Round 3 and Oopsie!

Today will be a little different in the Independence and Liberty Brackets because of two things. 1) Louisiana and Virginia tied on May 15th and the winner of those two is supposed to go up against Alabama. 2) Because someone (me) wasn't paying attention and typed Tennessee instead of Indiana. You would rather go to Tennessee than West Virginia but they weren't even in the same bracket. Yes, that was a heavy sigh you heard.

So today in both the Independence and Liberty Brackets you will be deciding between three states. Make it count.

Round Three!

Freedom Bracket: Would rather go to Kentucky or California?

Independence Bracket: Choose between Alabama, Louisiana and Virginia.

Liberty Bracket: Will it be Texas, West Virginia or Indiana?

Vote over there---->>>>>

Peggy and Robin actually read the Monday post and entered a poem for a drawing and Peggy you won! I'm off to Hobby Lobby to find my magical item. I hope it's still there but if it's not there's lots of other magic that I can choose.

Ding, Ding, Ding! Round 2

We've made it to Round 2 everyone- wahoo!

------->>>>>VOTE>>>>>

Freedom Bracket:
Pennsylvania or Alabama, where do you want to go? We went to Pennsylvania last year... will Alabama be able to beat them Pennsylvania today?

Independence Bracket:
I wasn't surprised Kentucky won over Maine with all the readers that we have there but I was surprised that Arkansas won over New Mexico. So can Arkansas win over Kentucky?

Liberty Bracket:
Up in the Liberty Bracket is Texas and North Carolina. North Carolina just barely squeaked by Colorado last week. Will they be able to take over the Lone Star State?

VOTE----->>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Where do you want to go?

Voting will be from 7:00 am to 6:00 am (CST) the next day. Unless I oversleep. Or forget. Then it will be later.

Vote in the sidebar 3 times ---------------------------->

Freedom: Alabama vs. New Jersey
The Heart of Dixie or the Garden State? This isn't the East vs. West that Julie and Tera were planning. It's more of the North vs. South. My favorite place in Alabama is on the shoreline near Gulf Shores but New Jersey has some coast line, too. Let's see- we have a few choices with Alabama- Birmingham, Mobile or Montgomery, I think. For New Jersey, would we fly into Newark? Or would fly into NYC and head over to New Jersey?

Vote ---------------------------->

Independence: Arkansas vs. New Mexico
The Land of Opportunity vs. The Land of Enchantment. That is one tough choice! Arkansas would most likely see us in Little Rock. And, New Mexico would maybe be Albuquerque or Santa Fe. I'd like some Enchanting Opportunity please.

Vote ---------------------------->

Liberty: Colorado vs. North Carolina.

The Rocky Mountains vs. the Blue Ridge Mountains- peak to peak! If Colorado was to win we would surely be visiting Denver. North Carolina would probably be Charlotte or Raleigh. What do you think?

Vote ---------------------------->

Now, I'm just throwing out suggestions so feel free to chime in and suggest a city in these states!

Let the Fun Begin!

Today's the Day! It's here! It's here! It's here! To get your points for Alabama, New Mexico, Texas, DC, Massachusetts or Hawaii post in the comment section the THING that makes your state the Taste of USA today!

Don't forget! Your challenge for extra points this week is to post the headlines from your local newspaper. If you send me photos, I will add them in today's post!

Welcome to the Cotton Deck

Hey, look everybody! It's Big Al and the boys!

Thanks to Allison for sharing that photo from Alabama!

We have recommendations to go to Gulf Shores, Florabama, and Florence. We have shout outs to the Grimes, to Corrie, to Patrick's family in Florence and Anonymous' Aunt Dee and the Williams family! And we even had a little friendly rivalry with the Roll Tide and a Tiger! :)

On the Turquoise Deck Claudia got engaged to the wrong person in New Mexico but it all worked out. Quynh suggests to go in late July- early August for hiking, biking, river rafting and more. Katie is shouting out to Jo Marie! And, here is a tribute to Claudia's love for the Partridge Family!

