Mark Millican: It was a grand summer

Published 10:00 am Friday, September 1, 2023

Sooner or later, it had to happen. Sure, you’re on a pedestal when you keep racking up the highest score on the most challenging game at Papa’s Pizza and the grandchildren are in awe. Then one day the oldest grandkid beats your score. Then another. But that’s as it should be, and you cheer on their success. You’re just glad they still want to hang around with you at this point.

As the humidity and temperature drop a bit, perhaps it’s a good time to recount summer activities with the grands for the record book. Also, during the telling perhaps your humble scribe can pass along some venue and travel tips if you get to spend some quality time with your own grandchildren.

After school let out, Samuel spent a week with us. He likes to tramp around with Pop on soil erosion inspections, and hard as I try to challenge him physically at times, he never falters. He loves football and plays basketball, too, so he stays in pretty good shape.

In July, our daughter Amy brought the Alabama grandkids to meet the Georgia grands in Chattanooga for a couple of days. We headed for Rock City on the first afternoon and had a blast walking through the rock formations and seeing the views from Lookout Mountain. We even saw a marriage proposal — accepted! — on the veranda overlooking the valley and waterfall.

The kids got a kick out of the swinging bridge over a chasm, which I began to sway for special effects. and every child needs to see the Fairyland Caverns where all the fairy tales you ever learned as a kid are laid out in front of you with the lilting rhymes to match. Since the color scheme is day-glo with black lights shining, it lends to the mythical origins.

That evening we walked a couple of blocks from our hotel to a Chattanooga Lookouts minor league baseball game, and although the “Lookies” took it on the chin from the Montgomery Biscuits, we didn’t care. We were too busy eating every kind of ballpark food imaginable. The competitors in their league make you hungry anyway with their team names: the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, Biloxi Shuckers and Pensacola Blue Wahoos. and don’t forget the Rocket City Trash Pandas. A thought just occurred to me; I need to add a hat from each club to my ball cap collection by visiting that stadium and attending a game!

The next day we went to Lake Winnepesaukah, spending the morning enjoying all the rides. In the afternoon the kids enjoyed the water park aspect of it on a hot day. Pop couldn’t get in the water because of cataract surgery a few days before, but it was great seeing the kiddos having a good time at Lake Winnie — which is still open on weekends for awhile.

Then just last week, our daughter Rebecca brought her sons Rocco and Augie down from Virginia. We toured the Rock Garden in Calhoun, a miniature village of castles, bridges and a waterway that makes one feel like you’ve been transplanted into a land of Hobbits and “Lord of the Rings.” We cruised on up to North Bank Park at Carters Lake for a picnic lunch with expansive views of the reservoir. (Save for the gas and food, the last two venues were free!)

We grabbed a couple more grandkids and went to the Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga, always a marvel to the younger kids. and when you see parents (and grandparents) also taking part in the activities, you know you’ve got a hit on your hands. The Tennessee Aquarium, featuring freshwater and marine life in separate buildings, is only a couple blocks away and always fascinating with never a dull moment. As well, there was playing in a creek one day that fed the Coosawattee River, and going swimming and paddle boating at Fort Mountain State Park, too.

Another highlight: baptizing two of our grandsons in East Chickamauga Creek after church one Sunday. Interestingly, this stream flows north out of a spring and eventually into the Tennessee River and is very cold even in August. Just ask them.

Whew! It was quite a summer, and memorable. However, as far as the grandparents are concerned, we’re kinda glad school started back ‘cause we need a break!

Mark Millican is a former staff writer for the Dalton Daily Citizen.