I’m rather embarrassed to admit this, but, when I was a teen, Gone With the Wind was my favorite book. Since the deacon and I are traveling through GWTW country this week, I’m christening this vacation as the Gone With the Wind Vacation. There are two reasons we are in this part of the country at this time of the year:
1. Our son was in Atlanta last weekend, performing with a musical group.
2. The deacon had to attend business meetings in the city for two days.
If you’re familiar with the story of Gone With the Wind, you’ll know that most of the action takes place in Atlanta. While the deacon was locked up in meetings, I spent time downtown seeing things that Scarlett O’Hara never would have imagined. I began, not far from Five Points (which is mentioned frequently in the book), at Centennial Olympic Park.
As you can see, this set of fountains is fashioned after the five interlocking Olympic rings. When it gets hot, children love to cool down in the water.
In addition to the fountains, the park houses a couple of playgrounds and a series of small waterfalls. All in all, it’s a great place to relax.
After hanging around the park, I went over to the Georgia Aquarium. I took this photo especially for my eldest son, who absolutely detests alligators and crocodiles. Truth be told, I’m not crazy about them either.
I was also impressed by the rich colors of the starfish, urchins and whatnot.
The colorful Lionfish is not native to the Atlantic seaboard. Since it’s natural predators are not in these waters, it’s been causing ecological havoc up and down the east coast.
In contrast to the unpleasant story of the Lionfish, I have the heartening story of the Robust Redhorse Sucker, which was believe to have gone extinct in the late 19th century. It was rediscovered in southern US lakes in the early 1990s, and efforts are being made to stabilize the population, as they are still a fairly rare species in danger of extinction.
I have no idea what this one is, but I love the bright colors, so here it is.
Jellyfish are always interesting too.
I’ll conclude the photos with some Whalesharks and a Beluga Whale.
In addition to business and sightseeing, the deacon and I have enjoyed some fine dining experiences. One night, we joined a number of his business colleagues for dinner at Twelve, where we both enjoyed very nice beef dinners. On another evening, we joined a handful of his colleagues for dinner at Canoe. The deacon ate his rabbit with relish, and I feasted on pheasant.
Thus concludes my account of the first half of our Gone With the Wind vacation. Part Two will be coming soon.
– the chaplain
Vinny
July 30, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Great pictures! Scarlett certainly wouldn’t have seen those Black kids playing in the public fountain.
Lorena
July 30, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Lovely photos! I love “Gone with the Wind” the movie. In my case, I like the movie because it clearly shows the realities of war, which I am too familiar with.
Keep having a good time!
the chaplain
July 30, 2009 at 11:59 pm
Vinny:
Scarlett would have seen neither black kids nor poor white ones in the fountain – just kids of the aristocratic plantation-owner class.
Lorena:
Two things that drew me to the book were that it gave me insight into a Southern point of view about The War of Northern Aggression and it explored the grim realities of war. I grew up in the northeast, so I never had any idea what Southerners thought about the war. The book did not persuade me that they were right – in fact, it defended slavery and took class distinctions for granted – but it gave me insight into how post-Civil War Southern sympathizers interpreted the war. As for its portrayal of the grim realities of warfare, I’ll cite two examples.
The first is the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg. News about the catastrophic defeat (for the South) slowly trickles down to Atlanta; Scarlett waits, day after day, to see the casualty lists, and is horrified as the names of many of the friends of her youth appear, day after day, until it seems that almost all of the young men from her home county will never return home. She recalls dancing and flirting with them, she thinks of their young widows and small children and grieving parents and is all too aware that war is a nasty undertaking.
The second is the aftermath of Sherman’s march across Georgia. In the wake of the devastation that the Union army brought to Scarlett’s family and friends, Scarlett must take responsibility for leading her family in rejuvenating their ruined plantation. That section of the book shows the brutal impact of war on civilians – their homes and livelihoods are destroyed and many must learn new skills just to survive. Everybody paid a price for the war.
The book’s weaknesses are that it seeks to defend an indefensible way of life by glamorizing the pre-war way of life, and it pretty much portrays northerners as unremittingly vile people. But, its strengths are its memorable main characters and its gritty details about the harsh costs that warfare extracts on participants and bystanders alike.
quantum_flux
July 31, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Perhaps tha yellow one is a Golden Flounder.
Lorena
July 31, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Wow! That was quite the book review.
quantum_flux
July 31, 2009 at 10:35 pm
…of course the Golden Flounders are different years and models, so they’re not exactly the same.