First Visitor!

We're just going to fly through October here, one weekend at a time, cool? The weekend after my birthday, Doug came to visit! It was his bye week from football, and he had Columbus Day off that Monday, so we got to squeeze in a quick Friday-Monday visit. Excitement!

The roof says "Georgia Mascot." Oh yes, you better believe it!

Friday he flew in around 5:30 to Atlanta but we didin't make it back to Athens until after 8. What traffic, ew. So we pretty much grabbed dinner and came home. Saturday I got to take him on a tour of the (little) I know about Athens -- lemme tell you, it's hard giving a tour of a city you don't know much about yet. (Hint to self that I need to get exploring!). But showed him around town, walked through the historic North end of campus, saw a few weddings go by the chapel on campus (that's a separate explanation!), and walked through downtown and had some Ben and Jerry's (I'm SO excited there's a B&J store here!). And, of course, took him by the notable Sanford Stadium.

Everyone's favorite -- the Coke bear!

Sunday we hit the road fairly early, dropped of Molly at Pawtropolis (cute, I know) for her stay overnight. We had a really busy day. Finally hit my first Waffle House, after going on four years in the south, it was about time (I would like to note, however, that while I've been told WH is only intended for late-night hours after some adult beverages, we went for a normal-timed breakfast and it was still quite delicious). Anyway, we hit the road to Atlanta and hit the World of Coca-Cola and the Georgia Aquarium all before 4. What a day!

I had been to Coke before (three times, to be precise) but haven't been in three years, so it was cool seeing some different displays and new additions. Obviously Doug hadn't been before so it was all kinds of exciting.I got to have a little fun, of course, in the taste room since I knew what some of the absolutely horrendous beverages are (sorry love, but Beverly is just one you HAVE to try). It was super fun!

Sea otter tricks.

The aquarium is also fascinating. Doug and I tend to be a little bit of nerds at times (I know, hard to believe) and I think aquariums just satisfy that nerdiness. I think we spent close to two hours there (Coke was hardly an hour). The Georgia Aquarium is the largest aquarium in the world (aside from, you know, the oceans) and definitely provides some amazing views. They have two whale sharks (world's largest fish, you know), that were the source of much of our entertainment. Sea otters have been, and always will be, some of my favorites and we got to see them get fed and do a few tricks for us as well. Awesome. That was probably the coolest part of the day, the aquarium, partially because I haven't been before, but just for some new creatures and discoveries we got to make too -- and who doesn't love petting the sting rays?!

After that, we raced to our hotel, checked in, napped, grabbed dinner at the Atlanta Hard Rock Cafe (woo!) and headed in the opposite direction for the Atlanta Falcons & Green Bay Packers game. Yes, you heard me. We figured it would be a once in a lifetime thing (maybe not a LIFEtime anymore for me) but that it would be a good game and cool to do. So here we are! (Sorry for the dark photo, it was post-game). The Georgia Dome is MASSIVE and clearly pretty impressive; given that this was my first NFL game (Andi beat me to it in New York!), I think I was a little awestruck anyway! Turned out to be a great game, with Atlanta surprisingly picking up the game first, but in the end a Packers win so no playoff revenge for Atlanta. Oh well -- we didn't care, we had a great time anyway!

Monday morning came and unfortunately meant the end of Doug's visit already. I hope he'll get to be back soon so that I can show off a little more of the city I live in, with the hopes of me having explored a lot more by then! All in all, a great visit though. Hope he enjoyed it too. :)