Suddenly *Not So* Single Journey

Hotlanta, I miss you!

Author: thenicknick

I’ve been fortunate enough to travel quite a bit thus far in my life.  (And I aspire to travel much much more.)  Of all the weekend getaways, one of my very favorite is Atlanta, Georgia.

I’ve been to Atlanta three times.  If my plans for this weekend hadn’t fallen through, it would have been four.  (And S’s first.  It’s only four hours away and he’s never been.  Can you believe it?)

My first trip was a business trip where I left the hotel only for meals, and even those were chosen for their conveniently close access from the hotel.  We’d finish for the day, lay around the pool until dark, then shower and change for dinner.  And it wasn’t my time in Atlanta that I remember from that trip.  No, what I remember is that after being gone for days this was how Rachel, then eight, greeted me.

Rachel: We didn’t shower the whole time you were gone!

me: (turning on J)  I’ve been gone for five days!

J: I took them to the pool.

me: Since when does chlorine replace soap?

Our second trip to Atlanta…I actually saw parts of Atlanta.  We (me, the ex, and the kids) went with our friends Danny, Makenzie and son, Ryan.  We stayed at the Hyatt.  It was contemporary and gorgeous and under construction.  So, Makenzie, who is as sleep sensitive as the Princess in the Princess and Pea, bullied them into moving our room.  Problem solved, another tragedy averted, let the fun begin.

We rode the MARTA.  We visited underground Atlanta.  We visited the Georgia Aquarium, and then went to Ru Sans and ate sushi.  Mwah ha ha.  We taste tested like fiends in the World of Coke.  (Whatever you do…don’t drink the Beverly!)  We ate lunch at The Sundial restaurant that spins 360 degrees and hour atop the Westin.  In short, though Danny and Makenzie tried to warn us against Atlanta, we had a blast.

The last trip was much different.  It was Rachel’s birthday trip.  She has the misfortune of having her birthday fall over Memorial Day Weekend.  And though we’ve tried everything imaginable, we can never seem to gather more than one or two of her friends for a party.  We decided that from now on, we’d simply take her on a weekend excursion with one friend to celebrate her special day.

So, she picked Atlanta and Ashley, right after J and I separated.  And she wanted us both there.  It was…awkward at best and downright miserable to say the least.  We hit the old haunts: the aquarium, the World of Coke, Ru Sans and Underground Atlanta.  It wasn’t the same.

This weekend, I had high hopes that I could take S there and show him the Atlanta I love.  We were going to get a special promotional offer and go to the aquarium on Saturday, then watch the Falcons trounce our Panthers in Atlanta on Sunday before driving home.  I would’ve sung him the baby beluga song.  We would’ve stared at the whale sharks forever.  I could’ve convinced him that Ru Sans has good chicken wings so that I could eat my traditional post -aquarium visit meal of sushi.  It was a great plan.  It was a solid plan.  It was in the works for months.

And that’s probably why it fell through.  First, J decided that even though it was his birthday weekend, he’d be leaving town without the kids.  Okay, so the cost doubled with ticket prices and more mouths to feed.  Then there was the issue with my bank and Wells Fargo that threatened to never be resolved.  Then we found Bishop.  And that stuck a fork in it.  No way would we want to leave our new baby this soon.

Someday we’ll make it to Atlanta.  Someday.  And we’ll have tons of fun.  He drinks Coke.  And he loves aquariums.  And he likes nice hotels.  And he’s never been on the MARTA.  Someday, he’ll see and do all that and more.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 17th, 2009 at 5:44 am and is filed under Travels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.