Miles traveled: Doesn’t matter because Tim drove!!
Hours on Road: Don’t care!!
States covered: 1 – Georgia
After a great breakfast of homemade pancakes and coffee (for me, not the kids) we headed out for the Georgia Aquarium, the largest aquarium in the world, donated to Atlanta by Bernie Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot. It was amazing. Each tank is full of thousands of fish, and most of the tanks are positioned to not only stand in front of the viewer, but to also stand overtop as well, so you get the feeling of being in the tank with the marine life. I was particularly excited to see the whale sharks; and they did not disappoint. We timed our viewing of them perfectly because divers were in the water and we could get a real feel for just how large the whale sharks were when they swam by the divers. The three in the tank were not full grown and they were already 15 to 20 feet long. The rays looked like they were playing in the divers’ bubbles, doing back flips and swimming through the froth. According to the person with the microphone, they were doing the back flips in an effort to catch krill. I think they were playing.
We also petted some small rays and little sharks, both of which felt smooth and spongy. I was surprised that the sharks were so smooth. We saw penguins, beluga whales, seals, otters, seahorses, sea dragons – I think we saw everything the sea has to offer except an octopus. They might have had one there, but we didn’t see it. We were there for a good two hours.
After the aquarium we drove around in downtown Atlanta. Tim was mainly looking for a Chick Fil-A, which I now know how to spell, but we couldn’t find one in the downtown area. We decided to head back to Peachtree City to find one. One thing that amazed me about downtown Atlanta was, where two lanes narrowed down to one lane as they joined with a larger road, people were not expected (or trusted) to merge of their own accord. Two lights were placed at the entrance to the larger road and they alternately flashed red then green. Neither stayed red or green for an extended period of time. One stayed green long enough for one car to pass through, then it turned red, while the other light turned green, as if the people of the area could not comprehend the concept of taking turns. I suppose it’s a good idea here in the east, where people are in such a hurry. Out west, when a sign on the highway said that a lane was to end, the people would move over to the other lane right then and there. In the east, when it says a lane is to end, the drivers hang on to the last possible second before jamming their way into a place not willingly made available between two cars. It runs so much more smoothly out west.
On the drive back to Peachtree, Tim informed me that the gun I shot at John’s was not a Six Hour 9-millimeter, but a Sig Sauer 9-millimeter. Parker said he knew that it was spelled that way. I guess I was the only uninformed participant. That’s not the only thing I’ve messed up on this trip. Whenever the song “Replay” by Iyaz comes on, I sing, “It’s like my eyeball’s stuck on replay, replay.” I knew it didn’t make sense, but that doesn’t necessarily affect my thought process. Heck, a Six Hour 9-millimeter doesn’t make sense either. It works for only six hours then you can’t use it any longer? For those who are not familiar with the song, it goes: “It’s like my I-pod’s stuck on replay, replay.” Yes, it makes much more sense.
We found a Chick Fil-A near Tim’s, and the boys had their first experience with its wonderfulness. They soon appreciated why I wanted so desperately to go to one. After our meal, it was close to the end of the school day for Ian. The boys went with Uncle Tim to see all the golf carts lined up in the parking lot of the school. There were hundreds of them. Lots of kids had cars, as well, but most had golf carts. When the boys got home from seeing that, Aunt Susan took us out to watch the parade of golf carts that came down the street once school got out. Most of the kids drove way too fast, but I know I would have done the same thing at that age.
Once Ian got home, the boys all went swimming down at the lake. Before they left, however, Trey asked me which door in the hallway was to the bathroom. He didn’t know because he’d been using the upstairs bathroom since we got there. I told him it was the door that had the sign that said, “The 100” on it. Between guffaws, Tim said, “It says ‘The Loo.’” Now that made more sense. When I first saw the sign I had taken a close look at it to see if it had some parts wiped off that might have made “The 100” make sense.
The boys swam for a very long time. There’s a paddle boat down there, too, so they were out on that quite a bit and were just returning from a jaunt when Susan and I went down to check on them. Ian wanted to take them to the dam to see if they could catch a snapping turtle. They were off again. They’re never bored when they’re with their cousin.
After the kids got back (they did not catch a snapping turtle) Tim treated us to dinner at Ted’s Montana Grill. All the boys drove there in the golf cart and picked Ian’s girlfriend, Cara, up on the way. Tim, Susan, and I took the Suburban and met them there. Dinner was great. The boys all had bison burgers, without even wondering “what kind of sick freak” that would make them. They said that the golf cart had nearly run out of juice on the way there, so Uncle Tim had only Parker ride with him on the way home. Ian had homework to do and the Littles would have added too much weight and, alone, would not have been as helpful as Parker if the cart needed to be pushed.
The Peachtree City police are notorious for giving tickets without mercy. Uncle Tim fell victim to that lack of mercy this night. I’m not saying he was a victim to false allegations – he was guilty as hell. But once in a while, it’s OK for a cop to let someone off with a warning rather than sucking money from people who are just trying to get home. The first part of the problem was, golf carts are not allowed on the road and can cross only in designated areas. The second part of the problem was, Tim didn’t know how to get to the road that allows carts to cross. As he approached the road he knew he shouldn’t cross, he saw a cop farther up the road and tried to wait him out. He finally decided the cop wasn’t watching down the street where he was, and went for the illegal move. Turns out, the cop was watching, very closely. Tim and Parker had barely crossed the street when the lights came on. One bright side, at least they were across the street by the time the cop got to them. After the ticket episode, Tim knew the rest of the way home. Then a third problem reared its ugly head: the juice in the cart was so low that when Tim stepped on the gas, the headlights went out. They managed to make it to a neighbor’s house (both of them pushing the cart up a hill at one point), and the neighbor hooked them up to his own golf cart and towed them home. I guess Tim got his curse while we were still there, rather than waiting until the day after we left.
For corresponding photos, go to: http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2011670027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
No comments:
Post a Comment