3 years.

Dear Jack,

Though your actual birthday was last Saturday, it’s this coming weekend that we’re driving to Chattanooga, TN and then Fort Payne, AL to celebrate you turning 3, with family.

Knowing how obsessed you are (and have been for the past year) with monster trucks, I figured you’d appreciate us getting to drive one for a whole week, with our mini road trip included.

The nice folks at Toyota had it arranged: Today, a brand new 2014 Tundra: 1794 Edition was delivered from Atlanta to my office in Nashville.

It’s the closest thing to a monster truck I could find you…

So needless to say, you squealed (!) with delight when you saw it for the first time today in the parking lot at school:

“It’s a red Toyota Tundra?! We can drive it? It has a moon roof?”

I think you had to keep asking those same questions out loud just to remind yourself you weren’t dreaming.

Not only do you get to be cool and ride in it to school and back for the next week, but this weekend, we’re taking our fun excursion to the canyon with it!

One of the perks of growing up in Fort Payne, AL, aside from living only a few miles from the band members of the country music group Alabama (who are also from there) was also only living a few miles from Little River Canyon.

Here’s what its website says about the place:

Little River is unique because it flows for most of its length atop Lookout Mountain in northeast Alabama. Forested uplands, waterfalls, canyon rims and bluffs, pools, boulders, and sandstone cliffs offer settings for a variety of recreational activities.

What we’re going to do is take the Tundra to Chattanooga on Saturday morning to let you “build-a-bear” at the Hamilton Place Mall, then we’ll trek across the mountains through Georgia until we get to my hometown in Alabama.

Then on Sunday, we’ll visit Little River Canyon, in all its splendor, then drive along the canyon parkway for about 13 miles to Canyon Mouth Park, where there’s this incredibly steep (and scary) hill.

But our “monster truck” can handle it, I’m sure.

Oh, and I forgot, we’ll even be visiting an old abandoned amusement park, calledCanyon Land Park, where Nonna and Papa (my parents) had one of their first dates about 40 (?) years ago.

Sound like fun?

Good. We’re going to take full advantage of being able to drive an awesome monster truck this week!

Love,

Daddy

Disclaimer: The vehicle mentioned in this story was provided at the expense of Toyota, for the purpose of reviewing.