From the Middle of Nowhere to the Center of Everything.

Last night, my husband said something to the effect of, "In two days we've gone from the wilderness to the center of the world's news." From Saturday through Monday, we did a couple of things that were not exactly our normal routine. And boy, were those two things different!

Monday night, we sat in the studio at CNN with Nancy Grace as she did her show live. (I apologize in advance to my sister, Frankie, and Dave for the following photo. I don't usually subject them to appearing on the blog, but this picture is just too good. Plus, Nancy showed us on camera for about two seconds, so we've already made fools of ourselves, anyway.)







Nancy and I have known each other since we were six. I lost touch with her for years, but it's been fun to reconnect lately. She invited me, Dave, and Frankie to come to her show. What a fascinating experience, to see all the feverish activity that's going on around Nancy while video clips or commercials are playing. How she juggles all that information, and the folks talking at her in her earpiece, and clips and callers and guests is beyond me.


Our destination the weekend before was a little bit different from a bustling place like CNN. Dave and I, his boss and boss's wife went hiking. We stayed at the Len Foote Hike Inn at Amacalola Falls State Park.

To stay there, you must hike the five-mile trail to the inn, so the plan was to hike up there on Saturday, spend the night, and hike back down. (Again, I apologize in advance for the photos. I took these with my cell phone, and apparently I always hold the cell phone sideways when I snap the picture.) I took this one in back of the Visitors' Center, just before we started out, which shows that you're near the start of the Appalachian Trail.



I was a little nervous about this trip. Dave and the others are experienced hikers and campers. I'm experienced at taking elevators and staying in hotels. I was afraid I couldn't keep up, and they'd be sick of me by Sunday. But we took our time, and it was fine.

Still, I've never been so happy to see anything as I was to see the Lodge about three hours after we started the hike.

Especially since, right before we reached the Inn, we saw a sign that said, "Please don't feed the bears." If I had realized there was a possibility that I might provide food for a bear on that trail, I probably would have waited in the van!