12-13-14...

...is the reason I wrote on my calendar many months ago, asking for their cooperation for something memorable today. I'd made a note, and sent emails to daughters so we could plan to 'save the da'y. Without a specific idea, I was counting on one or the other to come up with something we would do together that would be amusing, entertaining, and hopefully be sufficiently unusual to stick in memory for a long time.

I think it was 11-11-11 when we went to 'see Rock City'. I had not been in years, though I doubt much has changed in fifty years (other than an increased entry fee, and quadrupled prices on trinkets and concession stand food items.) It's been so long ago, that neither daughter had any memory of going. Probably the first year the big aquarium in downtown Chattanooga opened. Surprising when you consider one can look out the window of her house and see the buildings there, hanging over the edge of Lookout Mtn. But they were so young when we last went, neither could remember anything about having been. 

Sadly, 12-12-12 got away from us, when there was a scheduling conflict and we could not all be together. I went to Decatur for the day, but have nothing of note to report about activities. Which means it was remarkably unremarkable.

But today: we went to Stone Mountain Park for a sledding adventure. Pretty fun, and a pretty day as well. Out on the front lawn where you would sit in the summer when there is a laser light show after dark. There is a complicated maze of plywood panels, and constructed risers that lead paying customers up onto a staging area where we lined up to plop into tubes for a speedy ride to the bottom of the slope. Lots of man-made snow covering about ten lanes of super slick iced over snow for a quick trip down the incline. Some smaller, single person tubes for individuals, and some larger ones for four or five - big enough to hold a family.

I have advice for anyone thinking about going: Go early in the morning, to get a head start on sleepy-heads, and not spend half your time standing in line. Go on a cold day, so you won't get hot in all those layers you think you need to wear. Pee before you get on the tubes that hold a single person: the ride is so bumpy you will be sorry if you don't do that first. And you will waste valuable time searching for a bathroom, or waiting in line there, when you only have a two hour slot, which is what you get when you purchase your ticket.

Fun and funny. The only thing better than spending time together, is doing it under circumstances that causes us to laugh uproariously. Beautiful clear sky, bright sunshine, a gorgeous day. Pretty dang memorable to  my way of thinking.