The Bunny accompanied me, for the first time ever, to one of my literary conferences. Generally, these events are boring, yes-man conventions where we all try to impress one another with how many -isms we can name. This conference, however, was a convening of creative voice across the Southern region, and it just happened to occur right here in my home state of Tennessee. I met Dorothy Allison, Marsha Norman, Beth Henley, Lee Smith, and a bevy of other literary idols. It gives me chills just thinking about it now...
Because the conference was in Chattanooga, and the Bunny, unlike me, had never been to the kitschy touristy spots up that way--Rock City and Ruby Falls--we made a point of spending one day just exploring these places.
Rock City was completely deserted, and though I remembered the "See Sevens States" spot from my childhood, I was floored by the shiny Starbucks built beside the park entrance. Ruby Falls was fun enough, but a trashy family from Kentucky defiled as many natural cave formations as possible, and I started getting pissy after said family kept asking the foreigners from Georgia--the country NOT the state--if they knew "so-n-so in Atlanta."
Because pictures tell it better, I'm including some of the high points from our trip:
1 comments:
The story about the family from Kentucky is hilarious! One would think the lack of Southern accent would have tipped off the Kentucky family though from the sound of it I'm sure plenty escapes them.
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