I am not an outdoorsy kind of gal. Almost anyone who knows me knows I would much rather be curled up on the couch with a book for hours on end, or scrapbooking or knitting, or on and on and on as long as it is inside. The past couple of weeks though I have spent more time outside than usual. Our family was blessed to go to St. George Island with both of my sisters and their families. My older sister's boys didn't come, but her husband was there, so it was super special. We usually only see her once a year. We spent most of our days on the beach or in the pool, and even visited an estuarine (Who knew there was such a thing? Not me, the indoors girl.) It was lovely, and I enjoyed it all.
We all came back home to Habersham and my parents took my sister Beth and her husband Steve to Tallulah Gorge to show them the local scenery. They loved it and wanted to hike it the next day. I made some comment to my husband like, "Beth and Steve are going to hike the gorge tomorrow. Can you believe it?" He said, "You could do that!" So that night as we were all together I told Beth, "D. is trying to get me to believe I could hike the gorge with y'all tomorrow." Of course that was all it took for the plan to be put in motion. My mom and dad agreed to watch our kids and we were off, bright and early the next morning (another thing about me - I am not a morning person. at. all.)
When we got to the gorge, you have to go through a little presentation of rules and regulations. The man started talking about jumping boulders, copperheads, giardia (an intestinal bug you can get in the water there that lasts for months) and I felt like I had been duped! I know my eyes were as big as saucers. I also didn't realize there are 1,099 stairs to get to the actual gorge. Ha!
I made it down the stairs, of course, and that is where the real fun began. Immediately there are boulders to "jump" to cross the river to begin hiking. And of course, I fell. I hit my shin right below my knee cap so hard tears sprang to my eyes! It was one of those times where it takes a second to figure out if you are hurt really bad or if you can keep going. Fortunately for our adventure, I was ok, and kept going. I had a blast. It was so amazing to see the falls down there, and it was so fun to realize what I was doing! In fact, I said, "I wish we had video of this, because no one would believe I am doing this!" So my brother-in-law Steve videoed me climbing some boulders. (without my consent I might add)
I kept thinking of this song while I was hiking and jumping those boulders. I can say that truly the times I have felt closest to God were not times I was in church. They were times when I was awestruck by his creation or during my quiet times when I know He is with me. I truly do not know how people can be surrounded by God's creation and still not believe in him. So I'm not sure how much more timeI'll be spending outside, but this was a good start. Any suggestions of other outdoor activities I might enjoy? :)
