Well - it has been 5 days since we left the Byrne family of five - AND we are still exhausted!! We had a GREAT deal of admiration for Bethany and David before - but it grows every day as we realize how worn out we were/are after being there a week. Taking care of triplets IS A LOT OF WORK!!!! Definitely need to be younger than we are to do it - and again - GO BETHANY & DAVID!!!
We left Beaufort and headed to Atlanta to ‘park’ at the Stone Mountain Park and to see cousins Dodge and Jeanie. What a FUN couple of days. We LOVED Stone Mountain Park. The fact that we had a beautiful camping spot did not hurt - the campground was fabulous (one we definitely want to return to). We were in the trees with a lake view - BEAUTIFUL --
Of course, the highlight of Stone Mountain is the mountain itself and the ‘carving’ in the granite - a Confederate Mount Rushmore, which consists of the twenty-times-larger-than-life figures of Robert E. Lee, “Stonewall” Jackson and Jefferson Davis carved into an 800 foot high hump of granite. In the evening this carving ‘comes to life’ via a laser show and fireworks:-))
Also on the grounds of the Park is the Antebellum Plantation, which is a collection of original buildings from around the state of Georgia, built between 1783 and 1875. They were chosen for their authenticity and historical value and represent the diverse lifestyles of 18th and 19th century Georgia residents. Each building was moved from its original site and carefully restored at Stone Mountain Park. Of course, the highlight for us was the Dickey House (circa 1840).
We did make our way out of the Park and into Atlanta to see the Atlanta Cyclorama & Civil War Museum and the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site.
The Cyclorama is the world’s largest oil painting - the “Battle of Atlanta” - and is presented ‘in the round’ and comes to life with music and the story of the battle as you sit and rotate very slowly around to see the entire circle of the painting. Incredibly interesting to see! The museum also displays the “Texas”, one of the steam locomotives used in the Great Locomotive Chase in April, 1862.
The MLK, Jr. NHS includes a four-block area that holds many important landmarks in the life of Dr. King, including his birthplace, the Ebenezer Baptist Church where he, his father and grandfather all served as pastor, and his tomb engraved with the words “Free at Last, Free at Last”. There is also a visitor center with information, exhibits and films on his life and this sad period in our history.
All of our investigation and touring was done with our cousins - Dodge and Jeanie - who were wonderful tour guides! We also spent lots of hours visiting, eating, drinking and much more visiting for the three days we were in Atlanta. A BIG thank you to Dodge and Jeanie:-))
Tuesday (April 27) it was time for us to hit the road again - and we were off to Red Bay, AL to Tiffin, the manufacturer of our Bus. On the way, we made a stop to see a childhood friend of Elizabeth’s - Art Molter (and Wendy Fletcher). Art & Wendy recently relocated from NM (we saw them there on our Spring trip last year), so we got to see their new home, have a yummy lunch and a VERY nice visit.
With all this activity - you can understand why we have not had time to recover from the triplets. I think we plan to spend the next couple of days ‘vegging’ on the Tiffin lot. LOTS more about what that means in the next post. So - stay tuned -
Worn out - Elizabeth & Gary
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