A Hickville Hootenanny

Uncle Joe, The Little Jo Girls and I are on vacation in Hickville USA. It is about a half of a tank of gas away from our home in Green Country and has several activities and attractions that we wanted to share with the girls.

I googled a map and had a plan for the trip, the promptly forgot to bring it with us. I was captain and UJ was the navigator. He chose a route that APPEARED to be quick on the atlas we had in the car. He later informed me, after mile after mile of windy, curvy, hilly roads that he didn't have his glasses on otherwise he would have notice it said SCENIC route. It was nice for the first few miles, then all that Diet Pepsi hit me. Then it was torture every mile. I stopped at the first convenience store in the middle of the woods.

We came into Hickville and Uncle Joe said, "You know who lives here don't you? Jamie Dawn."

I wondered if she and her family were up to a blogger meet, so I emailed her as soon as we got to the hotel, and waited with bated breath til morning. I got up first thing and checked my email and she agreed!! We were so excited :o) What a pleasant surprise!

We went to a local amusement park today and had a ball. They had two water rides that kept us cool and a nice water park that we didn't have the energy to play in. I had to drag CassiJo out crying for the water park. I had to promise to take her to Big Splash in Tulsa when we got back. It was just too hot for us and we had to get ready for our blogger meet!

Jamie Dawn and her family arrived at our hotel at 7pm on the dot. We were in the lobby incognito but she recognized us right away. It must have been UJ's Batman shirt that gave us away. She came bearing gifts of, you guessed it: truffles! and almonds from her familys farm in California.

She was tall just like I thought she would be and her family was just beautiful. You can tell they love each other very much and are very close.

We followed them to a wonderful restaurant on the lake...and I mean right ON the lake. We were seated right on the water on the "porch". The food was wonderful. I had "herb encrusted tilapia" and Jamie Dawn had sweet potatoe fries. They may sound kind of odd, but take our word, they are fabulous!
We had a great visit, and talked about all kinds of things. I think I probably jabbered. I usually do when I am nervous. The girls were a little subdued in the company of new friends, but soon warmed up. Cassidy warmed up so much she sang her rendition of "Oklahoma" for JamieDawn before we left. :o)

We both got pictures of our group, so stay tuned!

Thanks for taking time to meet us Jamie.! We hope to do it again some day. Maybe at Bloggerstock '08! :o)