I’m going to put “the wraps” on my vacation blog posting today. It was a great retreat together, and the photographs are stunning, but I need to get back on track with current events. So this will be it for our Great Smoky Mountains adventure.

STORY: Most of us don’t know the whole story when we travel, we just enjoy the view. There’s nothing wrong with looking at great scenery, but it’s so much more of a rich experience when we learn a little history too.

It’s how we toured the USA when the kids were school-aged. No matter where we went, there was research to go along with the ride. One year – for example – we made Andrew and Naomi watch all 12 episodes of Ken Burns’ The Civil War before we did our “Battlefields by Bike” tour during Middle School. Friday nights were “Ken Burns and Pizza” at MaulHall, then it was two weeks and 5,000 miles with four mountain bikes strapped on the back of our long-suffering Dodge Caravan.

Some of you may have enjoyed the Burns National Parks documentary just a couple of years ago. The  stories about how the parks were established are as varied as Yellowstone, Acadia, the Everglades and Yosemite – but The Great Smoky Mountains saga is unique in that all the land had once been privately owned… and then it was bought back.

ENDLESS: 52,419 acres; that’s 816.28 square miles. Congress authorized the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1926, but it took another 14 years before GSMNP could be dedicated by FDR. At one time the land was almost completely decimated by the relentless exploitation of its resources – but today it constitutes one of the largest protected areas in the United States.

Along the way, however, a lot of land changed hands involuntarily and a lot of people got hurt. In a disgrace that well-represents “politics as usual,” our government paid large corporations top-dollar for the transference of title, while displaced individuals didn’t make out so well.

PRICELESS: The result – which is (and always will be) a work in progress – is one of the most spectacular examples of redemption and restoration ever seen.

Today, the Great Smokey Mountains National Park sees more visitors than any other national park in the USA. But there still remains a constant struggle to find the right balance between accessibility and preservation. In my assessment, so far, it’s a job well done.

For me, and for Rebekah, the Smokies have emerged as one more profound spiritual experience. We are more attuned to the Creator when we allow ourselves to be immersed in the witness and the tempo of unspoiled creation.

Now we have to see what we can do with bringing such serenity into our day-to-day lives.

Peace, tranquility, and promise – DEREK