Part - 24 - VACATIONS AND TRAVEL

RAISIN'

24. VACATIONS AND TRAVEL

While the kids were coming up, each year, we tried to take at least a one week vacation to travel and see as many different things as we could.

We've been to (in no particular order): Six Flags over Georgia, The Cyclorama (a combined painting and 3-D depiction of the Civil War Battle of Atlanta), The Zoo and to a Braves game at Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta; Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL; Waukula Springs, FL; Carowinds Theme Park on the North Carolina/South Carolina border near Charlotte; Opryland, The Country Music Hall of Fame, The Hermitage (Andrew Jackson's Home) and the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville; Goldrush Junction (changed to Silver Dollar City and is now Dollywood) in Pigeon Forge, TN; Gatlinburg and The Great Smokie Mountain National Park; Frontierland and The Oconoluftie Indian Village (about three times) in Cherokee, NC;

(The first time we went to Cherokee, we were all sick but Deb, it had been raining and JoAnne had bumped her head on a gondola going out of Frontier Land. We decided to get us some Indian Moccasins. For some reason, we all got tickled and were about rolling in the floor of the shop in Cherokee while trying on moccasins.);

Lookout Mountain, Ruby Falls and The Confederama (a miniature mock up of the Battle of Moccasin Bend) in Chattanooga, and the Memphis Zoo in TN; Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, TX; The Alamo and Langhorn's House of Horns in San Antonio, TX; The Astrodome, Home of the Astros, (Andy & I saw a ball game there) in Houston, the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, and El Paso, TX; Mammoth Cave, Fort Knox, Louisville (where Andy learned to run and dive off a board), Frankfurt (the Capitol), and Lexington, KY;

The US Capital, Senate Chamber, House Chamber (we were met by Congressman Jack Edwards, had our picture made on the Capitol steps with him and later, visited him in his office) and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC; Chesapeake Beach, MD (we found several ancient sharks' teeth along the shore there); and Mount Vernon (Home of George Washington), VA;

The Alabama Department of Archives and History and the Capitol in Montgomery, Russell Cave, Sequoia Caverns, Natural Bridge, Talladega International Raceway, Cheaha State Park (highest point in AL), and Lake Logan Martin at Pell City, AL;

Dogpatch USA near Russelville, Petit Jean State Park and Winthrop Rockerfeller ranch, and the Little Rock Zoo, in AR; the original Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO, the St. Louis Zoo, Grant's Park (home of Augie Busch and the Budweiser Clydesdales. Joe almost got us run out of there.), and stood on the foundation of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis; the Jackson and Hattiesburg Zoos in MS; Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ; and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.


During these trips, we tried to see as much as possible in the short times we had. For instance, we went through about one-and-a-half of the Smithsonian buildings in about four hours. We were exposed to lots of places and things, and after the kids moved, both they and JoAnne and I have gone back to several of the places we'd been to previously.

JoAnne and I have added a number of places since the kids grew up. We've been to Quebec City, Quebec, and Montreal, Ontario, Canada; all over Maine and Tennessee; the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington (we took Lou once and Mother and Daddy once, they all seemed to really enjoy it.); Denver, Vail, Estes Park, and Colorado Springs, CO; Cheyenne, (Capitol) WY; Oakland, San Francisco and the NAPA Valley, CA; Detroit, Macanac and Sault Ste. Marie, MI; The Biltmore House (Home of the Vanderbilts. Has 36 bedrooms) in Asheville, and to Chimney Rock, NC. And, to Salt Lake City, UT, Idaho Falls and The Valley of the Moon National Monument, ID; Jackson Hole and the Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks in WY; and through a corner of Montana.

Associated travels with the various jobs have taken me to 23 states. I've been into 46 of the 50 states. I've seen much of this country, and wish to see more of it. I have been out of the US to two countries, those are Canada, Mexico, England, France, The Netherlands, Luxumborg, Belgium, Prague, and Cyprus . We really hope to see much more of the world if health and money allows.