My Trip to the Mountain



   There are many mountains in this country. There are two large mountain ranges and hundreds of lone foothills and mountains in this country. However, since the 1950's, anyone that has had any contact with either Alpine Camp for Boys or Camp Desoto, there is only ONE mountain and it is really a plateau. I am talking about Lookout Mountain. It is part of the Lookout Mountain Plateau that runs from Chattanooga, Tennessee to almost Birmingham, Alabama. It is one of the prettiest places to me in the world.

   Melissa and I are attached to this Mountain and try to find ourselves there as often as possible. I have worked at Alpine for two summers and one year full time and Mel worked at Desoto two summers and then we have worked at Desoto together for one summer and many retreats and we have worked at Alpine for one summer together and several retreats. This summer, we thought it was looking good for us because we had received two offers for jobs from both camps and things were moving in the right direction. Then, God gave us a curve ball. I had to decline an offer because I would need to stay in Macon. Melissa, on the other hand received another offer that was far too hard to turn down, so she accepted it because we felt it was what God would have wanted her to do. That was several months ago. Now, the summer is upon us and Mel is at Camp Desoto as their Head of Arts & Crafts and their Preacher for their 1st Term and I'm in Macon taking care of our house, working for Mel's gracious dad, and living in the Fitz. It sounded better many months ago. It is going really well, but I am supposed to be with Mel and Mel is supposed to be with me. We are the Dream Team. We are Brooks and Dunn. We are Sugarland. The solo career thing has never appealed to us.

     Now, we are living far away from each other and living for the days when I get to come up to Camp Desoto and spend several days. The owners of the camp are also very gracious and give Melissa and me many freedoms while I am there. They give us a place to stay. They feed me. They let Mel have nights off. They let me be with Mel during the day which is very nice since Desoto is an all girls camp and guys are NOT allowed. As I said, they have been very gracious to us. Everyone has this summer.

   So, this past week, I traveled from Macon to the Mountain (Mentone, Alabama) and I couldn't get there fast enough. I got there Wednesday a little after lunch and stayed till Saturday after lunch. It was a very good visit and I'll tell you why!

       I have now been to visit Melissa twice since she got to Desoto and I'm planning on one more visit before she comes home. The first visit we stayed in this cabin. It is an old cabin, but it is close to camp and a pretty neat little place to stay. However, when I arrived on Wednesday, the clouds opened up and it poured rain like I haven't seen it do in a very long time. The cabin above leaks like a sieve. We tried to catch the rain in buckets, but it was no use. We told the owners of the camp about it only for them to know. They then told us that we couldn't stay there and that they would find us another place. And, boy did they ever!

    They had us stay here and it was incredible. It is one of the nicest places I have ever stayed. It was also a great little holiday for Melissa to get away from camp. We both love Desoto and Alpine very much, but there comes a time when you are there that you just need to get away. You need to sleep in somewhere that is not an open cabin. You need to shower in a place where 10 other people aren't. You need to eat in a restaurant and not a dining hall with 300 other people. You need to feel like civilization is still out there and that you are still a part of it. Mel needed that. The house is in the valley near a very small town called Hammondville, Alabama. The owners of the camp bought the house and have been remodeling it for several years. They have done an awesome job. It looks like a lodge that is out West. I am so glad they let us stay there.

  Wednesday was a regular day at Camp Desoto, so while Mel finished teaching her classes and other duties of the day, I went running, read, and looked at several things I am trying to finish writing. When she finished, we headed down the Mountain, unloaded our things at the awesome house, took showers, got ready, and headed into Ft. Payne (also referred to as the "House of Payne by those who love it!) for dinner. We settled on a Mexican place called Mi Casita and did our best to eat them out of chips, salsa, cheese dip, and drink them out of Mountain Dew. Dinner was very, very good and then we headed over to get a snow cone, which is all the rage this summer at Camp Desoto. They have 72 different kinds and there are several counselors that have a full list of the flavors on their cabin wall and they have every desire to try everyone of them. I had the Cherry Blaster and Mel had Strawberry. The high school girl who worked the counter was very disappointed in our boring choices. We took our snow cones to the car and sat there long enough to see her leave and then were rewarded to also see her midget (real) boyfriend come to her car for a kiss and a ride home. There could be a post about this, but I'm not ready for that and I'm pretty sure you aren't either. Trust me. After the snow cones, midgets, kissing, and an overall good visit to the House of Payne, we headed home because Thursday was going to be a very, very busy day!

