Christa and I road tripped it across the Muddy Mississippi and the Chattahoochee (and countless other rivers with less memorable names) and a few states to visit the lovely Wilson family.
Seriously some of my favorite people.
It was possibly the best vacation I've ever taken, mostly because we didn't have any sort of schedule, although we did have a list of things to do. We slowly checked each item off our list, but didn't feel rushed or anything. The lack of a rushed feeling may or may not have had anything to do with the fact that there was a small child in our company who required two naps a day in his own home, so that forced ("forced" here should be read as "allowed") us to have lots of rest time. It was fantastic.
In fact, we had so much fun that we completely forgot the biggest goal for the trip. We had spent months saying there was no way we would get this close to the East Coast and not see it. Well, we realized when we stopped in Montgomery, AL for lunch that we hadn't even thought about going to the coast the whole time we were there.
We were just having too much fun!
And now, without further ado, let me present you with some pictures.
Two cheerful girls in a car. Don't worry, we're at a stop light, I promise!
The Big River
The lovelies we visited . . . Hope Brett doesn't mind the term . . .
The first two things we met at Ft. Benning: a fantastic Sunset and some awesome Fireworks
I was quite impressed with the talents of the Georgian sky.
And then we went to the boardwalk in Columbus on the actual Fourth of July for a little festival action.
The view from the Boardwalk was so pretty, I couldn't resist capturing it.
We decided it was definitely a good plan to return for the fireworks, so we loaded up and went to a fancy restaurant and then found the perfect spot from which to watch the fireworks . . .
Or so we thought.
Turns out there was a giant building in our way because the fireworks were not, in fact, over the river as we thought they would be. Plus, three of us were stuck elsewhere looking for funnel cakes. So when the giant human stampede came past, we were rather separated and concerned about each other.
Oh, you mean I didn't mention the fact that about a hundred people came running past us during the fireworks screaming that there was a gun?
Well, they did.
Yeah, the second fireworks show definitely didn't out-do the first . . .
Although there was a beautiful old train running on a bridge above us as we walked back to the car . . .
And then, the next morning, we took a lovely walk around the base (well, not the whole thing because it is HUGE) and I found such lovely things as Rainbow Street and this community-ish tire swing. I really couldn't find a single house with which the swing was connected!
Later that day we visited this FANTASTIC museum which I definitely want to go to again. It was too dark inside to take many pictures, but it had several galleries, one dedicated to each major war the infantry has participated in.
In the entrance there is this statue, whose name I cannot remember. Joe, maybe? Anyway, he's a famous real live infantryman and he's shouting "Follow Me!" which is the infantry's slogan or something.
That evening, Christa and I babysat this little cutie so his parents could go out on a little date . . . to Walmart (oh, and an Indian food place).
Then, the next day we watched some guys (and girls) jump out of planes.
And then we went to another museum. This time the Civil War Naval Museum. It was incredible! I'm a little bit of a Civil War Buff, but I'd never really learned much about the Navy. Man, the things they could do on the water back then were amazing!
We went on a real Ironclad
And Ransom read the information to us
With a little slapping of the signage for emphasis.
