"This is the southbound train to Airport station." Have I mentioned how much I hate MARTA? Really, public transportation in general. After a 4 hour weather/air traffic control delay, I finally got to leave Dulles. They keep rearranging things at that damn airport to the point where I never know where I am or where I'm going anymore. I know they're trying to modernize it, but they're not doing a very good job. In any case, the flight was bumpy and not very pleasant, and I arrived in Atlanta past 12:30. By the time I finally waded through the sea of people in line for renting cars and picking up baggage to find Emily and then my own bag, it was well past 1 am and Marta was conveniently closed. After desperately pleading for Brian to come rescue us with someone else's car, we got in line with 300 other people for a taxi. The line moved surprisingly quickly though and though our driver took us the most roundabout way possible to get to the hotel, it was nice to finally stop moving. That is once we had to change rooms because our doorlock didn't work. 2 am sounded like a pretty good bed time once we finally could lie down.
After all the hassle, I was about ready to just call it all quits and spend the next day asleep in bed. But there was a football game to get to, and the end result made all the hassle well worth it. We caught all the players on their way into the stadium and then did some tailgating with Brian. The game got off to a rocky start with Miami scoring in the first 36 seconds on a Reggie fumble and then committing their first personal foul in the first 1:25. We had an entire row of large rowdy "The U" fans (sidenote: what's up with Miami fans and jerseys? Do they not sell anythign else with Miami logos besides jerseys?) in front of us, who were of course spurred on by their early lead. GT tied things up at half time, answering right back point for point until the 4th quarter. By now our Miami "friends" had passed out from drinking and were much more subdued, especially after GT put the game away with a another score. Our defense was playing well, but giving up big plays. They'd drop Miami for a loss on 1st or 2nd, and put them into 3rd and 14 or something, and then give up 20 yards. It was kind of aggravating, but in the end, GT prevailed, taking a commanding lead in the ACC Coastal and likely putting us in position to play in the ACC Championship game (for which Brian already has tickets). After the game we had yummy tex-mex with Emily's family, caught up on what else had happened to other teams that day and then hit the sack.
Sunday we got up bright and early again to have breakfast with Michelle which was really nice. I know Emily's been trying to figure out a way to see her on a visit for a while now. Then, after Marta stole $3.50 from my card, it was back to teh hotel to check out and then head over to the aquarium. There was some sort of "partnership" thing going on in Centennial Park that we tried to avoid. I'm still unclear what kind of partners we're dealing with here, but it seemed like they had a good and diverse turnout. As for the Aquarium, I was throgoughly impressed. It's laid out much better than the one in Baltimore and has a lot more hands-on activities and play areas for kids (so I don't kick them in the head by accident). They also have a few really big viewing windows that gives you a good feel for the scope of the environment and some immersive viewing windows. I was dissapointed by the lack of puffins, but the wildly entertaining sea otters more than made up for it. I'd highly reccomend scoping out the aquarium if you find yourself in Atlanta anytime soon.
Then it was back to hassle with Marta. Due to track work (I assume), they were single-tracking between 5 points and the Airport, so it took over an hour (when it should have been 20 minutes). Most of that time was spent sitting on the platform waiting for 3 northbound trains to clear the tracks. Why they can't stagger north and south is beyond me. But I will tell you that if I ever hear "This is the Sounthbound train to Airport station" again, I might have to throttle someone. Sitting on the platform with the doors open, that phrase was repeated about every 10 seconds for the entire 30 minutes that we sat going nowhere. Grrrr... After finally arriving at the airport, our flight home was uneventful, our bags showed up right away and then it was home to play with fuzzy chew-monsters before trying to get a good night's sleep.
What started out as an very irritating weekend turned out pretty well, and we had nice weather the whole weekend. And I'm excited about where GT might go for a bowl game (just in time get tickets as a christmas present). But now it's back to the working world for a while. And now it's time for lunch!
After all the hassle, I was about ready to just call it all quits and spend the next day asleep in bed. But there was a football game to get to, and the end result made all the hassle well worth it. We caught all the players on their way into the stadium and then did some tailgating with Brian. The game got off to a rocky start with Miami scoring in the first 36 seconds on a Reggie fumble and then committing their first personal foul in the first 1:25. We had an entire row of large rowdy "The U" fans (sidenote: what's up with Miami fans and jerseys? Do they not sell anythign else with Miami logos besides jerseys?) in front of us, who were of course spurred on by their early lead. GT tied things up at half time, answering right back point for point until the 4th quarter. By now our Miami "friends" had passed out from drinking and were much more subdued, especially after GT put the game away with a another score. Our defense was playing well, but giving up big plays. They'd drop Miami for a loss on 1st or 2nd, and put them into 3rd and 14 or something, and then give up 20 yards. It was kind of aggravating, but in the end, GT prevailed, taking a commanding lead in the ACC Coastal and likely putting us in position to play in the ACC Championship game (for which Brian already has tickets). After the game we had yummy tex-mex with Emily's family, caught up on what else had happened to other teams that day and then hit the sack.
Sunday we got up bright and early again to have breakfast with Michelle which was really nice. I know Emily's been trying to figure out a way to see her on a visit for a while now. Then, after Marta stole $3.50 from my card, it was back to teh hotel to check out and then head over to the aquarium. There was some sort of "partnership" thing going on in Centennial Park that we tried to avoid. I'm still unclear what kind of partners we're dealing with here, but it seemed like they had a good and diverse turnout. As for the Aquarium, I was throgoughly impressed. It's laid out much better than the one in Baltimore and has a lot more hands-on activities and play areas for kids (so I don't kick them in the head by accident). They also have a few really big viewing windows that gives you a good feel for the scope of the environment and some immersive viewing windows. I was dissapointed by the lack of puffins, but the wildly entertaining sea otters more than made up for it. I'd highly reccomend scoping out the aquarium if you find yourself in Atlanta anytime soon.
Then it was back to hassle with Marta. Due to track work (I assume), they were single-tracking between 5 points and the Airport, so it took over an hour (when it should have been 20 minutes). Most of that time was spent sitting on the platform waiting for 3 northbound trains to clear the tracks. Why they can't stagger north and south is beyond me. But I will tell you that if I ever hear "This is the Sounthbound train to Airport station" again, I might have to throttle someone. Sitting on the platform with the doors open, that phrase was repeated about every 10 seconds for the entire 30 minutes that we sat going nowhere. Grrrr... After finally arriving at the airport, our flight home was uneventful, our bags showed up right away and then it was home to play with fuzzy chew-monsters before trying to get a good night's sleep.
What started out as an very irritating weekend turned out pretty well, and we had nice weather the whole weekend. And I'm excited about where GT might go for a bowl game (just in time get tickets as a christmas present). But now it's back to the working world for a while. And now it's time for lunch!
