Big MO Gathering in Chattanooga, TN (Not planned)

[triplethreat]

Peggy and I, and Rossi, our Manchester Terrier have an annual camping trip that includes my Daughter and her husband meeting up with us for several days of camping fun. We like to camp of course, but also enjoy bicycling, hiking, and just hanging out since they live 500 miles from us and it's great to catch up in person. Kristen's B-Day and Rossi's is in Oct, mine and Peggy's is in Nov, and Greg's is in Dec. This year, Kristen and Greg both turn 40, so we decided to help them celebrate that milestone while on our annual camping trip. Peg made a chocolate cake with buttercream icing for the party, and along with that I grilled some chicken, then Brats, then we had BBQ Pork Steaks, then Ribs.....I'm home now but I still feel stuffed! LOL!

The weather was absolutely perfect for this campout/celebration. Friday, when we arrived it was touching 80°, then Sat/Sun was in the low to mid 80s, and Monday was fine until the cold front started moving in towards the afternoon/evening time. By that time however, we had ridden our bikes on the Tennessee Riverwalk all the way down to the Pedestrian/biking bridge that crosses the Tennessee River and takes you over to the North side of it, taken a hike on Sunday at the Lula Lake Land Trust area, and celebrated the young folks 40th birthday. Even Rossi got in on the celebrating with his very own party hat. He wasn't as pleased about having it on for the pictures as we were, but he absolutely loves my daughter and SIL, so he tolerated it.

What I wasn't expecting was 4 Big MO triple axle campers all in the same row at the Holiday Travel Park in Chattanooga. 3 of the 4 of them were towed with WHITE F350 Dually Ford trucks. I was the only one with a BLACK F350 Dually Ford. I'm now convinced that I must be the "Black Sheep" of the family...LOL. Here are some pics of the extended weekend......

And the perfect example of No Willpower......eating half of the cake BEFORE the Birthday celebration/party!......and actually, all of us were Guilty as charged. LOL

 

[Jims94vmx]

Looks like you all had a great time.

 

[triplethreat]

We did for sure. Right now, they live in Columbia, MO and are seriously thinking of moving to the Chattanooga, TN area next year....so they spent part of the day on Monday talking to the head of the Economic Development for the Chattanooga area and also checking out some areas where they might be interested in living....if they move. They run their own business, so they are somewhat flexible on where they can live, but Chattanooga area is a great city for hiking, biking, and business that they are in would seem to work well in that area. I'm hoping that things work out for that move, as they would then be less than two hours away from us, up by Knoxville, instead of mid MO that is 500 miles from us. We'll see what happens.

 

[Soundsailor]

I'm now convinced that I must be the "Black Sheep" of the family.

Think we already knew that

 

[dryfly]

That chocolate cake looks fantastic! Looks like a great place to ride bikes (and burn off the calories from excessive cake consumption).

 

[WhittleBurner]

A great time for all of you !! Is that cake really birthday brownies ?? The weekend weather surely was on your side. Are you house shopping for the kids, get ready to do the video tours for them.

We have gotten quite a few Video tours through houses and vacant land from my brother since we said we want move down near them. He does a great job and they know us well so know what we like and want. One tour the realtor called us and was beaming on the great job he does!

 

[Ynot4me2]

There's nothing like family time.

 

[triplethreat]

A great time for all of you !! Is that cake really birthday brownies ?? The weekend weather surely was on your side. Are you house shopping for the kids, get ready to do the video tours for them.

We have gotten quite a few Video tours through houses and vacant land from my brother since we said we want move down near them. He does a great job and they know us well so know what we like and want. One tour the realtor called us and was beaming on the great job he does!

As per Peggy.....it's a flourless Choc. cake for those who need to be Gluten free (my daughter). She said it has eggs, butter, powdered sugar, bittersweet chocolate, and cocoa in it. She's made it before this time and even though I don't need Gluten free stuff.....it is really, really good.....and the Birthday girl wanted that, along with the butter-cream icing. Peg made the icing too and stored it in a vacuum seal bag ahead of time, then froze it. Take it out of the freezer and let it thaw and put as much or as little icing as you want on it.

Yep, couldn't have asked for better weather....perfect. No house shopping yet, as they would probably try to rent at least for a while. They would need to see how Chattanooga would work out for them, as far as their business, but it does look promising so far.

 

[WhittleBurner]

As per Peggy.....it's a flourless Choc. cake for those who need to be Gluten free (my daughter). She said it has eggs, butter, powdered sugar, bittersweet chocolate, and cocoa in it. She's made it before this time and even though I don't need Gluten free stuff.....it is really, really good.....and the Birthday girl wanted that, along with the butter-cream icing. Peg made the icing too and stored it in a vacuum seal bag ahead of time, then froze it. Take it out of the freezer and let it thaw and put as much or as little icing as you want on it.

Yep, couldn't have asked for better weather....perfect. No house shopping yet, as they would probably try to rent at least for a while. They would need to see how Chattanooga would work out for them, as far as their business, but it does look promising so far.

​Care you share the recipe, my son is Celiac.. it looks good and must be if half was eaten b4 the frosting went on!