| Hope and a Future Continued |
Le Grand Finale!LAST DAYS IN CHATTANOOGA -- Well, two weeks in Chattanooga have come to an end. Its been a great time, packed with memories and fun. Here’s a short recap of some of the things we did the last few days we were there.
CHICKAMAUGA BATTLEFIELD. Believe it or not, as many times as we have traveled in the south, as much time as we have spent here, we had never visited a Civil War battlefield until now. The Chickamauga battle was one of the worst battles that took place during the war, over 35,000 men died during the few days of the campaign just outside of Chattanooga. We bought the narrative CD in the visitor’s center, and then followed the map through the grounds as the narrator described what happened, and where it happened. It was really an amazing way to relive history. It was sobering to realize what had happened there.
 LULA LAKE LAND TRUST – On top of Lookout Mountain is a piece of property that used to be private, before the owner formed a land trust of it for people to come and enjoy. Lula Lake is in the middle of the property, and its amazing to think that this was once somebody’s back yard. The trust is open 2 weekends a month, and if you’re ever in Chattanooga, make some calls to find out if you’re there on the right weekend to visit this place. Here’s just one picture of just one of the amazing waterfalls on the property
 Here’s another shot of a corner of Lula Lake. Note the waterfall in the background.
 DOWNTOWN CHATTANOOGA. We just had to go downtown one more time. Here are Rachel and Kirsten enjoying one of the water fountains in the park on the north side of the Tennessee River.
 Unfortunately while they were playing, they caused a very slight leak in the fountain. Here they are, trying to stop the small amount of water leakage they caused by playing.
 What trip to a park would be complete without the obligatory visit to the local carousel?
 We stopped by the Chattanooga Children’s Museum.
Here is Eva posing for an African travel brochure.
 BACK AT THE RANCH…
One evening we took over the gymnasium at Covenant College, just our families. We set up some ping pong tables and had a tournament to the death. Note KC on the right. Any idea who ended up winning the tournament?...
 ON THE ROAD TOWARDS NORTH CAROLINA.
A funny thing happened on the way to Hendersonville. We stopped by and visited some old friends from California who had moved to Knoxville. For those of you in SoCal who remember the Adams, here’s a picture of Jon and LizAnne (by the way, Jon is a head pastor of one of the perimeter churches in Atlanta. He was the one who actually married Jennifer and me 20 years ago)…
 … and here’s good ol’ Neal and Joye. These two are responsible for many blessings in our family’s life, too many to tell you here. But suffice it to say that little things done – acts of hospitality, simple acts of concern and self-sacrifice for the good of others – does indeed bear much fruit for the Kingdom of God. Thank you, Neal and Joye!!
 HENDERSONVILLE.
The day after we arrived, guess what we did in Hendersonville? We went to the annual apple festival. Hendersonville is an area known for growing apples, and we were treated to the best of the best. We had apple smoothies (see picture below), apple tarts, apple turnovers, caramel apples, fried apples, fresh apples, dried apples (sounding a little like Bubba gump shrimp).
 At the festival was a particular sheriff’s car. Heyne, I REALLY, REALLY want to see you drive something like this as your main mode of transportation. Just a few miles away from Hendersonville is Mt. Pilot, and the area made famous by Andy Griffith.
 Here we are, posing with a REALLY great imposter of an American legend. That’s Grandma Eva, for those of you who don’t know.
 US PRO CYCLING CHAMPIONSHIPS.
Allow me to diverge here for a moment, for most of you readers. The annual US Pro Cycling Championships are held each year in Greenville South Carolina. Those who know our family know that we are pro cycling freaks (it’s the only sport that I now follow, after having dropped our cable TV 3 years ago, and all of the regular sports that typically come with TV). We got to see two races, one to decide the US Time Trail champion, and the other, the US Road Racing Champion. Look across the street from the rider, and you’ll see our humble family cheering on this rider. See Jennifer reclining on the roadside. No, she’s not homeless.
 I took this picture on the next day, just before the Road Racing championship. These are the girls with Bobby Julich. Bobby is one of only 4 Americans who Have stood on the podium at the Tour de France – in 1998 he was 3rd. Rachel and Lindsey both got several famous riders to sign a hat (for Rachel) and a shirt (for Lindsey)
 Here’s a shot in front of the “broom wagon”. The broom wagon is the very last vehicle that trails a group of riders on a road race. They basically sweep up the fallen stars, the guys who have utterly cracked on the brutal climbs and are begging to be relieved.