Hola on the Bluebonnet Deck!

I expect to see a lot of great comments here because I Love Texas and I know you Texans do too. It was pointed out that DFW has the most restaurants per capita. And that's great because I love food, too! My Houston friend, Kelly, pointed out in an email to me that I didn't make one mention of Mexican food and was I feeling okay? So, if you're in Bedford check out Miguelito's and if you're ever Refugio, go to Moya's Cafe. Yummy! Claudia likes Ozona's on Greenville.

We're expecting Snow in July! Welcome, Heather and family! And it sounds like Maureen had purple cowboy boots in her future! Y'all got practice your Howdys, Y'alls and Yee Haws.

My friend DeDe reminded me late last night that I also forgot about the bar in Corpus Christi called Vernon's where you throw your peanut shells on the floor. And, way back then, we waited for cute fly-boys to buy us beer. (Or not so cute. I don't remember being too picky.) Um, yeah, too much beer was consumed in that bar and that was just me! DeDe, I hope you chime in today with what you like best about Texas!

On the Smithsonian Deck

That's the sculpture Close2it was talking about. Patrick recommends the Holocaust Museum as a life changing experience. Quynh shouts out to Aisha and I was shouting to Lauren. Everyone is recommending DC as a great place to go. And at about 11:00pm last night, The Griffin Family graciously offered to be tour guide to anyone who want to go. How about that!

On the Tea Party Deck

Quynh likes the Massachusetts area and shouts out to Sammi. Is that all I got? Come on Bay Staters!

On the Pineapple Deck

Anonymous recommends the Arizona memorial in Pearl Harbor. Good call since I totally missed that! Quynh must not have any problem find places to stay because they are shouting out to Maile in Oahu now! Treye is thinking of David Gilbert.

Ooh, and will find out which other states claim their own dog? Stay Tuned!

Our next states up are: Alaska, Idaho, New York, Tennessee & Michigan.

And hey, I am taking Monday off for Memorial Day. You go ahead and take the day off, too. You just tell your boss I said so.

If you or any of your family members are in any branch of military, thank you, thank you, thank you for all that you do! We are the most fortunate people in the world and I appreciate you.

Until Tuesday!

Sweet Home Alabama

If there was ever a song that made me wish I could be from some place it's Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama. As soon as those first notes are played and he says, "Turn it up!" I'm hooked and moving to Alabama where the skies are so blue! You can listen and see this version I found on youtube below.
This is a good state for us to start with because I've actually been there! (And I've only been to about a quarter of them so don't worry, you won't have to re-live too many of my vacations.) My favorite spot in Alabama is down in Gulf Shores. I'm a beach girl and Alabama has some lovely coast areas. My ex-in-laws have a little condo down in Gulf Shores and I look forward to my boys having many adventures of fishing, crabbing and beach combing. Did you even know they had a beach in Alabama? Well, they do! And, it's a gorgeous area. Alabama is split into four regions: the Mountain Region, the Metropolitan Region, the River Heritage Region, and the Gulf Coast Region. If you want to learn more about Alabama just visit http://www.800alabama.com/.

Home of the Auburn Tigers and the Crimson Tide! Who's side are you on? And while we're talking about sports, did you know that the King of Home Runs, Hank Aaron, was born in Alabama? Yep, right there in Mobile way back in 1934. (He'll always be the King of Home Runs to me. You know he wasn't on steroids.) But, sadly enough for the men of Alabama, there are no professional sports teams to cheer for. Go ahead and correct me if I'm wrong.

The fun facts are:

Alabama is known as the Heart of Dixie.

It's state bird is the yellowhammer.

It's state flower is the Camellia.

And, it's state insect is the Monarch Butterfly.

Funny, I thought every southern state claimed the mosquito for the state insect!

Now, meet me on the Cotton Deck on Friday, May 23rd and tell me what makes Alabama the Taste of USA!!