My husband and I have seen the future and it isn’t pretty.
I was thinking, today, about food. When you have two children in your home it is hard not to think about food – especially on the weekend. For you see, it is the weekend when the meal plan for the week is born: recipe’s searched, options considered, daily activities listed, directions written and shopping list crafted.
In our house, this event typically takes place on Sunday afternoon while my husband takes a nap. Sometimes, I try and get the family involved. But, because I like a little variety in my diet, they are limited to suggesting meals for only one or two nights a week.
Our oldest is the healthiest eater of the bunch. This one will actually order side salads and apple dippers at McDonalds instead of fries. I still credit this to the fact that added sugar did not cross his lips until he was two years of age. He is, however, not a big eater. Never has been. He makes up for it by drinking his weight in liquids. Give that boy juice, milk, water or G2 and he’s got the bottle or glass gone in the first 2 minutes of the meal. We give him lines on his glass so that a drink will last through the entire meal.
My husband is our pickiest eater. He will not eat anything with cheese or milk in it – a flu in his early twenties ruined his body for anything containing lactose. He does not like spicy food (except for Pizza Hut’s mild chicken wings.) He will NOT eat fish unless carefully concealed within something else or cooked on the side so he can remove it. And pretty much likes all his food in large, recognizable chunks – which means NO casseroles.
I love food and will try anything – with the possible exception of liver. Even then – I would possibly be willing to experiment if someone out there has a recipe that can mask that incredibly nasty smell that gets on your hands and lingers there. I also don’t think that I would be very good at the Survivor challenges where they have to eat worms and bugs and stuff like that.
It is our youngest, however, that this article is about.
On Sunday, we eat lunch at Southwestern College. It is, by far, the best deal in town. It is an all-you-can-eat buffet brunch featuring two entrée options, two or three hot vegetable sides, a full breakfast, sandwich bar, salad bar, wall full of drink options, and a dessert bar that always includes ice cream. With my employee discount, the cost is $5 per adult and $3 per kid between the ages of 5 and 10. Kids under 5 eat free – but we don’t have any of those anymore.
This Sunday, my husband and I watched open-mouthed as our seven-year-old sat and ate most of a chicken fried steak, half of a pile of mashed potatoes, four raw carrots, two large pieces of raw broccoli, two link sausages, a bowl of applesauce, two cookies and topped everything off with a bowl of vanilla ice cream. My only solace was that all four food groups were represented.
Moving forward, we will not be sharing this information with the people who run the food service – they might change their prices.
September 14, 2008
September 6, 2008
Football Season is Here
The Winfield 4th Grade Football Team won their first game of the season 13-0 against Wellington. At linebacker position, our oldest son made an interception that set the tone and instigated the momentum for the first touchdown in the first quarter. Mom, Dad and little brother all witnessed the interception from the sidelines and were extremely proud.
I try very hard not to yell too much during these games, but I could not resist after this play. “Way to get that pop tart!” I screamed from the sidelines. (Dad’s advice to our son last year about playing defense is, “Just pretend the ball is a chocolate pop tart and you are really, really hungry.”)
We also noticed that our oldest spent the rest of the game organizing the defensive line. He was a true leader – helping the other players understand where they were to stand and keeping them excited and pumped up.
It was a pretty exciting game to watch from the sidelines – but not necessarily for what was happening on the field. The Wellington coach got thrown out in the third quarter for foul language. This, of course, angered many of the Wellington fans and coaches and ended with the Winfield police making a subtle appearance.
Fortunately, our boys and coaches resisted the examples of poor sportsmanship and played an honest game. They played well, deserved the win and conducted themselves with integrity.
What was good about sports and what is bad about sports were both present on the field today. I’m just really glad that our boys were on the good side of the equation. It was a learning experience for all and we are saying a quick prayer for the other team. It’s never fun to lose – we certainly learned that lesson last year with our 0-7 season. Hopefully they can recover and, with God’s help, gain back some control.
I try very hard not to yell too much during these games, but I could not resist after this play. “Way to get that pop tart!” I screamed from the sidelines. (Dad’s advice to our son last year about playing defense is, “Just pretend the ball is a chocolate pop tart and you are really, really hungry.”)
We also noticed that our oldest spent the rest of the game organizing the defensive line. He was a true leader – helping the other players understand where they were to stand and keeping them excited and pumped up.
