August 12, 2005

• My Nashville Post

  I had a blast in this city! So much fun
  with the conference, the people, and the place I stayed at. The Gaylord
  Opryland Hotel/Resort/Conference Center was my home for almost a week,
  and my view from the balcony of our FREE room was this every night with
  live music playing until 1 am. [note the blue illuminated fountain]

  

  The whole hotel was pretty surreal -
  they have 4.5 acres under their domes between a series of atriums. Then
  in the morning, I woke up to this out my door!

  

  There's a river with a boat (yes, and
  boat tours) that runs through it all - and a bunch of Tennessee
  catfish. So many corny elements, we couldn't help but laugh. Oh, this
  was the site of my meeting the hotel operator....long story that I'm
  delighted to share offline.

   Our first days were at a park for the International Tree Climbing
  Competition! Yeah! Few of you would appreciate the meaning behind all
  of this, but here's a fun pic I took from the aerial rescue preliminary
  event.

  

  Here is Jarod with a little two
  year old climber! She and hundreds of other kids joined us for the
  kid's climb that we've volunteered for over the last 3 years. It is so
  much fun! And so rewarding! This girl cried at first, but I talked to
  her, and she was all smiles in no time!

  We competed as well! In the Rakemaster Challenge, our Wisconsin team
  took third place internationally facing tough competition from the
  Ontario and New England chapters. Next year.... Here's part of the
  relay race where the heat of battle was really cranked up in steaming
  hot weather.

  

  Confidential to Matt because I know he would appreciate the size of this mixing board.

  

  So here we are at the 3-story Wildhorse
  Saloon with a huge crowd of people line-dancing to country music! Never
  in Milwaukee could you pull that off... It was quite a lot of fun - I
  shot pool and watched people dance, including some intense dance-off
  challenges!

  

  Meeting people is always high on my list
  of priorities. Here I am with Susan in one of the many little places at
  our hotel. Many late nights and early mornings....but she was a lot of
  fun - working for a non-profit organization that plants trees. Alas,
  she has a boyfriend of six years...such lucky guys out there.

  

  Enough with girls, though. It's the
  quality time with GUYS that matters! Hehe... Ryan and I are fooling
  around here, but this is just a single snapshot of the shenanigans of
  the week. Bed buddies are always a recipe for disaster. Right, Brent?

  

  Next
  year, I'm looking forward to participating in the Tour des Trees ride
  that will go from the north side of Lake Superior down into Wisconsin,
  all the way to Minneapolis. This girl had something to do with my
  decision-making process. And best of all, it's raising money for tree
  research. Just have to get a road bike and raise $3500. Offering anyone?

  • 9:18 pm
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