Images: (Mental) Snapshots from Vacation

Every year, when I get back from vacation, I always think that I will never be able to improve on my trip.  And every year, I somehow manage to do just that.  Don't get me wrong...the type of vacations I take would appeal to a very small percentage of the population which happens to exclude my own husband.  I don't  mind vacationing like this by myself, as he does not mind his travels to Vegas and touring baseball stadiums with a group of friends that does not include me.  We recognize that when we have a kiddo with us, the essential make up of our family vacations will change.  So we've decided that while future trips will include some (but not a lot) of history, and some (but not a lot) of sporting events, in the mean time, we will each get our fill of what we love most about our vacations while spending time together on long weekends until its time to plan our first family road trip.

While I love history, I also have a campy sense of fun that was born from my own family's road trips way back when, when we visited family friendly tourist destinations abounding in discount t-shirt shops and the sale of stuffed animals.  In many ways, I haven't changed since I spent my hard earned allowance (all of $15 saved throughout the school year) on a small stuffed cheetah toy purchased from a gift shop in Estes Park, Colorado, the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park.  And this year's trip showed just how true it was. 

Ultimately, this vacation really is captured in a series of mental images that will live with me long after I retire the memory card containing these photos.  Fortunately, I can share some of those images through the magic of my trusty Nikon SLR camera and the wonder of digital media

"We're goin' green!" (from Twister)

One can be forgiven for thinking that this was not a very good way to start a week's vacation.  I had been watching the approaching north bound cars (the video is from one of them) and trying to gauge when I would run into rain.  The sky was a greenish-brown, which should have been fair warning.  Then I looked to my right.  Warning! The videographer who took this video does curse.

Along I-55 near Portageville, Missouri

I suspect the flash of silver at 3:09 may have been me speedily driving southbound, scared out of my wits.

Oh, the humanity!

The only reason that I ended up taking my trip when I did was so that I could head on down to Shiloh National Military Park on the 150th anniversary of the two-day battle.  Having relatives who fought with the 7th Iowa volunteer infantry and who were engaged on the Sunken Road during the first day's battle, I have often felt a deep connection to this particular battle, and wanted to participate in the Sesquicentennial celebrations here.  I was so happy to see the fantastic turn out for the celebration, including at least 500 fellow hikers who took part in the guided hike titled The Hornet's Nest: Myth and Reality.  Here's a quick summary of the hike.  The woman standing in front of the Iowa monument, watching the huge dragonflies flitting around, may look familiar.

The Hornet's Nest: Myth and Reality

The Illumination

When you are interested in the Civil War, you get inured to the casualty numbers of these battles.  There used to be a time when I'd hear a number and say, "That's the entire population of my home town."  It's just as easy to forget that the casualty list is more than just a collection of the numbers as it is difficult to really comprehend the enormity of the human impact that these battles had.

The Grand Illumination featured 23,746 luminaries set throughout the 11 mile tour road of the park.  Each luminary represented one casualty:  one son, one husband, one brother, one father, one life.



The luminaries ring the Bloody Pond


You just know this isn't going to end well

This week (actually this Sunday) marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.  I was interested in this disaster well before Kate and Leo came on the scene, so I decided to drive across state to Pigeon Forge to visit the Titanic museum.  On the way, I happened to see that the Circle Players, a community theater in Nashville, was performing Titanic: The Musical.  I had seen the show years before in Chicago on its first national tour and was unimpressed, but having a front row seat and an additional fifteen years or so of maturity allowed me to see the underlying tension that simmers even under the upbeat and hopeful beginning anthems.  I cried.  At least ten separate times.  I am surprised the theater wasn't flooding by the end of the show.

My boarding pass (theater ticket) was for crew member Ercole Testoni, who did not survive. 

A note: If you are ever going to watch community theater perform a musical, you can't do better than seeing one in Music City.  Everyone in Nashville, apparently, can sing like a star!

Scooter is a professional.

