While in Louisville, we stayed with Perry, Stephanie and Vincent. Their home is located in the St Matthews neighborhood, on the east side. They also have 3 pets: Frisco the dog and Greenville and Speckles, 2 box turtles. By Friday of our visit, Stephanie had gotten a tiny painted turtle from one of her ESL colleagues. We named her Okane (honorable money) or Kaneoka (money hill in Japanese) because we were hoping she would bring good luck money while we were feng shui-ing their home. Mark enjoyed sketching the box turtles. During the week, we also dined at Vietnam Kitchen, Lemongrass Cafe and Simply Thai. What great ethnic eateries! We also had dessert at Graeters, a locally-owned ice cream shop.
Notice the blooming white pear and pink plum blossom trees! By Friday, spring had sprung in Louisville!
The photo of the pegasus sculpture is located downtown in front of the Presbyterian Church USA headquarter, where Perry works as a congregational researcher.
Many thanks to our hosts for driving us around town and letting us stay at their home!
On our way home from Louisville, on Saturday, March 24, we stayed overnight at a rental "cabin" next to Smokies Mt National Park. Mark's brother, Dave, and his fiancee, Marcia, were renting this cabin for their spring break and invited us to join them for a visit. We hiked the Greenbrier section of the park and enjoyed viewing the Little Pigeon Forge (?) River. Some folks were fly fishing and Dave was anxious to do the same thing the next morning. We arrived home on Sunday after about a 10-hour drive from Gatlinburg. It was a very enjoyable spring break/working vacation!
