Day 54: Stone Mountain

Stone Mountain is one of the more popular attractions in Georgia.  It is not really a mountain, but rather a 1600 ft hill of solid granite.  There, surrounding it, they have a large park, complete with all sorts of attractions.  Most famously, there is a carving in the side of the heroes of the South: Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis.  It is the largest relief carving in the world – yes, larger than Mount Rushmore!  It is hard to comprehend how big it is, but we were told today that there was once a 12-person banquet held on Robert E. Lee’s shoulder!

First thing after lunch, we (the four of us, plus Matthew’s dad and wife, Jan and Catherine – known as Far Far and CC to the kiddos) took the cable car up to the top of the mountain.  The kids loved being on top of the giant slab of granite, not to mention how awesome it was to ride in the cable car!

Matthew had to leave right away to go pick up a very special guest at the airport, so we continued on our adventure back down the mountain.  We were waiting for the train and, during that time, experienced a 4D show.  4D is  a 3D movie with theater effects: wind, water, vibrating seats, and lighting effects.  The kids had a blast and didn’t freak out at all!  Surprise!

We made it just in time to board the train and discovered that Matthew was almost back to the park with the super awesome special guest.  We passed them as the train rumbled along next to the parking lot, waving and grinning.  The kids were super excited, but the rest of the train ride was quite relaxing around the base of the mountain.  The weather was perfect for such an outing: high 70’s and overcast, but no rain.  Much better than the typical Georgia summer heat!

Once the train pulled into the station we greeted our most awesome surprise guest: Uncle David!  Uncle David is Matthew’s youngest brother, who is currently stationed in California with the Marines.  He had a medical leave and it happened to coincide with our visit with Dad Lind, so he decided to come out for the weekend!  Yay!!!

Next up we decided to let the kids play at a large indoor park/climbing toy – I think David and Matthew had more fun, since it included foam ball launching guns from three stories up.

It was finally time for dinner and the end of the day show: a LASER and fireworks show broadcast on the side of the mountain.  Dinner was delicious and the LASER show was really fascinating.  The kids loved the show and the fireworks especially.

But let me tell you about my experience.  Yes, I completely enjoyed the show, but I got distracted right in the middle.  And was thrown back to my early days in Kinshasa.  Like this story.  Remember THAT?  Or this one?  And there was others, like when we went to town on the cockroach infestation in the house and had them dropping on our heads?  I didn’t even write about that…too traumatic at the time.

So, being in the states, I thought I could handle any bug encounters.  But, then again, I’ve never been to the deep south.  And tonight, sitting outside in the deep south, I was enjoying the LASERs and the fireworks and I felt a tickle.  On the back of my head, just under my messy hair bun thing.  I reached up and tucked away a few stray hairs that were blowing in the breeze…or so I assumed.

There was that tickle again.  It was more distinct than some stray hairs, but what else could it be?  Ha, silly tickle-y hairs.

Then it happened again.  I reached up and felt…plastic?  A bead?  My earring?  I instinctively sort of pulled it out of my hair and as my hand came around to my line of vision, the annoying tickle TOOK. FLIGHT.

It was a flying cockroach. In. My. Hair.

I was able to confirm it because it landed on the ground five feet in front of me and crawled away.

I wanted to die.  I shared with the family what had happened, mostly a high-pitched “there was a cockroach on my head.”  I made sure to emphasize this for the rest of the evening.

So, it is now midnight, church in the morning (thankfully, we are not presenting anything), the reunited brothers are watching a UFC fight that their dad had been kind enough to record for them (which really means they are mostly just scolding the fighters) and I am just about ready to head to bed.  Let’s hope and pray that I sleep…and do not have dreams about cockroaches on my head.