It was a pretty exciting game to watch from the sidelines – but not necessarily for what was happening on the field. The Wellington coach got thrown out in the third quarter for foul language. This, of course, angered many of the Wellington fans and coaches and ended with the Winfield police making a subtle appearance.
Fortunately, our boys and coaches resisted the examples of poor sportsmanship and played an honest game. They played well, deserved the win and conducted themselves with integrity.
What was good about sports and what is bad about sports were both present on the field today. I’m just really glad that our boys were on the good side of the equation. It was a learning experience for all and we are saying a quick prayer for the other team. It’s never fun to lose – we certainly learned that lesson last year with our 0-7 season. Hopefully they can recover and, with God’s help, gain back some control.
Cowley County Fair
(This post is a little late in coming. It was, however, written several weeks ago.)
The Cowley County Fair has come and gone. For the Hicks boys, it was successful. Our oldest entered in two projects – photography and visual arts. He received one purple, two blues and two reds – a very well-rounded bit of work.
The purple ribbon picture of a flower was sited with a spotlight award for “strong center of interest.” His blue ribbon photograph of a butterfly was given a blue for depth of field. He also got nice complements on his red ribbon photographs for a good job capturing side lighting.
He learned that sometimes people in a picture cause too much of a distraction. He learned to focus the camera on the subject of his photograph, not the background. And, he learned some lessons on the rule of thirds in photography. Most importantly, he enjoyed the experience.
His visual arts judge was equally as encouraging. She pointed out things in his drawing that he could have done better and encouraged him to bring more of his work back next year. I think that he will.
My youngest was entered again in the CloverBud competition. He entered a blanket that he constructed out of two pieces of fleece fabric glued together with stitch-witchery. He tied knots all around the outside to finish the edge. He is very happy with his project and has been sleeping with it for the past two nights.
We enjoyed working the food booth twice and got all the rocketry and aerospace exhibits checked in and judged. The temperatures averaged in the 100’s every day. It was hot, hot, hot. It was so hot that we weren’t totally free to enjoy the fair’s normal entertainments. I also think that the weather effected attendance just a bit. Today, we helped clean everything up.
Fair is done and its passing marks the final obligation of summer. Fall and school are around the corner. We are spending these final weeks trying very hard to forget they are coming.
The purple ribbon picture of a flower was sited with a spotlight award for “strong center of interest.” His blue ribbon photograph of a butterfly was given a blue for depth of field. He also got nice complements on his red ribbon photographs for a good job capturing side lighting.
He learned that sometimes people in a picture cause too much of a distraction. He learned to focus the camera on the subject of his photograph, not the background. And, he learned some lessons on the rule of thirds in photography. Most importantly, he enjoyed the experience.His visual arts judge was equally as encouraging. She pointed out things in his drawing that he could have done better and encouraged him to bring more of his work back next year. I think that he will.
My youngest was entered again in the CloverBud competition. He entered a blanket that he constructed out of two pieces of fleece fabric glued together with stitch-witchery. He tied knots all around the outside to finish the edge. He is very happy with his project and has been sleeping with it for the past two nights.
We enjoyed working the food booth twice and got all the rocketry and aerospace exhibits checked in and judged. The temperatures averaged in the 100’s every day. It was hot, hot, hot. It was so hot that we weren’t totally free to enjoy the fair’s normal entertainments. I also think that the weather effected attendance just a bit. Today, we helped clean everything up.
Fair is done and its passing marks the final obligation of summer. Fall and school are around the corner. We are spending these final weeks trying very hard to forget they are coming.
August 4, 2008
Journal Day 12
Journal Day 12
It’s the final day of vacation and we will be darned if we rush it or waste any of it. We didn’t have to check out until 11:00 a.m., so while Mom typed up the blog for yesterday, we all laid around and watched a couple of old family style movies on Turner Classic Movies.
It is extremely refreshing to see the boys so into movies that, in today’s standards, wouldn’t even probably make it to opening night. The first movie was about a con man who “got sold some swampland in Florida.” He traveled south to collect on his investment and, many hi-jinks later, unloaded the land on a sweet pair of newlyweds. As always happened in movies of the late 50s, early 60s – the hero got the girl, the bad guys were shot or arrested and the endearing con man got out ok – if not any richer. At one point, the young hero wrestled a huge alligator to save his girlfriend from being eaten. My oldest looked over at me with really big eyes and said, “Man, Mom! That was intense!” We’ve done something right, we have.
