Kat's Mission Trip to Mexico ~ June 2012

Kat was part of a group of 17 from West Coast Church who went to

Mexico to build a house for a family in need.

This is the "home" of the family.  Kat said there were rats and crockroaches.

Kat help prepare the cement for the foundation. 

The mixing was "back breaking".

Next they built the walls.

Then they installed chicken wire and tar paper.

Then they applies stucco.

Kat with Chanel and David.

They went to lunch on the last day down by the beach.

Kat with Rex.

Every night they had a campfire.

Janessa, Chanel, Monae, Nona, and Kat.

They all bought pull-over poncho style jackets from a local vendor.

The group on the last day in front of the house they built!

Day #6 - More Nashville

 We started the day with a tour of a beautiful plantation called Belle Meade.

We walked the grounds and were given a tour of the house.

This pot was used to scald the pigs --- yikes!

Once killed, the pigs were skinned and then hung to cure in this smoke house.

Here is Mark pretending to be Billy Graham and me with a giant guitar.

We visited the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum.  The displays were fantastic.

Here is one of Minnie Pearl's dresses and below are Carl Perkin's Blue Suede Shoes.

This is a display depicting a scene from Hee Haw.

We visited the Willie Nelson store and museum.

We had Supper at the Backstage Opry Grill.  

Above was our appetizer of biscuits covered in cheesy gravy.  

Mark had fried Chicken with succotash and mac-n-cheese.

I had meat loaf with sweet potato fries and mac-n-cheese.

(They seem to serve mac-n-cheese with everything.)

After dinner we went to the Grand Old Opry.  It was a very entertaining show.

Out front.

Our view of the stage.

After the show we took a back stage tour.  These are the Grand Old Opry member's personal mail boxes and below is one of the dressing rooms.

Day #5 ~ Nashville

We started the day with a visit to the two local universities.

Tennessee State & Vanderbilt.

 We visited Central Park where they have a life size replica of the Parthenon - very impressive!

We took a mid-day cruise down the Cumberland River on the General Jackson.

We had lunch, saw a show and enjoyed the view.

A view of Nashville from the river.

We visited The Heritage, the home of President Andrew Jackson. 

They had audio self guided tour.  It was very interesting.

Mark with his headphones and map.

We had to try the local fast food.  

It was similar to White Castle.

We ended the day with a Triple A baseball game at Greer Stadium.

The local team the Nashville Sounds played the Oklahoma City Redhawks.

This is Mark with Ozzie the Nashville Sounds mascot.

Day #4 ~ A day on the road

We drove south on route 65.  

They sold Boiled Peanuts at the gas station.

In Lynchburg we visited the Jack Daniel's Distillery.  They had a great museum and tour.

Giant fire pits were they make their famous charcoal that they use to filter the whiskey.

Mark acting like Jack.

Rows and rows of whiskey barrels.

The Jack Daniel's moto.

Mark taking a whiff.

After the tour we walked downtown and had lunch at the Bar-B-Que Caboose Cafe.

Back on the road we drove to Bell Buckle - home of the Moon Pie.

Sadly we just missed the RC Cola and Moon Pie Festival.  

Mark bought boxes of Moon Pies to share with his co-workers.

We then drove to Murfreesboro. 

We stopped briefly at the Middle Tennessee State University. 

 This is a picture of the softball field. 

We visited Stones River Battlefield.

Back in Nashville we went the Loveless Cafe for a Fried Chicken Dinner.