My stomache is yelling at me... Jan 8

Oconee National Park is about a half hour south of Athens.  Hopper & I spent a few hours wandering through the pathless woods, making fun of each other trying to navigate the landscape and catching up on old struggles we still work with. Some realtalk time is always good for the soul.

bark bench 

Oconee River

After our nature time, we picked up the Cutes from daycare with Sway and all went to:

This was a barbeque place and it was fantastic. I believe this is the first time I've had pork in over a year and wow my stomache is seriously feeling it right now...

But before we got to the ButtHutt, Sway insisted that we drive by "The Tree That Owns Itself." I was pretty confused by this, not knowing what he was talking about.  But as we drove up this old cobblestone road, I noticed a large tree [a white oak] surrounded by an old fence that juts into the road. "This tree was preserved by a man who loved the tree and built protection around it so no one could tear it down in the name of 'growth'," Sway explained.  This is the tree:

I hopped out of the car to read the stone at the foot of the tree:

Apparently, many people & companies have tried to tear down this tree, but there have been numerous arguments about the protection of it, what its boundaries of branches & roots are, etc.  I think this is fantastic.  Read that wikipedia page if you care to know more.  Makes me wonder what kind of relationship the tree and William had throughout their years together.  That is some dedication.