My Favorite Griswold Memories

I have way more Griswold pictures than I have time to post. So I thought I'd wrap up our adventures with some of my favorite memories - the things I don't want to forget.

I loved our trip to Rock City.

I had no idea what Rock City even was until we got there and started walking around, but I had heard it was a "must see." "Ok," I thought. "I'm game if everyone else is."

It's really hard to describe exactly what Rock City is if you've never been. The best I can come up with is it's a garden/path of natural rock formations and a waterfall at the top of Lookout Mountain. On a clear day, you can see seven states from the top.

This was one of my favorite memories because it was interesting, beautiful, unique, fun, and it was one of the few excursions where the whole Griswold clan was there (except Zack who wasn't able to make the trip altogether).

Interestingly enough, when the gardens opened in the 1930s, the founder advertised by painting "See Rock City" on the sides of barns all around the area and in other states, including Texas (just like in the photo of the birdhouse above).

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I loved how much fun Alex had playing in the "creek" that ran in between the Ocean and the River buildings of the aquarium. This man-made water feature was designed for kiddos to come and cool off, and every kid there was having a blast - including Little Man. It was a nice place to spend some time because it was H-O-T!

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I loved watching Alex climb in and out of this little cabinet. He would climb in all by himself and close the doors. We would say, "Where's Alex?" and he would open the doors and just smile at you. It was precious.

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I loved that he gave kisses freely. And abundantly. With no prompting, he would just look at you, open his mouth and lean forward for kisses.

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I loved how excited he got about eating his ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. He would eat a little of Noni's chocolate. Then some of Pop Pop's blueberry. And then some of Momma and Daddy's sweet cream with fresh berries and the waffle cone. Look at that face. Need I say more?

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I loved Noni's excitement watching Little Man walk. The Griswold trip is where he started consistently taking several steps at a time. It was priceless. We cheered and cheered and cheered.

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And I will never forget our trip to the Mellow Mushroom. For those of you who've never heard of it, Mellow Mushroom is an amazing pizza joint. I first found this place when I traveled to North Carolina for meetings with my Thomasville clients. I haven't had it since then, so I was very excited to come across one in downtown Chattanooga.

But my excitement paled in comparison to Alex's. We ordered the Kosmic Karma pizza (sundried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, feta, spinach and pesto drizzle). I wasn't sure if he'd like it or not, but he ate a TON. We kept asking him, "Are you all done?", and he would just look at us and sign "more." We must have asked him "all done?" a dozen times, and every single time he said "more." We laughed until we almost cried. He was a bottomless pit, and he was lovin' him some Mellow Mushroom.

This picture was made on their bench outside the restaurant. There's a logo imprinted on it, but I couldn't quite capture both Alex and the logo at the same time. So you'll just have to take my word for it. But this is his after-dinner glow.

Lots of other memories, too, but these were my favorites. Noni and Pop Pop, thank you for treating us to a wonderful trip. I hope we have many more of these in the future. Love you!