My Trip to Georgia
I spent April 13-23, 1996, with 25 other people from the surrounding area in Georgia and surrounding it. We toured this part of the country, called Southern Showcase, with Lamers, on a beautiful big sight-seeing bus. Our tour escort was Carl. I have taken many trips and have gotten to know many tour escorts. While they are all to be commended for their knowledge and know-how, Carl was by far the most knowledgeable of all. He made the trip so interesting with his background of the area, with the handouts he gave us, and with his overall performance, that I would recommend him to anybody as the tour escort of the century! (How's that for a commercial?)
I cannot go into detail on all areas of this trip, but I will point out some of the highlights. One of my favorite places that we visited was the Okefenokee Swamp. While I am not a lover of reptiles, I did enjoy seeing the alligators, turtles, snakes, chameleons, frogs, etc. from the safety of the boat. The cypress trees were beautiful as they cast their eerie shadows on the quiet foreboding swamp. We covered only 2 miles of the waterway in this swamp in a big rowboat that accommodated 13 people. Our guide told us that there were 700 miles of navigable water here, but it would have to be traveled by canoe. Two miles was enough for me! Having been in this swamp, I can better visualize all the sorrow, sadness, and hard work in connection with the recent crash of the ValuJet in the Everglades which claimed 103 lives.
Another interesting place we toured was the city of Atlanta. Here we visited Atlanta Underground, a six-block tri-level shopping complex where we also had a long subway ride. In Atlanta, we also saw the building in progress of the site where the Summer Olympics will be held in July. We visited the Martin Luther King Center, and saw his tomb there.
In the Calloway Gardens, we went into the butterfly house, where every kind of butterfly could be seen flying around. The azaleas, redbud, and dogwood were beautiful and could be seen in profusion here and everywhere we went. The temperature was in the 60's and 70's every day. No wonder it seemed that spring would never come here in Wisconsin when we got back to Wausau.
The ride to the top of Stone Mountain on a tram, a huge bare mountain of solid granite, was memorable, and the ride on the lake in Stone Mt. Park nearby was unforgettable with the carillon bells playing as we cruised the smooth waters.
A carriage ride in Savannah gave us a better view of the many beautiful mansions the South is noted for. Here we also enjoyed the many large live oak trees with the hanging moss. We also visited Old Fort Jackson, the headquarters of the Confederate River defenses during the Civil War. There we were entertained with a Civil War program by a group of highly skilled staff.
On our way home, we had a three-hour evening cruise on the Ohio River with a scrumptious dinner. The city lights along the river gave the cruise extra depth.
In Chattanooga, Tennessee, we saw the famous Chattanooga Choo-Choo, resting from its years of toil. In the year 1880, it opened passenger travel between the North and the South. The words of a song made popular by the Choo-Choo follow:
Pardon me boy, is that the Chattanooga Choo-Choo
Track 29. Boy, you can gimme a shine.
I can afford to board the Chattanooga Choo-Choo,
I've got my fare, and just a trifle to spare.
You leave the Pennsylvania station 'bout a quarter to four,
Read a magazine, then you're in Baltimore.
Dinner in the diner, nothing could be finer
Than to have your ham'n eggs in Carolina.
When you hear the whistle blowin' eight to the bar
Then you know that Tennessee is not very far,
Shovel all the coal in, gotta keep it rollin'
Woo, woo, Chattanooga, there you are.
There's gonna be a certain party at the station
Satin and lace, I used to call funny face.
She's gonna cry until I tell her that I'll never roam.
So Chattanooga Choo-Choo, won't you choo-choo me home?
After nine days, we were back in Wausau. It was a rather depressing several weeks as we awaited the arrival of spring, as the trees were still all leafless, and very little green grass could be seen. But now we are hopeful. The leaves are out, the grass has been cut, and flowers are blooming. But it is still cool, -not warm enough to make us realize that summer is actually here.