Day 26 - Lions and Tigers and Bears... Would You Believe Owls and Snakes and Wolves?

Saturday, 17 September

Today was the last "adventure" day before Brandyn and Jennifer return on Monday.  Tomorrow is church and a day of rest... We see the wisdom.

Today we spent the day at the Chattanooga Arboretum and Nature Center.  The highlight of the day for me had to be helping Hyrum overcome his fear of floating the creek in a canoe.  Two hours later, when we had to get out, he said he wished he could go clear to the end again! 

Here is the proof as Deb recorded it:

 Grandma... They are doing it again...

Actually, for the float trip, Ammon was in a canoe with Deb... I just put them all in my canoe for a photo...  The only wildlife we saw while on the creek was a Great Blue Heron. 

Deb and Ammon narrowly escaped a disaster when a large tree fell in the water just inches in front of their canoe... we heard the splash, but thought they were just slapping the water with their paddles... it was crazy!

These are the boys peeking out of the window of a sweet tree house near the canoe dock...

This is a Red Wolf... when he and the rest of the pack that is there heard a siren in the distance, they went nuts mimicking the sound with their incredibly loud howls... it was really awesome to hear!

OK... This was not at the Nature Center but it is in the front yard of a local residence as you are entering Dunlap (actually there were a lot more signs, but I do not want to be put on a terrorist watchlist!)... Gotta, love the South!

Day 25 - Photographer's Dreamland... Dunlap Coke Ovens Park

Friday, 16 September

With three days until Brandyn and Jennifer return from the cruise, we decided we would check out some local history today.  After working on a couple projects with the boys, I googled "Dunlap Coke Ovens" and gave the boys a history lesson about their town here in Tennessee...  It was a booming coal town once and the remnants of the coke ovens were rescued from destruction and abuse in the 1980's and have since become a beautiful park... On the way, we saw a very unusual sight - an A4-M Skyhawk was sitting disassembled on a flatbed truck across the street from the local McDonald's... It came from Fort Worth and was hauled up here by Walmart to eventually be placed in the new Veteran's Memorial Park currently being built in front of the high school.

Back to Coke Ovens Park... The lighting today was incredible... I mean, Sacred Grove incredible!  The quality and direction of the filtered light was to die for... It was so good in fact, that i decided to take my camera out of the bag today... (My goal was to have Deb shoot the entire road trip with her Canon point-and-shoot, which is mostly what has been done... I am totally impressed with her abilities and her "big" camera in the small case)...  Deb and I had so much fun shooting the boys and the industrial equipment all throughout the park... This would be an incredible place to shoot seniors or brides... unfortunately, it is a little far for us to travel, unless the price is right!

Here are some of Deb's images: (Click on the first image for a slide show format browser)

 The "infant-tree" is coming, the "infant-tree is coming!"

 This is a new 2-story home in downtown Dunlap... I am curious to see the inside floor plan...

Here are some of my images: (Remember, all images are copyrighted).



These and the rest of the photos will be available on our website soon in the full-size printable format.

Scott