Today there were two activities on our
agenda. Busy, busy day.
We took off for Marietta Georgia, about an hour away from the campground, where
the acclaimed Gone With The Wind Museum was located. I was a little
young (not born yet) when GWTW came out, but saw the movie at a
fairly young age. I knew the story and that was about it.
Dr. Chris Sullivan saw GWTW when he was
in sixth grade and it made quite an impression on him. He started
collected everything he could that had to do with GWTW. Most of the
museum seemed to be about Vivian Leigh though. Personally, I think
perhaps he might have had the hots for Vivian and that what started
his obsession. To be fair, there were a lot of artifacts around
Margaret Mitchell, the author of GWTW, but there was very little
about Clark Gable or any of the other stars in the film. It was
rather a dull museum and I would not recommend it at all.
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We moved on to Kennesaw Mountain
National Battlefield. This battle was when General Sherman was
pillaging and burning his way through the South and it was the last
stop where the Confederates tried to save Atlanta from the Yankee
Scourge.
Most of the National Sites have a
program called the Junior Ranger Program. It is a program to try to
engage the young people in the whole National Park thing. They get a
work book that has a lot of exercises in it that relate to the
particular site that they are visiting. It is very educational and
supposed to make history fun for the kids. I have always felt a
little left out – it seems like such a great program. I asked the
ranger at Kennesaw if they had a “senior” ranger program. No
such luck. So...I decided that it was ageism and I was going to
become a Junior Ranger.
Yes, they did look at me a little
strange, but it wasn't the first time that that has happened. I got
my booklet and I was ready to start down the road to becoming a
Junior Ranger. I had to fill out basic Junior Ranger info – what
are the objectives of a Junior Ranger (Explore, Learn, Protect). I
had to fill out a map with Southern States, Northern States and
Border States. I had to search through the museum to find particular
artifacts. I had to walk a 1.33 mile environmental trail to exercise
all of my senses and report back. There were about 14 different
exercises that needed to be completed. It actually took a lot of work to get
this done. I almost quit about half way through, but figured I would
do this just once and then be done with it.
I started this off as a lark, but as I
started working through all the tasks, I got into it and tried to do
the best job I could. I finished my workbook and came back to the
Ranger Station where they would check me in. They were a little
perplexed – they had never had any kid come back with a finished
book. I was their very first Junior Ranger! It was really exciting.
It took about fifteen minutes for the ranger to find the actual oath
that I needed to recite to become the Junior Ranger. In all
seriousness, when I did the oath, I felt very proud and absolutely
thrilled that I had done this. It was an amazing feeling.
I got a big goodie bag. Lots of cool
things. I got Kennesaw Mountain badges, I got a paper ranger hat, I
received trading cards. I got a rubber bison (symbol of the park
service). I am a Kennesaw Mountain Junior Ranger and I will try my
very best to uphold my oath to Explore, Learn and Protect.
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| Me and my Junior Ranger workbook |
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| Getting sworn in as a Junior Ranger |
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| Newest Junior Ranger - check out my badge, all shiny and glittery |
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