| Hope and a Future Continued |
We 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 - post comment
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Description This is the sequal to the original Hopeandafuture site. If you want to see my real sight go to http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ hopeandafuture/ Home User Profile Archives Recent Entries - Le Grand Finale! - We have lost track of the number of days..... - Days 17 to 22 - Days 13 to 16 |