Are you coming to the tree?

No WiFi for days and life both ends and begins.  We are having a blast!  Today (the dan blogging about, not the actual day), we drove to Sweetwater Creek State Park near Atlanta. You may or may not recognize some of the ruins, as this is where the Hunger Games was filmed. In a different line of fandoms, also some of the walking dead!  It was supposed to a mile hike down to the Old Mill, which was burned by the Union Army.

We weren't able explore the ruins for safety reasons, the whole thing was fenced off.

Lunch was not magic mushrooms.   Pretty,  but not yummy.

The creek behind the ruins was peaceful, there was plentiful shade, and a cool breeze.

The kids worked diligently on their Jr. Ranger books for State and National Park badges.  The hike back in was slow and tiresome.  By the time we reached the Confederate memorial, we were too tired to hike to the top!   We drove by the relief in the side and waved.   

Atlanta was beautiful.   We drove to South Carolina for dinner, then headed to.......

A Family Affair

Day 3 started at the Noccalula Campsite right outside Noccalula falls.  You're probably wondering, WHAT exactly, Noccalula ANYTHING is.  To be completely honest, I couldn't even spell Noccalula before today, and to continue being completely honest, I had to check google before posting this.  

The legend of Cherokee Indian Princess Noccalula dates from antiquity in the regions of northeast Alabama, U.S., where the Cherokee nation once thrived. According to legend, Princess Noccalula was the beautiful daughter of a powerful Cherokee chief and was deeply in love with a brave from her own tribe. Despite her wishes to marry this young warrior, she was promised by her father to a Creek Indian chief who had more bounty to offer for her hand. Her lover was banished from the tribe, and Noccalula was forced to ready herself for the arranged marriage. On the day of the wedding she allowed herself to be arrayed in ceremonial attire and obediently but reluctantly attended the marriage feast. In the midst of the merrymaking, Noccalula quietly slipped away and wandered through the forests of her childhood, coming eventually to the beautiful waterfall near her tribal home. Rather than subject herself to a loveless marriage, she jumped from the precipice near the falls and ended her life on the rocks below.

So I took my kids to the Indian Princess Suicide site.  I blame Tammi Murphy for this.  She told me if we got close, we should visit, that it's one of the most beautiful places she's ever been.  We hiked to behind the falls.  I'll let you judge:

First view of the falls from the trail

Right behind the falls in the cliff cave

From the side

A mile hike in.  I am so proud of those kids of mine!

From the beach below the falls.

Not too shabby, right?  THANK YOU, TAMMI!!!!!!  Kayleigh enjoyed hiking for her first time, even though we were hot and sweaty by the time we were done.

We ate a picnic lunch, fed some animals...

and headed two and a half hours east to an Atlanta suburb to see some of the most outstanding people you will ever meet.  They happen to be my cousins.  I am in no way biased.

Lenny, Sue, Ginny, Caylee, and Brandon were impeccable hosts.  Hamburgers for dinner, then swim lessons, real beds, TV, and showers with water pressure.  I really can't say enough about the hospitality of this wonderful family.  We are so blessed!

Off to bed I go!  Tomorrow is a new day :)

The Route

So planning is a HUGE part of trips like this.  Just kidding.  Having a general idea of a plan and being ridiculously flexible is the MOST IMPORTANT THING I can tell you about doing a trip like this.
Gannon wants so badly to go to the Pentagon, that we actually booked that in advance.  Yes, I'm taking Gannon to the Pentagon.  I'll post a link for the GoFundMe for my bail money later.  We HAVE to be at the Pentagon on July 14th at 1400.  That's our only MUST.  So here we go....We leave Sunday at 3:00 PM.

Leg 1:  Leave Cibolo and go to Baton Rouge, LA.  Putz around the old capitol for a bit, see some of the history of LA.  Drive to P'Cola, FL!  We'll probably go across to Gulf Breeze and spend some time on the boardwalk, trying to not be eaten by sharks or contract flesh eating bacteria.  Next stop, Noccalula Falls in Gadsden, AL.  This, according to my friend Tammi, is a MUST SEE.  From there, we go to Lithia Springs State Park out side of Atlanta to see confederate ruins where Hunger Games was filmed, and see my awesome cousins Lenny and Sue!  North to Charlotte where there is an abundance of historical stuff to see and do.  We have to fit West Virginia in there somewhere, so Monongahela State Park is where leg one ends.

From West Virginia, things get CRAZY.  We spend a few days in DC, up to Gettysburg, over to Philly, PA, to New York City.  We could easily spend over a week in each place, but we're hitting the highlights.  From NYC, we're going to Plymouth Plantation, MA, then over to Boston to walk the Freedom Trail.  We won't have hit all the states without a stopover in Maine, so lobster dinner, here we come!  This is the end of leg 2 and the northern most point in our adventure.

From Kittery, we have a looooong drive to Niagra Falls State Park!  We were originally hoping to go up to Ontario, but opted to stick to our goal of 50 states before "international" travel.  From Niagra Falls, we head to Cleveland area for fun with Debbie, Thad, and the kids.  VERY excited about that time together.  Up to Detroit for the auto museum, then down down down to Mammoth Cave, KY.  I LOVED Mammoth Caves as a kid.  Back up to Indianapolis for the Children's Museum, then to see mom and dad in Galesburg.  From the 'Burg, we'll take an Amtrak up to Chicago and spend a day in the Windy City.  End Leg 3.

Leg 4 is where total whimsy comes in!  I want to go the Shreveport, LA on the way home to find out information on my great grandparents from Sicily.  Other than that, we can go to St. Louis, Kansas, Oklahoma, Dallas....wherever the wind takes us! (Hopefully the wind and not a tornado...).

So there you have it!  T-3 days and counting!  Now I have to disconnect from the computer so I can start packing.  Ugh.

Read, Comment, Subscribe!