D. K. Christi's Amazon Blog

  What Happens in Jamaica Stays in Jamaica   The Magic Box   Arirang: The Bamboo Connection   The World Outside the Window Consultant and Author, D. K. Christi 

Wednesday was a spectacular day!  My drive south on I75 was fun:  great music on the radio, spring budding out everywhere with white and lavender blossoms and reasonable traffic.  My arrival at Cartersville, Georgia to hike at Red Top Mountain State Park was mid-afternoon, perfect for a late hike.  The Holiday Inn was delightful with friendly and very helpful staff.  I learned that Cartersville had quite the history!  The new Tellus Science museum was just behind the hotel.  More importantly, a new trail, the Pine Mountain Trail, was waiting for me.

My car tires have more tread than my tennis shoes; but how difficult could a local recreation trail be?  My first clue should have been the emergency box that said, "Don't open unless emergency.  Opening the box immediately dials 911."  I hurriedly rushed forward on the trail, passing boulders and rocks on my right and left, walking over a bridged river in the valley and starting to climb upward.  Upward is putting it mildly.  Switchbacks led up the side of the mountain, not around it like Red Top Mountain.  Back and forth I climbed, ever upward, my asthma complaining loudly and my tennis shoes unsteady.  Still, I climbed, reminded of the story I wrote about Dunns River Falls in Jamaica:  what goes up must come down.

The pine forrest dropped its slippery needles without care on my path.  The victory of the vista from the top was only subdued by the view straight down the switch back path.  Fortunately, there were several teenage boys enjoying their spring break.  One looked back on the climb down at my hesitant frown as I slipped from one foothold to another and inquired, "May I  help you, M'am?"  Ah, that southern charm wherein young men address my generation as, "M'am."  His offer alone was enough to steel my courage for the downward climb.  It really wasn't as difficult as it seemed; my tennis shoes were just the absolutely improper footwear.  I breathed a sigh of relief as the stream and its little bridge came into view and shortly after, the emergency box unneeded.

I cannot compliment the Holiday Inn staff enough.  I was loaned a remarkable book, "Along I75" with colorful tidbits about Cartersville and its historical role in the Civil War.  The town itself is charming beyond description with its slanted parking, railroad station, old fashioned deli and local grill where old timers gather to tell tales.  I have stayed at the Red Top Mountain Lodge and now the Holiday Inn in Cartersville; and it's a toss up as to which I prefer.  One has a grand view of the park and is at the trail head for an early start.  The latter provides a lovely buffet breakfast and access to a charming town surrounded by antebellum mansions and green, manicured estates.

Today, serious weather was reported from NBC reporters in Cartersville where the sky was black at 3:00 p.m.   I was safely at home in Florida after leaving my hiking plans behind when I heard the driving weather was threatening if I kept my original schedule for an extra day's hike.  I made the right choice.  Now, I have an excuse to return.  Will it be the Holiday Inn and Pine Mountain Trail or the Red Top Mountain Lodge?  Decisions, decisions.  If only they were all a double win.

"The Ice Storm," a short story found in soon to be released, Romance of My Dreams Anthology, available at Amazon.com, is partially set at Red Top Mountain and I75, between Michigan and Florida.  It's a gripping story of bliss and fear that makes me sit up and notice a weather change with new appreciation.