 PICNIC WITH THE SWIGERS
We spent the day with the Swigers in the park downtown in Greenville. Here’s Nick jumping over brother Scott…
 … and here we all are together
 We will post again soon. Marion – you’re next!!
5:39 PM - Sep. 6, 2007 - comments {2} - post commentWe have lost track of the number of days.....CHATTANOOGA, TN
We’ve now been here on Lookout Mountain, GA (Chattanooga) for about a week. The Simons have a house up on the mountain, with about 10 acres most of which is woods. The kids have enjoyed playing with the dogs, running around the property, playing in the bamboo, sleeping in the hammock, and just having a good time.
I have been dashing off to the local Starbucks every morning to do my work. It’s near Covenant College, and I’ve been witness to the students coming back to school for classes, first the freshman, then at the end of the week all of the upper classmen.
One of the advantages of having the baseball coach at the school for a brother-in-law, is that you get to use the sports facilities after hours. On Thursday evening, we all went over to the gym and played soccer with our two families. We then went into the aerobics room, and the boys practiced diving into the mats.
Overall, it’s been just a great time so far.
Here are a few more specifics about things we have done.
LIFE ON LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN.
We’ve found this really great way to discipline our kids. When they do something they’re not supposed to do, we just bring them over to Sunset Rock overlook and hang them off of the rocks for an hour or two. Its amazing how well behaved they have become.
 DOWNTOWN CHATTANOOGA.
Monday evening, we all went downtown for Pizza at the Mellow Mushroom. GREAT pizza. I think there are several of these around the southeast part of the country. From there we started our walk over the Tennessee River.
At the beginning of the walk, before you get to the bridge, there’s a really cool area in front of the museum that has a bunch of cool sculptures, bridges, and other things. Here’s an example…
 Here’s Lindsey, sitting on the Chattanooga Choo Choo railroad tracks. Well, at least the memorial to the Choo Choo. Every word to the song is carved into the stone along the course of the tracks.
 After passing the “choo choo”, there is a walkway that follows the River towards the bridge. Part of the walkway is a course of steps that has water rushing down them. Here is Kirsten and Rachel, walking the steps. I believe Rachel is singing, and Kirsten is trying to find her contact lens.
 Here’s one of the beautiful fountains along the river.
 I love this picture, even though you can’t really tell what it is (so, obviously I’m going to tell you so that you think it’s cool as well…). Part of the walk included a bridge that went over the main road below. Of course, since this bridge was downtown, near the museum, and was required to be more “artsy” than functional, the designer created this bridge walkway out of … glass. Then, just to make it even more artsy, he made sure some of those glass panels were filled with hairline cracks to make the walkway look dangerous. With all that in place, you then are granted the joy of walking above the road while cars and trucks are screaming below you.
In this picture, Rachel is mid-way across the road, standing on one of the glass panes that is filled with hairline cracks, while a truck has just driven under her. Now, don’t you think this picture is cool too???
 RUBY FALLS
Wow, this one really took me by surprise. Last year, we went to one of the three attractions up on Lookout Mountain (The three are Rock City, The Incline Railway, and Ruby Falls). Jennifer wanted to plan a day to Ruby Falls. I told her I couldn’t make it because I was working (amped out of my mind at the Starbucks, of course). When my schedule changed, I told her I could join them since they hadn’t left yet. I had no idea what Ruby Falls even was. I just assumed it was another hike to a waterfall that some landowner had decided to print brochures for, and sell tickets to tourists from New York. Ruby Falls is actually an underground waterfall that is over 100 feet high. You can only get to it by going down an elevator shaft drilled into 300 feet of limestone, and then traversing about ½ a mile underground. When you get to the end where the falls are, you are in a huge cathedral-like room underground that is maybe 200 or 300 feet high. There at the end, a beautiful waterfall tumbles down into a pool from a hole way up in the wall. It was absolutely spectacular.
Here’s Rachel, desecrating the moment by posing as though the water (in the background) is falling into her mouth. Really funny, Rachel…
 Here’s another shot in the underground room. The red, you ask, what is the “red” I see in the picture?!? Ok, I guess the only part of the experience that was a tad hokey was that as you enter this beautiful God-made underground cathedral, they fade up the lights, and they play a background soundtrack with an emotional swell that would equal the score to the Titanic. Then, as you marvel at the beauty, they change the color filters in the room to enhance your experience.
 … here’s the Brady bunch, with yet another color theme going on in the background.
 ACTIVITIES: COMPETITION SPEED CUP-STACKING.
