Tennessee, and the remainder of Homeleave

We got to Maryland, spent a night with my aunt and uncle and the cousins. The next morning my uncle kindly helped me install a new battery in the car I had parked at their place while we were in Chile. We drove down to Tennessee to see my grandparents, and hang out for a while.

We got our driver's license renewed, the car passed the inspection, and we got it registered--cause to celebrate. We went to a Chinese place my wife liked to eat at when she was in college here.


The fried rice was good too, but I don't know why Blogger.com has to flip it the wrong way....

We stopped by to visit my college roommate Jeff and his wife and kids. How fast they grow! His wife is an amazing cook and interior decorator.


My honey and I tried to go camping, but it rained so much we only spent one night at Harrison Bay state park.

The next day we hiked around Red Clay State Park and contemplated my Cherokee ancestry.

It was very relaxing to stay with my grandparents, and we had the chance to unwind. We helped Grandma do her yard sales, and I enjoyed walking with grandpa in the mornings. He still walks 6-8 miles a day--not bad for an 86 year old!

Finally our month of congressionally-mandated home leave came to an end and we drove back up to DC/Northern Virginia and checked into our lodgings. (No, not Oakwood apartments). Hungry, we set out and found some delicious Vietnamese food.

My brother was in town for his State Department Foreign Service assessment, and he was successful! We enjoyed staying together at our place.

The night before, we went out to celebrate his birthday in Alexandria, and started the evening off with drinks of lemonade, iced tea, and cranberry juice.

To celebrate his success on the oral assessment, we went to Ravi Kebab near FSI and I got to brush off my Urdu. The food was delicious but Blogger likes to rotate my food photos--not sure why!