When I first found out that Mallory and Olivia’s Christmas break was about a week longer than most people’s I immediately thought “VACATION”! Of course, my mind tends to go to travel at any opportunity. So now the question was “Where to go?”. Honestly, my first choice was Key West. The girls haven’t been there and I really want to take them. But, practically, it is a really long drive (flying wasn’t in the budget for this trip) and diving is a little hit or miss this time of year. So I began thinking of places that were a little more drivable and came up with Gatlinburg. I had been there as a young kid, but no one else had been there. And the fact that our neighbors go practically every year and love it helped convince me. So Gatlinburg it was! And we would add a stop over in Atlanta for their awesome aquarium as a bonus.
So I got the few details settled of renting a cabin in Gatlinburg and a hotel in Atlanta, along with a few show tickets, and we were ready. The drive was long and not exciting, but we made it in time for our first show. Now this was definitely off-season for the shows and all we could find playing were a few very small theaters. Our first show was a magic act. We were on the first row and there may have been 40 people in the roughly 300 person theater. The magician and his assistant (his wife) almost were looking us in the eye. The show was not bad, but not great either. We found a local restaurant for dinner and them made our way to our cabin in the dark. Our quaint little cabin with 2 bedrooms and a fireplace built into a circular structure was perfect. We saw in the morning the nice views of the mountains from the deck.
Over the next few days we visited Smokey Mountain National Park a few different times. It is really a beautiful place, with streams and waterfalls along the road. We pulled off to take pictures of picturesque mountain views and small waterfalls. We drove up to cades cove, which had been the site of a small community until the land was purchased to make it a national park. We saw countless deer and turkeys and even a coyote playing in a field like a puppy. But even with all the beauty around me, I couldn’t help but wonder why I didn’t feel more awed by it? I was looking for the feeling I get every time I look at the Caribbean, a sense of wonder that anything so beautiful and peaceful actually exists. But I guess to each his own. The mountains were majestic and there was beauty everywhere I turned, but for me it’s just not to awe-inspiring beauty of the Caribbean.
My favorite part of the trip was not the scenery, it was my family. We took one particularly cold, overcast day to build a fire in our cabin, watch a movie, play games, and just have fun hanging our together. If I’m honest, this was the intention of the trip for me anyway. The older the girls get the more I cherish every moment like this. Just the four of us laughing together. I will gladly welcome expansion in our family when the girls get married and have children, but I want to savor these last moments before that time comes. The point of the trip for me was to build more memories of fun times together. These won’t end, but they will change. And while I have learned to welcome change, it can’t help but feel bittersweet. But I have also learned that what God has in store for me is most often even better than what I have now. But I think it is only human to want to hang on to the wonderful things you have now, which is the known, and to be a little apprehensive of the unknowns of the future. But I trust Him! And I both cherish the moments I have now and look forward to what He has for us in the future.
After leaving Gatlinburg, we headed to Atlanta. Our first stop there was at the World of Coke. Wow! I was not impressed with the product of coke so much as the genius behind its history. People who, over a hundred years ago, figured out that people really just want to buy happiness. They simply convinced people that their product would lead them to happiness and that’s still the marketing plan apparently, since the film we watched as soon as we entered was entitled “Happiness in All Around Us”. It really had nothing to do with Coke but was very touching, and did show a few people drinking Coke near the end. Wow! Are we really that gullible to believe that a drink that is actually very bad for your health actually makes us happy? Judging by the size of the Coke empire, I guess we are. So I took away with me not a love of Coke, but a determination not to fall so easily for slick marketing and to determine myself what makes me happy.
That night was a birthday celebration at the Melting Pot for the girls; delicious! The next day took us to the Georgia Aquarium. I have been to 4 or 5 aquariums in different cities, but none are as great as the Georgia Aquarium. This strikes that same chord of awe in me as the Caribbean does. The diversity and beauty of the marine life we saw was astounding. A volunteer named Leigh came up and asked us if we’d like to visit behind the scenes. Um, Yes Please! She took us to the feeding areas above many of the tanks and exhibits and explained a little about the aquarium itself and the way it worked. Only about 20% of the people working at the aquarium were paid employees, the rest were volunteers! Many, like her, had been there since before it opened. The aquarium treats their volunteer staff as well as their employees with benefits that increase the longer you volunteer. Of course, working around the marine life is a huge draw for most of them. They get to do things like swim in the tanks with whale sharks and rays, interact with otters, and feed penguins. I thought for more than a minute about moving to Atlanta so I could volunteer too!
We headed home at last. We bought tickets for the 1.5 billion dollar lottery but we didn’t win (this blog was be a little different if we had). All in all a very successful trip, filled with memories we will carry with us for years to come. Travel seems to provide these moments more readily than anything else. Maybe its the change in scenery and new experiences that make those times stand out in our minds. We have lots of fun times at home, but while enjoyable they can seem routine. Every trip gets me more and more hooked on traveling, my appetite for it increases instead of being more satisfied. But I’m ok with that, in fact I count that as one of the greatest benefits of travel!