Just when you thought that children’s toys had gone Hollywood, a game comes out that encourages you that simplicity in games may not be dead after all. This past Christmas, the Simons were given a wacky gift (from Uncle Kenny) that I could not even have pictured if described. It’s a playing matt about 2 feet wide by 3 feet long. In the middle of the playing mat, at the bottom near where you are stand, there is a timer, and a place where you put your two hands. The moment you lift your hands, the timer starts to run. The object of the game is to take 11 cups (all competition certified, of course), and stack them into 2 stacks of three cups on the sides, and one stack of 6 cups in the middle, then, you quickly unstack them into three mini stacks. When you are done, you have to slap both hands onto the pads near the timer where you had your hands a few seconds earlier, and the timer stops. Object: the fastest one wins.
Sounds weird, huh. Well, all it takes is for you to view the DVD that comes with the game to see how serious these – cup stackers really are. The world champion girl at this can put the stacks up, and unstack them in about 2 seconds.
Here’s Rachel, putting together a 10-stack. This may be the perfect, Homeschool, family-integrated, vision forum type game you were looking for.
 FLOATING DOWN THE HIWASEE RIVER.
Today, we took everybody down to the river. We rented boats (which included them dropping us off upstream, and picking us up downstream). Here we are before leaving…
 … and here we are, returning. It was a GREAT day on the river. We spent about 3 hours floating down the river, and everybody was ready for more.
 BIKING.
What segment of our trip would be complete with at least one account of the bike trails that I’m riding. I won’t bore you with pictures this time, but I have to tell you, we found a real gem of a trail system here in Chattanooga.
I didn’t expect much here, since this particular area is not well-known for riding (despite the fact that Cannondale bikes are made here). Last year, I rode three trails here. They were OK. Then on Monday, I was down at a local sporting goods store, and I asked them if they knew about any good biking trails in the area. The guy behind the counter lit up. It was as though he grabbed me by the collar, pulled me real close, and then looked around to see if anybody was listening. He told me about a new system that has been created by SORBA up on Raccoon Mountain. He said that the 16 miles of trails are now one of the highest rated system of trails in the country. I had to know…
I went up there with Brian to ride on Wednesday. The guy wasn’t kidding. Some of the BEST riding I’ve done. The trails are fast, beautiful, difficult, and everything in between. If you’re ever here, and you ride, don’t miss Raccoon Mountain.
We’re here another 6 days, then we head for Hendersonville, NC,.
More later, amigos y amigas.
10:05 PM - Aug. 24, 2007 - comments {4} - post commentDays 17 to 22BATON ROUGE to PANAMA CITY BEACH – Ok, first of all I should offer my apologies for not posting for over a week. Of course that assumes that any of you wanted to know how we were doing to begin with, which is arrogant on my part. I also acknowledge that any apology on my part would be weak and maybe even disingenuous. So how about I dispense with saying I’m sorry, and just bring you up to date.
We left Baton Rouge and drove across Louisiana and Alabama without much incident. The 10 freeway is suspended for miles above the bayou. You just drive on and on, looking down into all of that swampy water and wonder how the early settlers were able to travel through it in the 1700’s. Actually, seeing it does help answer the question of why the French agreed to the Louisiana Purchase for such small amount of francs.
We passed this really … interesting van on the way. Then about 50 miles up the road, we took a nature break, and there was the van filling up its thirsty tanks at the gas
station. I asked – and was granted a family picture in front of the thing on 4 wheels.
 We arrived in Florida, to the delight of Ray and Sandy (we think they were delighted). Here’s a portion of the gang, in front of the house. 800 feet to KC’s left is the Gulf of Mexico.
 PANAMA CITY BEACH, FLORIDA – Life has been pretty kick back the past week. We’ve spent time in the sand…
 … walking through the quaint towns along the coast…
 …shopping in the quaint little towns… (Notice that KC is clipping a clothes pin to Paige’s dress in this shot. Explanation to follow shortly)
 … car shopping in snooty quaint towns…
 … and just watching the sun go down while squeezing gulf sand between your quaint toes.
 NEW GAME – OK, all you families looking for a new game to play. We’ve come up with a good one. Well, we think it’s a good one. I guess it just depending on your perspective, and what you’re trying to accomplish – but anyway, here’s the game
ITEMS NEEDED: A common clothes pin, which you mark to verify that it is indeed, THE game pin.
OBJECT: To secretly clip the clothes pin onto the clothing of anybody that is participating in the game, without letting them know you’ve placed the pin there.
WINNER OF THE GAME: Actually, there is no winner, only ONE looser: The person who has the pin clipped to them just before family devotions starts is the official… “winner”.