Once the blog was published, we packed up and headed to the Cherokee Heritage Museum on the southeast side of Tahlequah. This museum is a little challenging to find, but worth the effort. For the price of admission, you get access to the Trail of Tears exhibit, a self-paced tour of a frontier Cherokee town and a guided tour of an ancient Cherokee village. There was one difference that we noted for not the first time on our trip. No matter where you were outside, it was hot.
We did the ancient village first as there was a tour beginning right when we arrived. This tour had several similarities and some differences from the one that we did in Cherokee North Carolina. First of all, our guide was an older woman in her late 50s and 60s. From the quality of her tour, we knew she was a teacher and guessed her to be a professor of history or anthropology. She was an excellent teacher and guide.
The main difference I would say between the two tours was that our young guide in Cherokee, North Carolina focused on the “what” and the “how’s” of Cherokee life in the ancient times. Our guide in Oklahoma focused slightly more on the “why’s.” Both showed examples of blow guns, weaving, and canoe building. Our Oklahoma guide added two things to the “how to” list that were fascinating.
First, she demonstrated how to make an arrowhead using a striking rock, a piece of obsidian, and an antler. She talked about why the particular properties of the striking rock and the obsidian made them excellent choices. And, she explained why an antler was so useful in refining the shape of the arrowhead. The boys – all three of them – were in love with this woman from that moment forward.
Second, she finally demonstrated for us how the stick ball game is played. She actually threw a ball with the sticks to show the technique. We also finally got why they called stick ball the “little war.” Apparently, Cherokee’s used stick ball to settle disputes before going to war. War was only discussed if a good game of stick ball didn’t get the aggression and disagreement solved first. This would be an interesting experiment to try in the modern world, I think. Just fit the two fighting factions out with football uniforms, and let them have at it. Best two out of three wins the argument.
There were a few differences in the villages. When I pointed out these differences to her after the tour, she explained that they were most likely because the village that we saw in Cherokee NC was a slightly more modern version than the one being exhibited in Oklahoma. All in all, if you can – go to both. If not, either one will give you an excellent view into Cherokee life in ancient times. The experience is well worth the time and expense.
The museum exhibit on the Trail of Tears is terrific. In many ways, it does a much better job of bringing out the emotional experience of the Cherokee nation during their forced removal from their mountain home than the museum in North Carolina. There is one room in particular with life-sized sculptures of about 6-7 Cherokee. While in the room, voices repeat words from actual interviews of family members of people who marched on the trail. If you leave this exhibit with dry eyes, you haven’t really immersed yourself properly.
The village in the back is also interesting, although I must admit that we were way too hot to appreciate this fully. I can say that several of the buildings are authentic. They have been relocated to this area and placed in the village as representations of typical buildings of the time. There is a school house, a general store, several one and two room homes, and some farm buildings.
We finished up at the museum and headed quickly for the air conditioned comfort of the car and the continuing trip west. We were all quiet for the ride into the Tulsa area where we stopped for a brief respite from traveling and toured the Bass Pro Shop at Broken Arrow. We took a very close look at the hiking equipment and all tried on backpacks. We discovered that between the pack and sleeping bag alone, you would be carrying 8 pounds on your back. A four man tent adds another 4 pounds to someone. It appears that when hiking, food is the heaviest thing to carry.
After the Bass Pro Shop, we got back into the car and headed north and west to Winfield. The final stop was for dinner at the north McDonalds in Bartlesville. After that, it was a quick 1.5 hour drive home.
It’s the final day of vacation and we will be darned if we rush it or waste any of it. We didn’t have to check out until 11:00 a.m., so while Mom typed up the blog for yesterday, we all laid around and watched a couple of old family style movies on Turner Classic Movies.
It is extremely refreshing to see the boys so into movies that, in today’s standards, wouldn’t even probably make it to opening night. The first movie was about a con man who “got sold some swampland in Florida.” He traveled south to collect on his investment and, many hi-jinks later, unloaded the land on a sweet pair of newlyweds. As always happened in movies of the late 50s, early 60s – the hero got the girl, the bad guys were shot or arrested and the endearing con man got out ok – if not any richer. At one point, the young hero wrestled a huge alligator to save his girlfriend from being eaten. My oldest looked over at me with really big eyes and said, “Man, Mom! That was intense!” We’ve done something right, we have.
