So I was recently down in the Atlanta area for a graduation, and then stopped to visit friends in northern Georgia on our drive home. On that drive I saw signs for Amicalola State Park, the Chattahoochie National Forest, the Benton MacKaye Trail, and others. All along I felt like a child -- getting all excited, saying "Ooh! Ooh! There's that, and there's that!", and thinking "Where's Tipi??" It was thrilling to know that I was a few short miles from places I've heard so much about and places I'm excited to hike sometime...but my traveling companions would just look at me blankly, surely wondering how I could get so excited about some odd, random place out in the woods.
Now, my friends retirement & vacation homes are wonderful and beautiful places to be sure, and bring my friends peace and joy that they have earned and deserve -- but it was*excruciating to be so near and to feel so excited about something no one else could understand.
Dontchya just hate that?*