Vacation Week Three

On my way to Tennessee to visit a college roommate, I took a detour to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. I lived in Kentucky for over twenty years and never visited the museum. Today was the day! I have loved Corvettes since I was a child. It was one of my favorite Matchbox cars back in the day! Here are a couple of pictures:

This pic is a simulation of the HUGE sinkhole that opened up in the museum several years ago. It is amazing that the museum and cars were restored!

The visit with my college roommate in Nashville was great. We reconnected about a decade ago and have kept in touch regularly ever since! I got to meet is beautiful baby granddaughter. He and his wife are so proud! The little angel seemed to like her great-uncle Duane too!

After that visit, I was off to Huntsville, Alabama to visit the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. It is also the location for Space Camp! I saw a lot of space stuff that I hadn't seen in the many museums I have been fortunate to visit over the years. I am sort of a space geek! I also saw some of the space camp attendees doing their thing. Here are a few pics...

The obligatory selfie..

A picture of Skylab, the predecessor to the ISS (International Space Station)

The obligatory silly picture...

Not only did I learn about space stuff in Huntsville, I also ran across something that my Columbus book club read about earlier this year. One of the Trail of Tears traveled by our indigenous folks went through Huntsville! From what I could tell online, this trail ended in Oklahoma. There were several trails from the East and Midwest that were traveled to the reservations in the Western states. Here is one of the signs:

You can learn more about the Trail of Tears (really the "trails" of tears) and the national trail here.

I ran across this trail a few times driving from Huntsville towards Fort Smith, Arkansas, then on to Amarillo, Texas.

I planned to surprise an old college roommate that lives in Amarillo. Apparently I should have planned better because I didn't get to see him. If I had planned better, I could have seen one of his performances. I missed out because of the hotel reservations I had in place.

Next is Week Four! The adventure continues!