Once the blog was published, we packed up and headed to the Cherokee Heritage Museum on the southeast side of Tahlequah. This museum is a little challenging to find, but worth the effort. For the price of admission, you get access to the Trail of Tears exhibit, a self-paced tour of a frontier Cherokee town and a guided tour of an ancient Cherokee village. There was one difference that we noted for not the first time on our trip. No matter where you were outside, it was hot.
We did the ancient village first as there was a tour beginning right when we arrived. This tour had several similarities and some differences from the one that we did in Cherokee North Carolina. First of all, our guide was an older woman in her late 50s and 60s. From the quality of her tour, we knew she was a teacher and guessed her to be a professor of history or anthropology. She was an excellent teacher and guide.
The main difference I would say between the two tours was that our young guide in Cherokee, North Carolina focused on the “what” and the “how’s” of Cherokee life in the ancient times. Our guide in Oklahoma focused slightly more on the “why’s.” Both showed examples of blow guns, weaving, and canoe building. Our Oklahoma guide added two things to the “how to” list that were fascinating.
First, she demonstrated how to make an arrowhead using a striking rock, a piece of obsidian, and an antler. She talked about why the particular properties of the striking rock and the obsidian made them excellent choices. And, she explained why an antler was so useful in refining the shape of the arrowhead. The boys – all three of them – were in love with this woman from that moment forward.
Second, she finally demonstrated for us how the stick ball game is played. She actually threw a ball with the sticks to show the technique. We also finally got why they called stick ball the “little war.” Apparently, Cherokee’s used stick ball to settle disputes before going to war. War was only discussed if a good game of stick ball didn’t get the aggression and disagreement solved first. This would be an interesting experiment to try in the modern world, I think. Just fit the two fighting factions out with football uniforms, and let them have at it. Best two out of three wins the argument.
There were a few differences in the villages. When I pointed out these differences to her after the tour, she explained that they were most likely because the village that we saw in Cherokee NC was a slightly more modern version than the one being exhibited in Oklahoma. All in all, if you can – go to both. If not, either one will give you an excellent view into Cherokee life in ancient times. The experience is well worth the time and expense.
The museum exhibit on the Trail of Tears is terrific. In many ways, it does a much better job of bringing out the emotional experience of the Cherokee nation during their forced removal from their mountain home than the museum in North Carolina. There is one room in particular with life-sized sculptures of about 6-7 Cherokee. While in the room, voices repeat words from actual interviews of family members of people who marched on the trail. If you leave this exhibit with dry eyes, you haven’t really immersed yourself properly.
The village in the back is also interesting, although I must admit that we were way too hot to appreciate this fully. I can say that several of the buildings are authentic. They have been relocated to this area and placed in the village as representations of typical buildings of the time. There is a school house, a general store, several one and two room homes, and some farm buildings.
We finished up at the museum and headed quickly for the air conditioned comfort of the car and the continuing trip west. We were all quiet for the ride into the Tulsa area where we stopped for a brief respite from traveling and toured the Bass Pro Shop at Broken Arrow. We took a very close look at the hiking equipment and all tried on backpacks. We discovered that between the pack and sleeping bag alone, you would be carrying 8 pounds on your back. A four man tent adds another 4 pounds to someone. It appears that when hiking, food is the heaviest thing to carry.
After the Bass Pro Shop, we got back into the car and headed north and west to Winfield. The final stop was for dinner at the north McDonalds in Bartlesville. After that, it was a quick 1.5 hour drive home.
July 21, 2008
Journal Day 11
Well, we certainly know that we have left the country. There are people everywhere in our hotel. It almost seems that they are multiplying – kind of like squash on a vine. We got up to a noisy hotel and headed out for the early service at Christ the King Lutheran Church.The church has a radio broadcast of its services as well as a parochial school. This was a much different experience than our little mountain church of a week ago – but just as friendly. We were greeted warmly at the door and welcomed in person by both Pastors Neugebauer and Goble before the service.
While we were sitting in the pew waiting for the service to begin, a man sitting with his two children turned around and spoke to my husband. “I think that I’ve seen you before,” he said. After a few quick questions, turns out this man’s wife – the church organist – was a graduate of St John’s in Winfield. They come back every so often for the college reunion. Apparently, he and my husband had talked while they were visiting Trinity Lutheran in Winfield. We spoke with his wife later and found that we had several common acquaintances. It just goes to show you that no matter how you slice it, it’s still a very small world.
