit perkier.  Plus, T5 has the best soundtrack.  Any terminal that spins cuts by the National is a-okay in my book! Then, Jacksonville, the go-to airport for most of my life.  We found our lunch at Zaxby's .  Oh, Zaxby's chicken fingers!  You'll never be Guthrie's, but what chicken finger could compete with the deliciousness of gas-station driven thru chicken fingers, eaten in the Archer Road Target parking lot.  None chicken finger, that's what.  Still, Zaxby's is a solid substitute: fr...