In the picture below, you’ll see a devoted and kind Uncle Doug, standing next to his niece, Eva. Note the closeness of relationship between them, the bond they share together under the umbrella. Also, note that Eva has clipped the pin to her Uncle Doug’s shirt. How long will he wear the clip? Seconds? Minutes? Hours? Depends on how well placed the clip is, and how obvious it is that the laughs are directed towards him. No more can you trust a hug from a relative, or a close conversation of a nephew asking for advice. What does the looser have to do? Sing a song at the end of family devotions for everyone to hear. Tonight it was “God Bless America” by K.C. Yesterday it was the theme song to the Brady Bunch by Slash. Night before, The Hokey Pokey by Brian. And the night before that I (yes, I actually “won” the contest one night) had to sing the Star Spangled Banner.
 I guess all that’s left is to close the day with another great evening together (I wonder who’s clipping the clothes pin on somebody’s back in this picture).
 And now we will leave you with an inspirational new music video. We have no idea what this song is called, but Brian decided to do a little interpretative dance to it. Enjoy….
7:57 PM - Aug. 16, 2007 - comments {6} - post commentDays 13 to 16SAN ANTONIO – We arrived in San Antonio around noon and checked into our hotel. We stayed at the Hyatt, a hotel that I had stayed before on a business trip. It has a high atrium center with rivers and pools flowing through it, and bridges. The elevators are glass pill looking things (see photo below) These elevators do 0 to 60 in three seconds. If you have an inside room in the hotel, your window looks down into the atrium from above. Then, the bottom floor opens up to the famous San Antonio Riverwalk. It’s a really great place to stay if you’re ever in San Antonio.
Here’s a shot of Lindsey and Rachel from the bottom floor. You can see the elevators behind them, going up.
 The hotel happens to have a swimming pool – on the roof above the 11th floor. In this picture, you can see the tops of the buildings in downtown San Antonio.
 And of course, what trip to San Antonio would be complete without the obligatory visit to the Alamo!
 I really do enjoy this town. The Riverwalk is such a unique place. It feels like a European town because all of the architecture around the river feels OLD. The growth of plants is old, the moss is old, it’s just dang old. Here are the kids on one of the many bridges on the river as a boat is passing under them. I think they were chanting, “Texas stinks, Texas stinks”, but I couldn’t exactly make out what they were saying.
 Here we all are, feeling comfy and plump after a nice Mexican brunch. That dog – his name is Lucas and belongs to the guy who took our picture.
 Later that evening, in the dark, we loaded the gang up on one of the boats and floated around the river.
 LOUISIANA STATE LINE – Weirdest “visit” so far on the trip. As we drove across the Louisiana state line, Eva informed us that Nature was calling. So we stopped at the state welcome center which had a really nice set of facilities. Everybody went in to take care of their business, while I wandered out back towards the swamp that was behind the buildings. First thing I noticed was a really interesting sign, which I wanted everyone to gather around for a nice blog picture. Note the sign behind them.
 After the picture, I REALLY wanted to try to get a good look at some gators. I noticed that they had a cool suspended walkway that went out over the bayou, through the dense trees, off to the left side of the pictures above. I talked everyone into walking out to the end to see if we could see some of the critters. As we started walking, we noticed in the grass the hugest, ugliest locusts walking around – EVERYWHERE. They averaged 3 big inches in length, and were left over from one of the Egyptian plagues. I’m also convinced that some of them are waiting around to fulfill prophesy in the book of Revelation. Some of the kids instantly freaked (whose 3-letter names will go unmentioned). Brian had come out of the car in his bare feet, so he was now walking through this minefield of disgusting insects. KC was highstepping his way across the grass. Everybody was feeling queezy – especially all of us Californian’s who really don’t see that many bugs as the norm, except the occasional swarm of flies generated by dairy dung.
 We made it to the walkway. Here’s a picture on the early part of it. The farther we walked down, we noticed these huge Banana Spiders – EVERYWHERE! Then, as if this bathroom stop wasn’t bad enough, the battery for my video camera slipped off the back of the camera, and after two sickening bounces (in slow motion, of course), it fell into the swamp. That was the end of our camera battery. Then, looking up above our heads, we saw a nest of 5 big banana spiders. That was about all we could take. we all ran for the pavement, passing all of the locusts in the grass as we went. Oh and it was 99 degrees, with over 90% humidity. And right there, as we passed the Welcome Center was a big sign that said, “Welcome to Louisiana”!
Tomorrow, we finally arrive at the Gulf of Mexico.
Until then…
10:04 PM - Aug. 9, 2007 |
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