The service was great. The boys still didn’t want to go up to children’s time – too shy. During the summer, Pastor Goble let children take a bag home and bring things back. A young girl had taken it home and brought it back filled with two additional bags. Taped on the outside of the bags was $1 bill and a message for Pastor Goble. It read, “Pass the buck to Pastor Chuck.” And Pastor Goble gladly did.
Paster Neugebauer preached on Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43. He started with a great illustration on the futility of living for this life only. He talked about some of the wonderful achievements he had done in his life – athletic awards, getting a date with the most beautiful girl in high school, raising four boys and even being a grandpa. Then, he said that he had just done something in the last week that made him the proudest of all. Prouder than any of those other things – and he held up a tomato. He said, “Look at this. I, Pastor Chuck Neugebauer grew this beautiful tomato.” Then he caught himself. He said, “Well, God actually grew it. I just managed to not kill it.”
He went on to say that he would like to put the tomato on a shelf for all to see. But, in reality, he knew that the tomato’s life would be fleeting. In fact, if he put it on the shelf, it would soon begin to rot and die. I’m not sure how he did it (I had to do a little parenting in the pew just then) but he began discussing how we should live each moment of life reacting to and treating people as they will be in
heaven, not as they are now – a good way to move through life, I think.After church, we returned to the hotel, changed, packed up and headed out to see Mud Island – a museum and river park on the edge of the Mississippi River. The museum, about the culture and history along the Mississippi River was terrific. It had 18 galleries and life size replicas of a gunnery boat and steamboat. The boys enjoyed climbing on these. They also had an audio tour that added embellishments and voices about the exhibits on display. The museum was well done. The pace was just right. The tour Nazi called out the numbers that we were to type into the MP3 again. We had a great time.
Outside of the museum there was a to-scale model of the lower Mississippi. It was a topographical map which was a great hands-on way to demonstrate the curves and depths of the river as it rolls from it’s juncture with the Ohio all the way to it’s delta in Louisiana. We spotted the location where we crossed at Cairo and the boys had fun wading in the river from there to the Arkansas line.
After that, we headed back to our car on the monorail that we had taken out to the island and headed across the Mississippi River bridge and into Arkansas on I-40. The trip was easy this time – Interstate the entire way. I sat back, began to read one of my library books and enjoyed the rest of the day on the road.
We stopped at about 8:30 in Tahlequah, OK at the Holiday Inn Express. We sat for about an hour while the boys enjoyed swimming in the pool. We met another family of boys that were looking forward to a canoe trip on the Illinois the following day. We told them about our harrowing adventure on the Green and wished them a sunny, cloudless day.
July 20, 2008
Journal, Day 10
This day of travel started extremely slowly as none of us were really very excited to leave the railcar. We were having a ton of fun just hanging out and watching TV in our beds – my husband and I had a queen size and the boys were sleeping on a daybed with a trundle. I finished my book, my husband got a nice long sleep in and the boys were completely pacified watching cartoons on TV. Things were peaceful at the rail station.
But, all good things must come to an end – and, just like in a real hotel, they kick you out around 11:00 a.m. So, we got up, showered, packed the car and checked out. But, before we left we took advantage of some more free stuff that we got with our room and went to view the model railroad museum located on the hotel property.
The brochure said that the model railroad was valued at $1 million and has taken more than 50,000 hours to build and maintain. The railroad is 174 feet long and 33 feet wide at it’s widest point. It had over 3000 feet of track and there were four train
s running on continuous loops while we were there. There were also push buttons to operate a downtown trolley and an incline railway.There is just something about model railroads. I don’t know what it is, but I could stand and look at them all day long. And this one was exceptional. The attention to detail found in this display was breathtaking.
We spent about 30 minutes making the long trip down the room and back and marveling at the new things we discovered each way. They even had a miniature of the hotel there when it was a working depot. That was cool because it was an excellent opportunity for us to explain to the boys how passenger trains worked. They were fascinated.
