Cookies, Mountains, and Volcanoes

Look at my little brother Milk and Cookies... aka Sargent Cookies.

Hmm, Milk and Cookies. You and those doo-rags.... You have one to match every outfit. Cut that out, sir.

And I'm not sure what's in the plastic cup you have in your hand. I know it's not cold milk.I do know one thing:  you do look like you should NOT be operating any motorized vehicles. Nerp.

Anyway, he and I had a good conversation a couple of weeks ago. I was sitting on the sofa in Grandma's hospital room catching him up on Grandma's condition. We caught up with each other over what's been going on, and I told him I'd been taking a writing class out in Stone Mountain.

"We have mountains out here too, Lisa," he said.
"Bet they ain't big as Stone Mountain," I responded.

He laughed hard.

I didn't find anything funny. Stone Mountain is huge!

You can see it from afar. Here is a picture of my approach.

Here it is a little closer, right before I get to Stone Mountain Village.

Huge, I tell you. Huge!

You can even climb the flat side of it. If I'm remembering correctly, they have a rail you can hold on to as you walk up! Last time I climbed it (20 years ago), it took about 45 minutes.

"Dude, send me a picture of your so called "mountains," I said.
"I'll send you a picture of our volcano."
"Volcano?"
"Yes, we have two volcanoes near Seattle: Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens."

*silence*

I remember watching the eruption madness of Mount St. Helens in 1980, when I was 10 years old on television. It was crazy. That sucker erupted and people died. They couldn't even find some people. That was SHOCKING to my little 10-year-old mind.

"Well boy, send a picture. I sure would like to see that."

And I was thinking in the back of my head... "Ain't no mountains bigger than the Stone Mountain."

So he sent a couple of pictures....

O_O

Whoooooooaaaa! Glory!

Wow.  Milk and Cookies was right to laugh hard.

That is bigger than Stone Mountain.

And look at those soldiers out there, just standing around like that big ol' volcano isn't there.

They better RUN.

Here's a picture of the mountain at night from his apartment.

My oh my... what a beautiful full moon.

I don't know if I could walk out the house looking at a volcano everyday, though.

That volcano, by the way, is Mount Ranier. You know I'm a nerd, so I went and did a little reading.

Here are some interesting facts:

1. It is covered in glaciers. Some of those glaciers are the source of various rivers around there. (Glaciers? I thought glaciers were only found at the North Pole.)

2. It has TWO volcanic craters at the top. (That is some craziness)

3. It has 3 summits. (That's really possible?)

4. It is around 2.5 miles high, and it takes 2 to 3 days to climb it.  (Stone Mountain is 0.3 miles high. No wonder Milk and Cookies was laughing at me. Sigh)

5. It is considered a Decades Volcano. There are 16 in the world. A characteristic of these active volcanoes is that they may cause catastrophic loss of life if they erupt. (BRING YOUR TAIL HOME, MILK AND COOKIES!!!!)

Clutch the pears and the Obama church fan!!!! Oh my.

Milk and Cookies, you need to bring your lil' tail back to Atlanta. We don't know anything about this type of thing. But we do know about Stone Mountain. And Stone Mountain is safe. You hear me? Safe.

Stone Mountain is smaller and safer than that big ol' volcano.

(I hope he doesn't read this. If he is reading it, he is rolling his eyes very hard... and giggling at his scary big sister)

Humph. As you can tell, I really want him to come on back home.

I miss my lil' brother.