My mom came to visit, and thinking she would enjoy the outdoors (which I know she loves) we took her to several parks and waterfalls. What I was forgetting, however, was her age. I'd been so used to a mom that could walk forever. Not so, anymore.
The first park we went to was Amicalola Falls, but we never really got a good view of the falls because it was too much of a climb for my mom....and thus, no pictures. If you really want to see some pictures of those falls, here are some from a 2003 trip to Amicalola Falls,
The next place we stopped was the waterfall where I had proposed to Cheryl -- Helton Creek Falls. There is very little slope to the trail there, so that one was doable...
 |
 |
 |
| Lower fall | Upper fall | Mom & Cheryl |
The Bear Story: After we left Amicalola Falls, we were driving along and Cheryl said "Stop! There are some bears!". I thought, "Yea, sure...whatever," since where she had seen them was right near a pond near a house. I figured that at 55 MPH she probably had seen a big dog. Well, I went ahead and turned around and drove back and sure enough, there were 3 bears (one adult and two cubs)...sort of...they were wooden cut-outs of pictures of bears someone had put in his or her yard. Well, she was right. She did see bears. They may have been only two-dimensional bears, but she did see bears. And now I have something to tease her about...but I should also probably not doubt her in the future....sort of....maybe....And you were expecting a real bear story.
Next stop was Vogel State Park, where we skipped the hike down to the waterfall, and took a walk around the little lake there -- nice and flat. Cheryl and my mom were really focused on the wild flowers growing along the path...
 |
 |
 |
| Cheryl & Mom waiting for me | Flowers | More flowers |
 |
 |
 |
| Even more flowers | NOT a flower (a squirrel) | ...and again |
The next day we went to Sweetwater Creek State Park, and again, they noticed the wildflowers. I won't bore you with pictures of the creek since I just posted some from there about a month earlier...so here's the foliage...
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Yes, more flowers. I'm not really sure what these flowers are, but they were along the path. | |||
|
|
|||
| Check out how this tree grew. It's like 3 trees from one! | |||
My mom's last full day, we just went to a park that is less than a mile from the house. It too has a little waterfall, but again, the trail to it was too much for my mom (flat is fine -- its inclines she can't handle too well at 82 years of age...so we did a brief walk, then paused for a photo near the lake...
 |
 |
| Mom & Me (yes, I've gained weight) |
DUCK! Okay, fine, don't duck. |