We ate lunch at the dining room again and then hopped in the car and headed west across the great state of Tennessee. We drove mostly on Highway 64. The majority of the road was a scenic byway and we enjoyed watching the native hills, houses and livestock as we went. It would appear that the state is attempting to make this route a 4-lane highway all the way from Chattanooga to Memphis. There are several spots with brand new 4-lane and others where it is clear where the 4-lane is to go and still others that are being developed into 4-lane as we speak. This project occupied much of our discussion during the trip.
At Savannah, TN we stopped for a short break at the Shiloh National Military Park. We got to the visitor’s center just as it was closing, but got the map for the driving tour and did a hurry-up-and-look job around the museum.
This battle was a little more self explanatory. Basically, General Grant and his troops were headed to Corinth MS in an effort to take a strategic position there along the railroad in order to cut off the south’s northern rail supplies. He was to be reinforced before he took the city so he was camping in the Shiloh area and occupying a two mile stretch south of Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River. The confederates in Corinth learned of his plan and decided to attack him and his troops before he was reinforced.
They met the outlying post of soldiers at 4:55 a.m. on April 6 and fought a bloody, tough battle for the entire day. Federal troops were pushed back to a line just about 100 yards from Pittsburg landing where they massed and held the confederates for the remainder of the evening. The fighting stopped at dark.
As luck would have it, Grant was reinforced that evening with two additional platoons of soldiers, increasing his ranks to 50,000 men. The tired and diminished confederates, who were hoping to finish off the Federal troops the morning of the 7th, awoke to an overwhelming and fresh set of Federal troops that outnumbered their 35,000 ranks. They quickly gave up and were pushed back to Corinth.
The most interesting part of this battlefield was viewing the confederate burial trenches that are scattered about. This war saw 23,000 casualties – men that were killed, wounded or missing. To bury the confederate dead, General Grant created mass graves where he buried men 7 layers deep. There are memorials at each of these trenches.
These battles are so much in our distant past that it is difficult to imagine what went on so many years ago. It is moving to see the problems that can happen when people can’t use their words to resolve issues and instead use people like chess pieces on a political playing board. The brochures all talk about how both sides of the conflict felt that fighting would not be necessary and, if needed, would be over in 3 months. Obviously, they were wrong. And many, many people on both sides paid a significant price.
After the battlefield, we hopped back in the car and drove the last stretch to Memphis and our hotel. We are all tired from the road so we immediately went straight to bed.
Journal, Day 9
Our youngest is seven years old today. I had remembered to bring his presents along with us and had laid them out on the table before I went to bed. He got up, came in to our room to cuddle and didn’t even notice they were there until my husband said something when he got up.
He was so excited! We had nearly convinced him that he probably wouldn’t get presents until he got back home, so this morning’s bounty caught him completely by surprise. While he examined his new DS and TMNT game, we packed up ourselves and the car.
We said goodbye to the cabin and were on the road, headed to Chattanooga on Highway 74 by 9:00 a.m. On the road we passed several groups heading out to raft on the Nantahala River. The town and areas reminded us of the Big Cedar Lodge area around Branson. The river was also fun to watch and looked really inviting. It was difficult not to stop and wade.
At Lake Hiwassee we saw some impressive white water rafting. The groups started at the Hiwassee dam, shot a huge waterfall at the dam’s edge and then headed down river for several more rapid areas until the pull-out spot just prior to where the lake widens. It looked absolutely like the most fun thing in the world. My husband thought they were crazy and said he would never do that. So, I guess I will place my hope with my boys and pray that I will have someone to experience some white water rafting with someday.
After that it was a fairly uneventful drive to the Georgia Visitor’s Center on I-75. We ate lunch out of the cooler and grocery bag again and then headed to the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park. We stamped our National Park passport and grabbed the junior ranger book. (They don’t have a program for anyone less than 3rd grade so we opted to not do the activities at this time to keep the peace.) And then we toured the Visitor’s Center.
Now, I’m sure that if you are in to the civil war and all, this is a fascinating area and museum. The boys did enjoy walking through the gun and cannon display. And, there was one exhibit with a map and lights showing how the battle progressed and where the forces went. It looked a little like a video game and held the boys’ interest.
The Battle of Chickamauga began when the Union army took Chattanooga – a town that afforded the Federal army an extremely strategic position for supply lines to armies raiding into the deep south. The confederates attempted to regain Chattanooga and met the Federals at Chickamauga. General Rosecrans held them fairly well until the fighting got intense and there were some fatal communication errors.
