Tornado and I picked the girls up at basketball camp on the 24th, and headed out on the road at about 2pm. The plan was to drive the 500 miles to Alpharetta and arrive around 10pm. The girls fell asleep almost instantly once we got going, after playing so much hoop and so little sleep during camp.
We stopped in a very small town in Georgia for dinner at Subway, and got back on the road. The gas station where we refueled didn't have digital gas pumps, which was kind of wierd. The kids hadn't seen one of those before, the pennies scrolling along. I wondered if this would be a little foreshadowing into the types of places we would see throughout the trip.
We rolled into the hotel at about 11pm, checked in, and settled down for the night. We stayed in a nice Homewood Suites, the kids were so excited. Friday morning I told the kids that I needed to do some laundry, so they would be watching TV in the morning, then we would go swimming. I sorted the laundry (looked for a lost wrm up jersey from camp, no luck), and the kids settled in to a mini Phineas and Ferb marathon.
After the laundry, we went down to the pool, and did some races in the water. Boy, the town really earned the name Hotlanta! It was smoking!! The water felt great, and was a nice boost after a long day Thursday.
After showers, we drove down to downtown Atlanta, stopping for dinner first. We went to the legendary Varsity for dogs and fries. It's the largest drive-in in America, and the inside is huge too. There must be 50 cash registers, and employees all over the place. As you approach the counter they yell "What'll ya have!!" It's less a question and more of a demand of sorts. We had our dogs and fries and onion rings, all tasty, but we all mostly enjoyed the FO, or Frosted Orange. It was like an Orange Julius, but better, and given the heat, very refreshing.
After that, we jumped back in the car and drove down to the game, Tigers at Braves. Our seats were so far up you could barely see the field. And the sun, MY GOD THE SUN!!! It was right in
our eyes for the first 4 innings or so. But the kids were great, no complaints about the heat or sun. It was alumni weekend, and some old Braves were signing and taking pictures. I got to see Dale Murphy, one of my favorites growing up, so that was pretty cool.
The Bear almost snagged a batting practice homer, and the Tornado did snag a tshirt from one of the Braves "cheerleaders". The game got going, and it was a close one. The Braves won 3-1, powered by the 100th career homer for Brian McCann. Billy Wagner sealed the game with his 400th save, so it was a night of milestones.
After the game there was a fantastic fireworks display, which the Tornado absolutely loved. Some other things of note were the giant Chick Fil A cow, maybe 50 feet tall, and a Coke bottle the same size. The kids really enjoyed those, who wouldn't??
After the game, we endured a hot and crowded walk back to the car, followed by a maddening drive just to find the appropriate highway. As O put it, the map looks like someone threw a bunch of spaghetti on it. The CEO also managed to call right as I was trying to find the right interstate, making this challenging task even more fun. Eventually we made it to the right road, O flashed back to a lost night in Wilkes Barre "Stinkin' Mundy!!", and we finally made it back. Everyone was beat, so it was quick to sleep. A short but exciting stay in one of the big cities of the South! On to Cincinnati early in the morning.
Oh wait - I forgot to talk about my feelings! It was both strange and interesting to embark on a vacation without the CEO. Of course we all wanted her with us, it's not the same without her. But there was a special challenge in doing the first couple days without her. She keeps us all organized and focused, would I be able to do that? I think I was able to do so, and I think the kids enjoyed the day. But I was looking forward to seeing the CEO when we got to Cinci.
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