Tubing through the Great Smoky Mountains; Drive to Gainesville, GA
On the Anniversary of the Battle of Antietam, we honored our nation's history by doing something unexpected and irrelevant: tubing.
Tubing through the Great Smoky Mountains was crazy. Matthew and I had never been before, and we were really looking forward to the experience. Unfortunately, we got caught behind a crowd of stereotypical bikers--heavily tattooed, quite a bit buzzed, loud and proud and hairy. Lucky us.
After they passed us up, however, we were able to dictate our own pace without worrying that a beer can was going to drift over and hit us from behind. The sun was soft and warm; the water clear and soothing. We alternately shot through rapids--bumping our way from rock to rock, using our hands to disengage ourselves from crevices--and drifted through open water for over a mile or two--paddling happily or laying back lazily. At one point, the current drew us slowly into the midst of a couple dozen Canada geese preening in the water. We hardly dared to breathe. Below us swam many types of enormous fish. Matthew found a stunning bright red dragonfly with a broken wing.
There is beauty in the stillness.
The trip that takes others an hour and a half took us well over two. And then we were off to Gainesville, Georgia!
And Happy Birthday Hannah! 
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