At one point in the middle of the fighting, General Rosecrans thought that a gap had opened in the Federal line. In reality, he had received poor information. He did not verify the scout’s erroneous report. Instead, he sent orders to the regiment one section over to move and fill the gap. This action opened a real gap and gave the Conferederates a perfect spot to break the Federal line and win this particular battle.
They chased the Union army back to Chattanooga and spent the winter holding it under siege from nearby Lookout Mountain. General Grant didn’t just sit around and wait for things to happen. He attacked the Confederates on Lookout Mountain and routed them. Chattanooga remained in Federal hands and became an extremely important and valuable position as the Federal army marched to take over the Deep South.
Most of the exhibits required reading very much above the 8th grade level. Since we have two very important folks on our tour that are not even there yet, we breezed through the museum and went on to the auto tour. Unfortunately, I must say that this didn’t really get any better.
The boys were actually pretty disappointed. I don’t exactly know what they were expecting, but I think it was something like life-size wax figures poised around the battlefield in actual battle stances. High expectations, maybe? There was one very cool monument erected at the sight where General Rosecrans made his error in judgment and opened the gap in the Union line. It was an 85 foot high tower that you could climb to the top of. One of the people coming down said there were 136 steps. Having just walked 4.5 plus miles the day before, this seemed like chump change. And the view at the top was definitely worth it.
After the battlefield, we headed into town to check into our hotel. We stayed downtown at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo Convention Center hotel run by Holiday Inn. The hotel is a restored train depot and tracks in the center of downtown. They have restored and repurposed 37 passenger cars into hotel rooms decorated in the Victorian style. For a few hundred dollars, you can stay the night in one of them and get free tickets to the downtown Aquarium and IMAX theater. Another perk that we didn’t even realize we had was a free engineer’s hat from the gift store for each boy. How cool was that?
After we unpacked our stuff and checked out our really cool room (it was like sleeping in a museum), we headed for the downtown aquarium on the free, electric trolley system. The aquarium boasts that it is the largest, fresh-water aquarium in the United States. I believe it. It is a study of the flora and fauna in the Tennessee River Valley. You ride an escalator up to the very top where the river starts in the Smokey Mountains and you continue by walking down into lower levels of the museum as you descend downstream. Eventually, you end up in the Gulf of Mexico just like the real river does.
The whole thing was really great, but if we had to pick our favorite areas, we would probably pick and exhibit about turtles showing turtles from all over the world. There was a sturgeon touch pool that was really cool. There are two buildings to the aquarium – one on fresh wa
ter and one on animals of the ocean. This second building had a butterfly garden at the very top that was super cool and where we spent much time. It also had a touch pool.
I can say with some first-hand knowledge now that I would rather touch a sturgeon with my hands than a manta ray.
Once we had exhausted the museum’s, it was across the street to the IMAX where we watched a 3-D show on the Grand Canyon and Colorado River. It was a fabulous film about water conservation and the very critical problem that is occurring in the Southwest. There were some impressive pictures showing just how much of two lakes have been depleted due to excessive use of water. The movie, which is narrated by Robert Redford and (I’m sure) partly funded by Bobby Kennedy is definitely worth experiencing if it comes to your area.
After the movie, it was back to the Holiday Inn – where kids eat free! – a quick dip in the pool and then back to bed. What a full day! I fell asleep in bed watching a documentary on Carol Burnett and didn’t get around to posting this blog. For that, I apologize.
He was so excited! We had nearly convinced him that he probably wouldn’t get presents until he got back home, so this morning’s bounty caught him completely by surprise. While he examined his new DS and TMNT game, we packed up ourselves and the car.
We said goodbye to the cabin and were on the road, headed to Chattanooga on Highway 74 by 9:00 a.m. On the road we passed several groups heading out to raft on the Nantahala River. The town and areas reminded us of the Big Cedar Lodge area around Branson. The river was also fun to watch and looked really inviting. It was difficult not to stop and wade.
At Lake Hiwassee we saw some impressive white water rafting. The groups started at the Hiwassee dam, shot a huge waterfall at the dam’s edge and then headed down river for several more rapid areas until the pull-out spot just prior to where the lake widens. It looked absolutely like the most fun thing in the world. My husband thought they were crazy and said he would never do that. So, I guess I will place my hope with my boys and pray that I will have someone to experience some white water rafting with someday.
