Atlanta

For Spring Break this year, we decided it was our turn to travel for a family visit.   We headed back to Atlanta, GA  (Marietta to be exact) to Daddy’s old neck of the woods.   It had been a few years since we last headed out this way, but with Doug’s side of the family, now only numbering in the single digits, and many of them getting up there in age, we thought it best for us to come see them.

We don’t make a habit of visiting cemeteries while on vacation, but these were very special stops.   The first cemetery we visited was  a military one with headstones dating back to before the Civil War.   Many of Doug’s family members are buried here, and we actually found out that Aunt Sara will be buried here alongside her late husband.   Breathtaking to sit up on those hills and look out over the markers.  

The next stop was just down the road.   Over the years, we have visited this place many times.   Way back when Doug and I were seriously dating (that’s more than dating, for the record.  That’s like “he is going to ask me to marry him any day now” kind of dating.), we made the trip to Georgia to spend Thanksgiving with his family.   I was a little surprised when Doug’s Aunt Doris made one of our visiting tourist stops this cemetery.   She drives the younger family members crazy with her talk to mortality.   She is a planner, and she took us to see her plot right next to her late husband’s, which is near her mother’s plot and the plots she purchased for her two daughters and  their spouses.   It was kind of like showing us her new vacation property.  She was very proud.  I kind of got the impression she was pushing Doug to decide on his final resting spot so she could get the paper work drawn   up for purchasing his plot right then.   We have laughed  a lot about this subject over the years, and every time Doris takes us out to see the graves, we still have to smile.  

Nowadays, we go there for another reason.  Not just to look at empty plots in Doris’ section, but to visit one that is no longer vacant.  

Doug’s father Gene died a few weeks before our wedding.  He was a good man.  A sweet,  hardworking soft-spoken man who Doug grew to admire  more after his passing then he did in his living years.  It is a long, heartbreaking story that involves divorce and lies and and mother undeserving of the title, but in the end, the truth did come out and Doug did learn his father was the great man he imagined him to be. 

Doug takes a few minutes to tell the kids about the grandfather they will never know.

One of my favorite places to visit in that area is Stone Mountain.   I knew Kaelan wanted to be outdoors in nature as much as possible, so this was the perfect place to spend the day out in the sun!

We rode the tram all the way to the top and spent some time sight seeing and hiking around the top.

                

Kaelan begged me to let her hike a little on her own.  I agreed to let her as long as she stayed within a distance of me being able to see her.   See that dot way down below in the first picture?   Obviously, this kid has not seen my contact lens prescription.   You can see the frustration in the second picture when I told her to come back closer to me.  I was right there.   Couldn’t you see me?  She repeated to whole way up that hill.

We headed over to Centennial Olympic Park in Downtown Atlanta for some play.   This is the location of the site where the bomb went off during the Summer Olympics years ago.  Today, it is a great park and an awesome central location for some of the great tourist attractions (Aquarium, Coca-Cola Museum, CNN).  We hit this place a few times after visiting some of the attractions around it.

Just a few blocks from here new the Underground area, there is a fabulous little spot that is perfect for getting mugged or murdered.   I tested it out when Kaelan’s shoe broke and I just pulled up the nearest Payless on my phone to run in and grab  her some emergency flip flops.   I had Doug drop me off because there was nowhere to stop and park, and as soon as I watched him drive away to make “quick” circle to pick me back up, I knew I was in trouble.   I ran into the store only to find the clerk discussing the armed robbery at that location earlier that day.   Awesome.   I made my purchase, and stepped back out on the sidewalk to wait for Doug to pull up and rescue me.   Unfortunately, that quick circle turned into a 20 minute detour (construction caused a rerouting in that area), so there I was.  Stuck.  In the ghetto.  Waiting to get robbed.

A few minutes into my sweat inducing wait, a group of thuggies came right up on me.   The sort of pushed me against the wall, and one of them kept nodding his head and me and saying, What’s up?  What’s up?   The guys crowded up against me, and I thought I was a goner.   Just then, the clerk from the shoe store stepped out and yelled for them to back off.   She was a tough old broad, and I was so thankful for her big mouth and bravery.  She pulled me into the store and shooed the motley crew away.  She kept telling me this was no place for a white girl, and she even gave me a little hug.  I played it cool and tried not to act like I was about to have a heart attack, but she knew I was scared to death.  The second I looked out and saw Doug driving up, I bolted to the car and jumped in before the car stopped.   I gave the clerk a quick wave and screamed for Doug to go.  GO!  GO!   He didn’t even get his apology for the delay out before I burst into tears.  

So, my advice to the visiting tourist.  DO visit Centennial Park!   DO have fun!   DO laugh it off and go barefoot if your shoe breaks!   DON’T head to the inner city to find a fix (unless it’s that kind of “fix” wink. wink.). 

DO stick to the malls and the grassy public areas.

 

The Georgia Aquarium is a must.   The kids loved it.  We loved it.  The place is always crazy.  There really isn’t much of a down time for crowds, so you just sort of have to go in with the mind-set of dealing with lots of people, and just enjoy yourself.  We did a great job of doing just that.

I got tired of lugging my camera around, so I opted to take pictures of with my cell. 

   

The Big Chicken.  The Varsity.  The IHOP Daddy worked at when he was 14.   We hit them all and then spent the rest of the time with family.   Very nostalgic. 

Yes, I am absent from the pictures.  I realize that.

That’s me.  Always the photographer and never the subject.   I only had a few pictures of ALL of us, and if you could see what that Georgia humidity does to my hair, you wouldn’t post them either. 

So here they are.  Minus a couple of folks, these are the remaining lineage on Doug’s side of the family.  Doesn’t really stack up to one of MY family reunions!   It was great to see them, but it is THEIR turn to travel to us for the next visit!

Cousin Diane and her husband, Roy.  Kaelan, Seth, Doug, Aunt Doris and Uncle S.A. (Doug’s father’s siblings)

So, that’s the Atlanta trip in a nutshell.  I didn’t take pictures of everything this time ( I am in therapy for that), so I only blogged on the things I photographed. 

Minus the near mugging.