Return of the Seventh Sister

It was the last day of our latest version of "The Spirit Awakens," and today we had a visit from the Seventh Sister, who you can see above, amongst others.  Also pictured is our power droid to the left, and to the left you can see two photobombing Jawas.  Yes, that's Madison as the lower Jawa in the picture.

But oh no!  What is this?  It's a bounty hunter that's come along and captured the heroes of our story, the scavengers all grouped together.  He seems to have them in a bad situation!

Until Jinky the Jawa returned!  Jinky snuck up into the scene, having been gone the last two weeks.  There was a cheer from the audience, as Madison's Jawa character zapped the bounty hunter with a stun gun.  Furthermore, the bounty hunter fled the scene having endured further threats.  "Scary Jawa!" he screamed, running off!

Here's Madison with some of the 501st after the second service.  This would be the last appearance of the 501st for this series, and as you can see, we had a Stormtrooper and the Seventh Sister there, a character from the "Star Wars Rebels" series.  From what I understand, there are only four of these costumes in existence, or at least four approved by the 501st.  We were blessed to have her with us this morning, and it was a great opportunity to honor all our guests after eight weeks of appearances by all sorts of amazing costumed characters.

Here they are with the traditional rock wall climbing picture.  We're not entirely sure why this became a necessary tradition, but there it is, nevertheless.  The Jawas started it, and now all the characters are in on it!

But the recreation room had other things to do, and you can see the Seventh Sister lining up a shot in a game of pool versus a Stormtrooper.  Note the number of the ball she's about to sink:  yes, that's a seven.  

Meanwhile, the Jawas were having fun with the slides.  Jawas are funny, completely random sorts of creatures.  They'll be scavenging and picking pockets, or going down slides or climbing rock walls.  They sort of just spontaneously do what they like.  We've had Jawas with us for the past eight weeks now, all part of the Great Horde.  

Ah!  It looks like the Seventh Sister has decided to do challenge a foe not with a lightsaber, but with a game of foosball.  Few people realize that this is how the Inquisitors actually determined who was number one or two or three.  

Here's today's cast, and of course this is something that's changed from week to week.  It's been a challenge writing this fluctuating cast into an ongoing story, but we've had some consistent characters that have been here long enough to do something on a bigger scale.  The payoffs were good today, as questions were answered and there was a lot of laughter in the audience.  Best of all, we took time to honor the 501st today.

They've been coming from all over to our church.  Some came from Hampton, Georgia this morning, and the Seventh Sister came all the way from Clemson, South Carolina.  It's been pretty amazing!  They have such great hearts:  a few of them were heading to a hospital shortly after this, one assisting kids who have special needs.  We may find ourselves in the 501st some day.  After hearing the stories and testimonies of the members, it is certainly a good group of people.

And so we ended our Star Wars series today, and took down the set pieces of Hoth.  We're hopefully able to donate these to the 501st, if they're able to come get the pieces.  Already we're gearing up for a new series, one with video games and so forth.  We're turning the corner pretty fast, but before we move on, it's good to look back and celebrate this remarkable series. 

Our GNK droid definitely loved it!

So after church today, we had tickets to go see a play, the latest WonderQuest production at Pierce Auditorium in Brenau.  We went to see "Sophie and the Pirates."

Seeing a production like this has been a tradition of ours.  The first one may have been back in 2013 when we saw one of the plays they do here.  Each year it is something different, although this year's pirate-themed play was one that was done thirteen years ago.  Daddy actually saw that one, and it inspired us to do our KidPak Pirate series. 

You can see Madison was really into the spirit of things here, dressing up in her Uma costume once again to join the pirates afterwards.  This is the reason we get the Sunday tickets:  an ice cream social afterwards.  We get to move from actor to actor, and pose for pictures.  Also, Madison brings her programs with her, and the actors in the play sign their autographs.

