Onward, to Tennessee!
Today was really just a driving day for us. We woke up and piled in the car pretty early and started our trek from Atlanta to the Nasheville area. When I say "Nasheville," it is really just a rough area rather than the actual city. My family actually lives in Mt. Juliet and Lebanon, which are only 15 and 25 minutes outside the city.
On the way there I really just read my current Star Wars book, Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn. I didn't even listen to music much. We made a few stops along the way, mostly at Chattenooga to see Lookout Mountain and the general area. Apparently, I've been there before about seven years ago, but I don't remember. Dad really has this strange fantasy that his whole family will remember every place he's taken them and, in great detail, be able to describe every event that happened. I don't try to understand him sometimes. He made this huge deal out of the fact that I could not remember one specific place. We have been to so many forts, battlefields, mountains, and national parks that I can't possibly remember all of them. Lookout Mountain is a national park with a battlefield and fort on it. The only thing that sets this place apart from the rest is an Incline Railway that takes two cars up and down the mountain on a very steep gradient. It didn't matter much to me seven years ago, and I found it only slightly more impressive this time. It's not really somewhere I plan to take my kids (if I have them).
Of course I enjoy going places with my family. But I am not a tourist-type of guy. I hate things that are made to attract people and take their money. The Incline Railway costed something like ten dollars per person one way. That's crazy. Souviner shops are so full of useless junk and unrelated items that are made to get kid's attention, who in turn aggrivate their parents to no end, that it makes me sick. Every year new tourist traps spring up and old ones raise prices. It is not something I enjoy experiencing very much. My idea of a vacation is centered around relaxation--not jumping in and out of cars every 5 minutes just so see one thing. The vacation we took two years ago was a cruise through the Carribbean, and that was so much fun... and it costed less than some of these road trips.
I enjoy seeing interesting landmarks and such also, but I hate wading through all of the crap that surrounds them. At Stone Mountain--a very interesting landmark which has unique aspects--had a small, old-time-looking town full of useless overpriced junk, which people fight each other over. Tourist traps highlight two of America's biggest problems: ignorance and greed. The tourists' actions display absolute ignorance and disregard to common since. The establishment of these shops and shows themselves, which take full advantage of the tourists' money and time, display greed.
Another example is how things get so expensive once you need them. I understand that it's a great way to make money, but it's such a rip off to charge three bucks for water at the top of Stone Mountain, taking advantage of people's fatigue and thirst after climbing it.
After Lookout Mountain we traveled a little farther and stopped at Monteagle, Tennessee. This is where my dad pastored his first church, and where Mom and him lived for a while before I was even thought of. It's a small town with two or three stoplights and the such. Mom was talking about how she would have loved to raise us on a small town like that.
I don't really care much for small towns. Everyone know's everyone's business, and gossip is as addictive as crack. I much prefer the burbs: just enough people to not keep track of without all the rudeness and impersonal feelings of urban settings. It's all about happy mediums.
Those blasted happy mediums.
So we arrive at my Uncle George's house and unpile while Mary and Mom continue on to Lebenon where my only remaining grandparent lives. That night was pretty uneventful. The only thing worth mentioning is that my uncle and I played one game of chess, which ended in a stalemate (many do, nowadays). We have quite the chess history. He's pretty much the only person I play against, and about the only person who can match me (that I know of, I realize that I'm not the best... yet...). We play every time I go up, sometimes as many as 3 games per day. This is no small deal considering each game usually lasts an hour or two. Most of the time we're pretty even matched, with each of us winning the same number of games, and about every other game a stalemate.
On the way there I really just read my current Star Wars book, Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn. I didn't even listen to music much. We made a few stops along the way, mostly at Chattenooga to see Lookout Mountain and the general area. Apparently, I've been there before about seven years ago, but I don't remember. Dad really has this strange fantasy that his whole family will remember every place he's taken them and, in great detail, be able to describe every event that happened. I don't try to understand him sometimes. He made this huge deal out of the fact that I could not remember one specific place. We have been to so many forts, battlefields, mountains, and national parks that I can't possibly remember all of them. Lookout Mountain is a national park with a battlefield and fort on it. The only thing that sets this place apart from the rest is an Incline Railway that takes two cars up and down the mountain on a very steep gradient. It didn't matter much to me seven years ago, and I found it only slightly more impressive this time. It's not really somewhere I plan to take my kids (if I have them).
Of course I enjoy going places with my family. But I am not a tourist-type of guy. I hate things that are made to attract people and take their money. The Incline Railway costed something like ten dollars per person one way. That's crazy. Souviner shops are so full of useless junk and unrelated items that are made to get kid's attention, who in turn aggrivate their parents to no end, that it makes me sick. Every year new tourist traps spring up and old ones raise prices. It is not something I enjoy experiencing very much. My idea of a vacation is centered around relaxation--not jumping in and out of cars every 5 minutes just so see one thing. The vacation we took two years ago was a cruise through the Carribbean, and that was so much fun... and it costed less than some of these road trips.
I enjoy seeing interesting landmarks and such also, but I hate wading through all of the crap that surrounds them. At Stone Mountain--a very interesting landmark which has unique aspects--had a small, old-time-looking town full of useless overpriced junk, which people fight each other over. Tourist traps highlight two of America's biggest problems: ignorance and greed. The tourists' actions display absolute ignorance and disregard to common since. The establishment of these shops and shows themselves, which take full advantage of the tourists' money and time, display greed.
Another example is how things get so expensive once you need them. I understand that it's a great way to make money, but it's such a rip off to charge three bucks for water at the top of Stone Mountain, taking advantage of people's fatigue and thirst after climbing it.
After Lookout Mountain we traveled a little farther and stopped at Monteagle, Tennessee. This is where my dad pastored his first church, and where Mom and him lived for a while before I was even thought of. It's a small town with two or three stoplights and the such. Mom was talking about how she would have loved to raise us on a small town like that.
I don't really care much for small towns. Everyone know's everyone's business, and gossip is as addictive as crack. I much prefer the burbs: just enough people to not keep track of without all the rudeness and impersonal feelings of urban settings. It's all about happy mediums.
Those blasted happy mediums.
So we arrive at my Uncle George's house and unpile while Mary and Mom continue on to Lebenon where my only remaining grandparent lives. That night was pretty uneventful. The only thing worth mentioning is that my uncle and I played one game of chess, which ended in a stalemate (many do, nowadays). We have quite the chess history. He's pretty much the only person I play against, and about the only person who can match me (that I know of, I realize that I'm not the best... yet...). We play every time I go up, sometimes as many as 3 games per day. This is no small deal considering each game usually lasts an hour or two. Most of the time we're pretty even matched, with each of us winning the same number of games, and about every other game a stalemate.