What’s special about the place you live? If you put a price tag on value, you are missing the AWE boat.   Because sure as rain is wet, there is a back-story to your area.

This past week we invited most of our ‘kin’ to Lake Martin providing them great family engagement, plenty of food (healthy and junky) and we assigned them corners for ‘adventure sleeping.’ Kids are so adaptable and while nobody got the bathtub, blankets and sleeping bags were everywhere.   Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Brothers, Sisters, and one or two ‘strays’ joined the party. Aunt Dawn, the promoter of AWE (Adventure with Engagement) left herself no ‘me time’. I was determined that aside from the normal boat trips around the 44,000-acre lake, we were going to find adventure! Together!!

750 miles of Lake Martin is wooded shoreline, provided by a host of funky little islands. Chimney Rock (aka Acapulco Rock) is a daredevil diver’s favorite, and we had all seen the risk takers climb sixty feet up to jump into 150 feet of deep water.   But that was one Adventure we would leave Without Engagement!

Instead we headed deep into the jungles of Goat Island.   We had heard about it – just north of Martin Dam, which has been rumored to be home to a large number of goats. We had questions: How did they get there? How long had they been there? Would we offer an extra bag of Cheetos to the explorer who found the first one?

We quietly approached Goat Island, and began our search. Whispers turned to giggles, and giggles turned to whistles and yells. Yet for some reason the goats remained invisible. We each had our theories about where they were hiding. Eventually, we all got back in the boat and headed around to the other side of the island.

And, ta dah! There they were: Goats. Baby goats, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles and a few strays.   We came back with nothing but sandy feet, wonderful memories and stories that get more elaborate with each passing day.  But after all – isn’t that what AWE is all about?

  THE END

Dawn