Generous friends gave us the use of their mountain house for the weekend. (Thanks, T & S!) Nearby is the Tallulah Gorge, a spectacular 2-mile long, 1000-feet deep canyon. It is very. far. down. there. One of these pictures was taken through an old lens that distorts the image depending on how it's turned. And yes, the power lines are strung so that they're always a part of the view.
Near one of the overlook areas is a country store which has a wall devoted to a tightwire walk across the gorge by Karl Wallenda, of the Flying Wallendas family, back in 1970. The wall and its ephemeral paper souvenirs of the day are now sort of a neglected, moldy afterthought. (Notice that in the publicity photo of Mr. Wallenda and his balance pole, he's standing on the floor.) He crossed successfully that day. He was 65 years old, and traveled 1200 feet, doing two headstands on the way. 30,000 people watched. I wonder what they were hoping to see. A note at the bottom shows that eventually, he dared the devil once too often.
Posts
It seems impossible to me that someone could do a headstand while on a tightrope over a gorge. Wow. What a great time of the year to be in the N. Georgia mountains. I hope you had plenty of blankets, Robert.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I have a hard time even standing near the edge.
ReplyDeleteIt seemed like we went up the mountain in late summer and came down to winter.
I'm naming my first novel "tragic footnote"
ReplyDelete