The play was good, a shorter one that had lots of energy - and pirates.  The set was a pirate ship, and the costumes, sound effects and music were all great.  As was the acting itself:  this was a great production.  Anything with pirates in it is going to be enjoyed by us anyway, so there you go!

And afterwards, the weather was just right outside as we wandered from actor to actor, complimenting everyone for the great job inside, and eating our ice cream sandwiches.  It was a very nice occasion!

We went home after that, and Madison took a bath.  Daddy is working on another project related to that board game, and should be done tomorrow.  We also played a game:  Ducktales.  We went to Transylvania to rescue Huey, Dewey and Louie from a castle there.  It's an old game, one that's been remastered, and it's lots of fun hearing the voices of "Unca Scrooge" and his nephews.  The game is fun too, in an old-fashioned sort of way.

Afterwards, we watched a movie and had popcorn.  Madison chose, "Tower of Terror," which is actually not that bad of a movie.  It's a Disney Channel movie, so it's not going to be top of the line, but at the same time, it is a fun story, and the three of us liked it.

So finally it's bed time, and the end of Fall Break.  Tomorrow, Madison is back at school - but it's been a good break.  We finished something else tonight too:  "The Penultimate Peril."  That means we have just one more book to go.  We picked that up at the library yesterday, so we're ready to go.  Theoretically, we could finally be done with this "Series of Unfortunate Events" in about two weeks.  It's been quite a run!

Speaking of which, this has been quite an entry here:  we had a big day!  We said our prayers, read from the devotional and delivered fresh zerberts.  Madison hid somewhere upstairs before we could do all of this, and we found her and started the nightly process.  It didn't take long for her to fall asleep tonight.  And something tells me... it won't take us long either... goodnight!

Combat Carl

Would somebody please get this guy in a Toy Story movie?  Combat Carl is one of our favorite characters to come back to this time each year, and tonight was such fun watching these Toy Story shorts.  All four of them on this collection are so much fun, we sit and watch them all back-to-back-to-back-to-back.  Madison even loves the fake commercials in between, so we watch those as well.

Daddy was back to work today, but we did do a little bit of shopping afterwards, heading out together to get groceries for the 501st, and speaking of Star Wars, we picked up the movie we pre-purchased, "Solo."  We stopped over at the Disney Store to do that, and were happy to hear that our coupon that came with "Solo" could be applied to a pre-purchase of "The Incredibles 2," so we did that and got yet another Disney lithograph to add to the collection.  We have so many lithographs at the house now - it's an impressive collection!

Madison did do a little piano today, but maybe not enough.  We have some catching up to do there.  No matter:  we'll be back on schedule once Monday rolls around and we're back in school.

We bought a pumpkin at the grocery store today, although it isn't our official pumpkin.  We like to have a few extra just in case one of our guests to the pumpkin carving party doesn't bring a pumpkin. We'll probably be visiting a pumpkin farm next weekend, I suspect.  It might be crowded, but gone are the days that we can do much right after school on a weekday.  Madison gets off of school so late that it's nearly impossible, not to mention she's got things to do Monday through Thursday after school.

We went to the library today, and picked it up, a book called "The End."  It's the last book in "A Series of Unfortunate Events," and I can't believe we're already there at the end.  We're waiting on another book called "The Beatrice Letters," one we'll read before that last book.  But this is pretty much it, the ending.  That last book, by the way, is being sent from another library.  We can do that within the Forsyth system, and it's been pretty handy.

One of the other things that Madison was doing today was artwork.  She was making this sign that says "BEWARE," and she wanted to make it look as weathered and old as possible.  So she had all kinds of paints and the sort of colors that you use a blow pen for.  The end result was something that looked like an old treasure map, only there weren't any map symbols.  It just was a piece of parchment paper that says, "BEWARE!"

We're not entirely sure what it is we need to beware of, though.  Is there something in the woods at night that we don't know about?  Is there something in the basement?  Or is it a warning about telemarketers or bad candidates running for office?