Mel enjoying sitting in comfortable chair in the living room of the house.

    On Thursday, we slept late. This is something neither of us have gotten to do much of this summer. It felt very nice. Morning is always better after 9 am, but that may just be me. We got up and got ready quickly and headed to Chattanooga which is 50 miles north of where we were. We got there and headed to one of our favorite restaurants. It is a place called Aretha Frankensteins. Their slogan is, "Breakfast is not just for breakfast anymore." It is a very ecclectic place and I usually feel very out of place there and wonder if they look at us and wonder why we are there. My only good answer would be that I dream about their pancakes! They have great breakfast items and awesome breakfast burritos, but their pancakes are just that: panCAKES. You can get the slim order or the fat order. You can't finish either. They bake their pancakes in the oven and they fill up your plate. The fat stack of three is about five inches tall and 10 inches wide. They taste like a vanilla cake and when you add butter and syrup, you are in some state of food bliss.

    After Aretha's, we headed to all of our favorite Chattanooga sites. We had all day. Thursday, Mel had a whole day off and we wanted to make the most of it. We went to Blue Sky, Mel's favorite store. We went to Rock Creek, one of the best outdoor stores in the nation. We went to Fast Break, a very awesome running store. We went to Green Life, a very neat organic grocery store. We went to an incredible used bookstore that even had a full set of the Harvard Classics and they only wanted $250 for them. I almost got it, but then remembered that $250 is a lot of money, but for a second, it seemed reasonable. We went to several local art places and perused the Art District of Chattanooga.

  But the best place we went to was Clumpies Ice Cream. It is is local tradition and landmark. We have been there often, but every time you go, it makes you wonder why you don't try to live next door to it. It is an inhouse creamery. They churn all their own ice cream and they use whole milk and make up their own flavors. I am in love with ice cream. Nothing besides Mel and my family can even compete with ice cream for me. I look at it like this, everything in life will let you down except God and ice cream. And Clumpies serves a fine product. I ordered Coffee Toffee and Mel got a scoop of the same and a scoop of Mocha Crunch. All of it was incredible. It always is.

   After we had seen all there was to see, we headed back to the place where we were staying and rested for the last thing on our list, which was dinner at our favorite restaurant in the little world we have traveled together. There is no better place to us.

Clumpies Ice Cream. The Shangri-La of Ice Cream. The Mecca of Dairy. I guess you get it. I hope.

The sign you pray to see in the window of Clumpies!

     Thursday night found us at the Canyon Grill. It is a small restaurant in Cloudland, Georgia. There is nothing all too special about the place except it contains everything that makes a restaurant great. The waitresses are kind and efficient. The atmosphere is laid back, but also very nice. The food is fresh and is never sub par. The food is always the best that you have ever had. I ordered the Ground Mignon and Mel ordered the Pasta with Pink Cream Sauce with grilled chicken. Mel got the house salad and I got a wedge salad with blue cheese. We were very, very full, but had to (Had TO!) order dessert. Mel got the amaretto brownie with ice cream and I got the bread pudding. All of their food is fresh and local. They grow most of their own vegetables and the meat is local. The meal was delicious and made us remember why we loved the Canyon Grill so much. It was a great end to a wonderful day.

Mel and me enjoying a wonderful meal at the Canyon Grill.



    Friday, we woke up early because Mel had to be back at camp at 7:15. The whole day Mel taught her seven classes of art & crafts and I read, ran, wrote, did a couple favors for the camp, and then went to visit some friends at Alpine. The day passed and Mel got to leave camp again and we ate at The Wing Stop (Our favorite place to eat wings.) in Ft. Payne and went back to go to do some laundry and go to bed early. Saturday, I was planning on leaving to go back to Macon after breakfast, but one of the leaders of the camp asked me to stay because they needed me to take someone to the Atlanta airport. I happily agreed because it would mean more time with Mel. Saturday lunch came too soon and we ate, said out good byes, and I left.

   I hate leaving Mel. It is never good, but our time apart is rapidly depleating. God has blessed us both and what each of us have gotten to do and I am headed back up to Camp Desoto this coming Friday. Then Mel will only have three more days. We will make it. I am sure of it.

Counting down the days,

David