I have no skill at riding a horse.  I would never attempt to ride without the benefit of a guide, and a docile trail horse whose sole concern is following the hindquarters of the horse immediately in front of it.  But on vacation, I try to make it a point to find a trail ride.  I've ridden across the battlefield at Gettysburg, which was amazingly interesting and fun.  I've ridden in downtown San Antonio, and the horse didn't appreciate my lack of skill.  But I've never had a ride so peaceful as at the Sugarland Stables just inside Smoky Mountain National Park, where after the first turn, the only thing that could be heard besides the clip clop of the horses' hooves, was the mountain stream that ran along side the bridle path.

My horse, Scooter, proved the consummate professional and politely ignored my insistence that he take a different path while fording the stream.  One of us was a professional, after all, and he insisted that he could handle it without my input.

Toni and Scooter.  One of these two knows what they are doing.  Care to guess which?

Summer bobsledding

If you've never had the chance to ride on an Alpine Slide, you are missing the most thrilling 45 seconds of your life.  The wind in your hair combines with the illusion of danger as you feel like you are flying down the mountain (though I doubt it is ever as fast as it feels).  Before last vacation, it has been over a decade since I'd had the pleasure.  And this time, I had the pleasure four times!

At the top of the run.

You just know this isn't going to end well, part 2

Before James Cameron came in and corrupted the vision of the Titanic, linking it (unfortunately) to romance and weepy sentiment (so that some people of a certain sex don't find it cool to even admit an interest in the actual non-Hollywood version of the events), I was fascinated by the Titanic.  I devoured books, movies and articles about the ship and the people and still love watching A Night to Remember, in my opinion the best movie that's been done on the subject.  I could recite minute details, and crew lists.  I was terribly pathetic.  So on the 100th anniversary of the sailing of the ship from Southampton, England, I visited the Titanic in Pigeon Forge.  I was impressed by a focus on the mechanics of the ship from building to sailing.  I was happy to see a good representation of passenger life from second and third classes, and workers on board ship in addition to the much more fashionable and popular first class personages.  Though the average person goes through the museum in an hour and half, I spent nearly three hours in the exhibit, and probably could have spent even more. 

My boarding pass was for second class passenger Ascuncion Duran Y More.  She made it.

Final note...the crowning centerpiece of the ship's first class public areas was the Grand Staircase, a replica of which has been painstakingly created in the museum.  The designers eschewed marble and granite for the floor of the opulent staircase in favor of a new, more expensive and more exclusive material.  Do you want to take a guess as to what it was?

Linoleum.

Are these all nocturnal fish?

My visit to the aquarium was brief as half of the lights went out.  While some of the tanks remained lit, the large shark pool did not.  Fortunately, the darkness added to atmosphere as giant saw fish and sharks swam overhead.

I am totally going to strike it rich!

After years of unsuccessfully asking my parents to indulge us in gem mining at one of the millions of tourist traps we'd visited, I decided that I'm my own adult now, and darn it, I'm going to find myself a gemstone!  I visited the Pigeon Forge Gem Mine, bought a bucket of dirt, sat down at the flume and sifted away, eventually coming up with lots of rubies (my favorite stone probably because I was born in July), sapphires, emeralds, topaz and garnets, among others.  I hemmed and hawed about creating jewelry from my find and eventually decided on something that I hope will be meaningful and beautiful: a three stone ring with a garnet (Troy's birth stone), a ruby (my birth stone) and a citrine (the stone for November, representing the month we were married).  I've held on to my unused stones, and one day soon hope to pull out three more to send off and be mounted.  A garnet for Troy, a ruby for me, and the birth stone for our son or daughter. 

I managed to do a lot on this trip, but don't regret a single moment (not even seeing the tornado).  Someday, we will return as a family to Gatlinburg to hike in the park, ride the horses, visit the aquarium, mine our own gems, board the Titanic (and hopefully make it off alive) and visit the local Civil War Trails site for a little history.  Until then, I will continue on making each trip better than the last (though I have no idea how to do it this time!).  Next up:  the Sesquicentennial celebration at Antietam National Battlefield in September.

Newfound Gap, Smoky Mountain National Park