Yes, there are those right now.  It's time for elections soon, and in fact Georgia has a few candidates running for Governor this year.  We have two very different candidates, and the media is reporting that the contest between the two is very close.  Of course, the same media reported that the contest two years ago was very close as well, and we know how that turned out.  Anyway, we'll be voting soon, and the robocalls will stop soon.  We have candidates running for all kinds of offices, but the real election in Georgia seems to be back in May during the primaries.  It seems a foregone conclusion here that one party will always win, and therefore everyone tries to win the spot for that party back in May.  Hopefully everyone will remember to vote November though, because there is a lot on the line this year.  As usual.  The news has been pretty vicious in Washington, with the partisan vitriol sinking to new levels, and that's saying quite a lot.  What has happened to us as a country?

I know what candidate can unite us, and bring us together once more.  I think you do too.

His name is Combat Carl!

Ruby Falls and Rock City

We had a pretty full day today, and as you can see here, we started at Ruby Falls.  Well, first we started at the hotel where we woke up a little later, and snuck down for the free continental breakfast.  It was actually pretty substantial, come to think of it!  There was quite a bit to offer, and it completely cancelled out the thought of going to a restaurant to eat breakfast, because there was so much to eat there.  The whole term "continental breakfast" brought to mind a conversation about what that really means, which of course went to a funny online skit that Daddy had to find and show before we left the hotel.  

Anyway, as it was just one night, we packed up easily and were out the door quickly.  Ruby Falls was very, very close by.  We took a few rights, and made our way up Lookout Mountain, and followed the signs.  Madison was helpful with finding signs and remembering route numbers.  Soon enough, we were there - again, it was very close.  The parking lot was pretty full, but we had immediate favor with parking spots all day today, pulling in these spots that were right there, really close by.

We got our tickets, and the next stop was posing in front of a green screen before boarding the elevator down 160 feet.

We don't usually buy the souvenir photos they take in front of the green screen, but this one turned out pretty good.  We were about to do some spelunking!  Not really, but Mommy pointed out that this was the first time that Madison has ever seen real stalactites and stalagmites!

It's a guided tour, and not a self-guided tour.  As such, you can't stop for too long to take photographs.  The truth is, that might be the best thing to keep the crowds moving.  There were actually a lot of people down there, walking a thin and narrow path deep within the earth.  The idea that this guy named Leo crawled a remarkable distance until he could finally stand upright, and then he kept going in the dark with only a lantern... that amazes me.  Fortunately, there was plenty of lighting here this morning:

It's all colorful lighting, much of it.  These formations apparently needed a lot of enhancing, because oversized cave formations just aren't thrilling enough until you add multi-colored LED lights.  Same for the waterfall, of course.  

Here's Mommy and Madison at the beginning of the tour.  Overall, we walked approximately one mile underground, and it took about an hour total.  These are the statistics they give us along the way, and it's mostly level ground and of course all pretty cool inside, as far as temperature goes.  Eventually, we made it to our destination, Ruby Falls!

It's pretty impressive, actually!  The picture above has people in it to show the scale of the thing.  I think they said it was about 145 feet tall, and also the "largest commercial cave waterfall in America."  This suggests to me there are taller waterfalls underground elsewhere, which is pretty amazing to think about, because honestly this one is impressive.  The lighting above is natural, but with this waterfall, they added a bunch of lighting to it - and music too.  You're only given eight minutes to see it, and you sort of share that with a bunch of other people in your group. 

We were at the base of the falls a few moments, and again later on.  You can see the blue coloring of the lighting, and the smiles on the girls' faces.  It was a fun little expedition!  But soon it was time to return!

It was largely the same journey back, with a few deviations.  This path had a few other formations, some named and others simply lit with colorful lights.  From what we read on the surface, twenty-five percent of the power for the lighting comes from the solar panels we saw up there.

