Pining for the Fjords

Did you read Part 1 ? Smiling at you from the corner of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia When last I blogged, we'd started our vacation adventure by spending the evening in Lexington, Kentucky, and we were headed out of town toward our rental cabin in the Smoky Mountains. Although you can make it from Lexington to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (where the cabin was located) in around 3 1/2 hours, I routed us the scenic way to ensure we didn't miss two very important local landmarks/attractions.  On the way to our first stop, we made a brief and unscheduled pause at the Kentucky Artisan Center in Berea; we needed a bathroom break, and the Center more than fit the bill.  Not only were the restrooms clean and handy, but the Center itself was full of amazing arts and crafts for purchase from local makers.  While it wasn't open when we breezed through (and we had other lunch plans - spoiler alert), there was also a café on site, so you could take care of all of your needs in one pl...

Well, howdy there, friends and blog readers!  It's been a pretty quiet summer at Casa de Olsen, so there hasn't been too much to blog about over the past few months - we were just staying at home (in the AC, parked directly under the ceiling fan), adventuring out every now and then for some great dinners and small gatherings with friends. I've mentioned this on the blog before, but early fall is really rough for us here in the Valley of the Sun; the rest of the country is starting to cool off, either in earnest or just a bit overnight, but we're still hitting above 110 most days.  You can only see so many "Buy some tweed clothes!" emails in your Inbox while it's sweltering outside before you completely lose your damn mind.  In our case, we find that this is a great time to travel - the summer rush is over, and most places are more temperate than Phoenix (not that this is hard).  UoPX also replenishes my vacation time every year on 9/1, and I'm normally...