A dam can make a great outing. Really.

Georgia's weather can go from 30-80 in a matter of days. And this week it's done just that. It was in the 80s today and perfect for a park outing. We headed out with some friends to the dam that holds back the waters of the country's largest man-made lake.

Our outing started with some river's edge fun on a vine swing followed by a picnic lunch.

After lunch, we headed over to a spot closest to the dam as permitted.


And we happened to be there for a mandatory water dump (surely that is the scientific term). I won't go into a full explanation, but basically Alabama and Florida require we let water out of the lake back into the river because this saves some sort of oyster. Anyway, a siren gave us warning that the water was about to flow. It was a little anti-climactic, however, because there was no huge gush of water or quick rise of the water level. It was barely noticeable. But it was fun checking it out all the same.

After the dam, we discovered a playground. Not a really fancy one, but it turns out kids can have fun even on a not-fancy playground.




Next we embarked on one of the trails. A rather steep one. All the way down, we discussed how we would have to go back up as well. Once at the bottom, however, everyone forgot about the impending hike Up because we discovered a small cove with lots of great rock-hopping rocks.


And as happens with kids, eventually they shed their shoes. Then one of them got a little wet. Followed by another who got really wet. Soon the boys had their shirts off. And before we knew it, they were trying to one-up each other--earn their Man Card they kept saying--by seeing who would fully dip himself into the chilly waters. Three of them earned their Man Cards.



The little one, not up to scaling the bridge to reach the cove, watched with a mixture of fascination and amusement.

After the encounter with the frigid water, the kids dried out in their own ways.


The trip back up wasn't quite as bad as we expected--for the big kids anyway. My friend and I decided to walk up the closed-off paved road, each of us taking turns carrying a worn-out, grumpy princess. The others, however, took a little short cut, which, although it took them through the wilds, got them to the end quicker than us old people.

And how could I forget the geese? They were all over as were their, um, leftovers (watch your step!). Michael kept chasing them, yelling, "I'm on a wild goose chase! I'm on a wild goose chase!"