Madison enjoyed it.  We did too, of course, and we were happy to experience something like this where she could learn a little along the way.  There are many more caves, and of course some more famous and much larger.  Further up the road is Mammoth Caves in Kentucky, which is not as beautiful as others, but certainly larger.  Luray Caverns in Virginia is incredible, as is the musical pipe organ within.  The most amazing cave system Daddy has ever been to is Carlsbad Caverns, which is one of the most awe-inspiring places you can see.  It's a must-see on our list with Madison, some day.

But for now, Ruby Falls was certainly a stop worth making.  We found our way to the elevator, and made our way up, up, up again - and this time kept going up once we got to the store.  There was a staircase that led us up to the top of an observation tower, the top of a castle that enabled us to look out over Lookout Mountain.  It was quite a view!

Satisfied with our trip, our next stop was about five miles up the road, still on Lookout Mountain.  We crossed back into Georgia, and made it to Rock City.

This is one of the greatest tourist attractions ever conceived, up there with Wall Drug and the House on the Rock.  The best part is that it is actually here in Georgia, and so close to visit.  On one hand, it's filled with gnomes, which tells you all you need to know about a place, really.

There are over a hundred garden gnomes - probably more - scattered throughout the place.  But the other side of it all is the natural beauty of the place, and the way the large rocks are rested atop this mountain.

Here's Madison and Mommy along the way, going between a few larger rocks with that bridge overhead.  Visitors walked over and under these rocks, even going deep within a cavernous area at one point.  

Along the way, the landscaping is very pleasant.  Peaceful music plays and it's just perfect for a nice, quiet walk.  It was very quiet today, in fact.  The tremendous amount of rain had scared many people off, one employee said.  This morning, the weather was overcast and the clouds looked heavy.  That's why we went to Ruby Falls first.  But things had cleared up for the afternoon, and the weather was absolutely perfect.

Here you can see one of the two tight squeezes that the path takes you on.  This is the "Eye of the Needle," which we went through, and then up again on top of these rocks along this path here:

As you can see, there was hardly anyone here.  It was pretty astounding, and we were very grateful because we were all enjoying the place very much.  In fact, later on Madison said of the three destinations here in Chattanooga, this one was her favorite.

And the weather was cloudy enough that it wasn't terribly hot at all.  We took our time, wandering along the path amongst these massive rocks, some even with unusual shapes that resembled other things.

Does this not look like a large blob fish?  I think it was called Mushroom Rock or something.  But you can see a face in there, can't you?  Maybe it's just us.  Oh, and yes, you can see the bird feeder there too, right?  Those were all over, as were the garden gnomes.  Here's a few more bird feeders.

We got Mommy something as a Christmas present here, a hummingbird feeder that's a version of one of these.  Also, we now have a "See Rock City" bird feeder ourselves, one we'll be putting together at home, probably this week.  Madison and Daddy will probably be assembling that one very soon, given Madison's love of putting things together.

Eventually, we did make it to the edge of Lookout Mountain, where the mountain presumably got its name from.  This is a water fall that is man-made, not a natural one.  Nevertheless, it's pretty to look at, quite tall.  It's called High Falls.  Here's the view from the top of that bridge, looking down the falls.

Madison has an interesting fear of heights, something we've been discovering lately. She was talking about it more and more from her experience at the lighthouse last year, and this year's return visit to the lighthouse sort of confirmed things a bit more.  This rope bridge was sort of a challenge for her, but Mommy kept close.

Looks like the rope bridge to the Temple of Doom, doesn't it?  Don't worry - there weren't any crocodiles below.  It was a pretty good distance down though.

There's Mommy and Madison on the lookout point, from which you can see seven states.  Today, you could probably see about five states, I suspect.  It was still a pretty good view - you could see quite a ways.  There was a corn maze below, and even a barn with the words "See Rock City" painted on the roof.  After walking along the top, we made our way back through the rock gardens, along the edge there and through the Asgardian Rainbow Hall.