After that it was a fairly uneventful drive to the Georgia Visitor’s Center on I-75. We ate lunch out of the cooler and grocery bag again and then headed to the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park. We stamped our National Park passport and grabbed the junior ranger book. (They don’t have a program for anyone less than 3rd grade so we opted to not do the activities at this time to keep the peace.) And then we toured the Visitor’s Center.
Now, I’m sure that if you are in to the civil war and all, this is a fascinating area and museum. The boys did enjoy walking through the gun and cannon display. And, there was one exhibit with a map and lights showing how the battle progressed and where the forces went. It looked a little like a video game and held the boys’ interest.
The Battle of Chickamauga began when the Union army took Chattanooga – a town that afforded the Federal army an extremely strategic position for supply lines to armies raiding into the deep south. The confederates attempted to regain Chattanooga and met the Federals at Chickamauga. General Rosecrans held them fairly well until the fighting got intense and there were some fatal communication errors.
At one point in the middle of the fighting, General Rosecrans thought that a gap had opened in the Federal line. In reality, he had received poor information. He did not verify the scout’s erroneous report. Instead, he sent orders to the regiment one section over to move and fill the gap. This action opened a real gap and gave the Conferederates a perfect spot to break the Federal line and win this particular battle.
They chased the Union army back to Chattanooga and spent the winter holding it under siege from nearby Lookout Mountain. General Grant didn’t just sit around and wait for things to happen. He attacked the Confederates on Lookout Mountain and routed them. Chattanooga remained in Federal hands and became an extremely important and valuable position as the Federal army marched to take over the Deep South.
Most of the exhibits required reading very much above the 8th grade level. Since we have two very important folks on our tour that are not even there yet, we breezed through the museum and went on to the auto tour. Unfortunately, I must say that this didn’t really get any better.
The boys were actually pretty disappointed. I don’t exactly know what they were expecting, but I think it was something like life-size wax figures poised around the battlefield in actual battle stances. High expectations, maybe? There was one very cool monument erected at the sight where General Rosecrans made his error in judgment and opened the gap in the Union line. It was an 85 foot high tower that you could climb to the top of. One of the people coming down said there were 136 steps. Having just walked 4.5 plus miles the day before, this seemed like chump change. And the view at the top was definitely worth it.
After the battlefield, we headed into town to check into our hotel. We stayed downtown at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo Convention Center hotel run by Holiday Inn. The hotel is a restored train depot and tracks in the center of downtown. They have restored and repurposed 37 passenger cars into hotel rooms decorated in the Victorian style. For a few hundred dollars, you can stay the night in one of them and get free tickets to the downtown Aquarium and IMAX theater. Another perk that we didn’t even realize we had was a free engineer’s hat from the gift store for each boy. How cool was that?
After we unpacked our stuff and checked out our really cool room (it was like sleeping in a museum), we headed for the downtown aquarium on the free, electric trolley system. The aquarium boasts that it is the largest, fresh-water aquarium in the United States. I believe it. It is a study of the flora and fauna in the Tennessee River Valley. You ride an escalator up to the very top where the river starts in the Smokey Mountains and you continue by walking down into lower levels of the museum as you descend downstream. Eventually, you end up in the Gulf of Mexico just like the real river does.
The whole thing was really great, but if we had to pick our favorite areas, we would probably pick and exhibit about turtles showing turtles from all over the world. There was a sturgeon touch pool that was really cool. There are two buildings to the aquarium – one on fresh wa
ter and one on animals of the ocean. This second building had a butterfly garden at the very top that was super cool and where we spent much time. It also had a touch pool.I can say with some first-hand knowledge now that I would rather touch a sturgeon with my hands than a manta ray.
Once we had exhausted the museum’s, it was across the street to the IMAX where we watched a 3-D show on the Grand Canyon and Colorado River. It was a fabulous film about water conservation and the very critical problem that is occurring in the Southwest. There were some impressive pictures showing just how much of two lakes have been depleted due to excessive use of water. The movie, which is narrated by Robert Redford and (I’m sure) partly funded by Bobby Kennedy is definitely worth experiencing if it comes to your area.
After the movie, it was back to the Holiday Inn – where kids eat free! – a quick dip in the pool and then back to bed. What a full day! I fell asleep in bed watching a documentary on Carol Burnett and didn’t get around to posting this blog. For that, I apologize.
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