Okay, it wasn't from Asgard.  It was just some tinted windows.  There wasn't any explanation for this, other than the fact that it was kind of cool.  Sort of like this random statue.

Standing on a rock that was separate from the walkways, a chasm between us, there was no explanation for this statue.  It could be some celebration of humankind's relationship with animals... or it could could be instead some creepy Lord of the Rings character about to unleash something we'll find out about later.

We got out of there quickly though.  Here's Madison in one of the many darkened passages along the path, on the way out.  There was one more tight squeeze though.

This is Fat Man Squeeze, which Madison had no problem going through, mainly because she isn't a fat man.  All was well for a time, but then we were faced with a difficult choice.  We couldn't go over the mountain, so there was no choice but to go through something worse than the Mines of Moria.

There was no other way, so to quote Gandalf, "So be it!"  This is where things get a little crazy at Rock City:

Madison asked, "This is tacky, right Dad?"  Yes, Madison.  This is tacky.  There were gnomes and black lighting.  It was quite damp, actually.  The huge amount of rain in the area left large puddles in the cavernous pathways.  Visibility was limited, so occasionally Daddy would splash into a puddle and warn everyone behind.  There was a lot of rain here the last few days.  Evidence of this was seen all the way up and down the road, with impromptu waterfalls coming off the side of the mountain here or there, even though there hasn't been rain since last night.  It was just a lot of runoff.  And we were walking through a bit of it as we saw this mystical place called Fairyland Caverns.

Not only were there gnomes everywhere, but there were also all kinds of classic nursery rhyme stories, all set up with black light.  Everything was there, from Snow White to the Old Woman in the Shoe.  And thrown in all over the place, there were more gnomes.

This gnome seems to be saying, "Get off my lawn!"  This was a two-story house here, one with glowing occupants in each window, and some wildlife too.  Different grottos presented different stories, all lit up brilliantly in the dark.

I can' remember this one, but it looked interesting.  There were glowing fairies flittering about a tree.  Other scenes showed a carnival with a large working Ferris wheel, or Red Riding Hood, or this massive area with a castle on a hill, and all sorts of nursery rhyme inhabitants.

It looks like these are behind bars for some crime we're not sure about.  Actually, most of the scenes were behind bars, to protect the displays against the usual Rock City riffraff!

But they needn't worry, because the gnomes were there, looking down on us as we traveled.  They clearly had us outnumbered too!

In the end, we escaped from Fairyland Caverns no worse for wear, and it really wasn't that bad of a place at all.  It was a fun little journey, and it turns out, it was the end of our trip through Rock City.  We wound up at the entrance area afterwards, where we stopped in the shop area to grab a hummingbird feeder and a gift for Nana.

We ate at the restaurant right there at Rock City, and it was surprisingly good.  It was also quiet there, and had a unique look to the place.  There is a massive rock in the middle of the dining area, one surrounded by a fence, and there was a rustic look to the entire area.  The bonus to all of this was a completely gluten-free cheeseburger that Mommy was able to eat.  It was so huge that she couldn't finish it.  Daddy didn't really finish his meal either, although Madison was able to scarf down her chicken strips.  She's been into barbecue sauce lately, and that certainly helped.

One last photo opportunity, and we liked this one.  There was a fall display that was very nice, so Mommy and Madison had a seat for one last picture.  We left Rock City, and it was an easy drive home, and a quick one too.  There was traffic in Chattanooga, and some back-up in Canton due to some event going on.  But beyond that, it was a simple trip.  We got home, fairly tired and ready for bed, although we did watch a movie, "Boxtrolls."  It's part of our October collection.  That month is coming up soon, and we'll be back in Tennessee then too.  But for now, this small two-day trip was a nice way to get away before the end of September, and the end of Fall break.  It was a good trip, and we went to bed tonight after reading and prayers and zerberts, quite exhausted, but quite content!