Spring Break

I looked at the calendar one day and realized Spring Break was only 2 weeks away.  What?!  I've been slumbering under a rock.  When we lived in Oregon my sissy would always come with her kids for Spring Break so I didn't have to think about it or plan for anything except popcorn every night.  

And then someone moved all the way across the country.  

And then someone's kids decided to grow up and go to college or get married.

And then I was caught un-awares with zero Spring Break plans.

I thought about just staying home and doing nothing but that seemed too dull.  It was too short of notice for Mykey to take the entire week off from work but he did some hustling and secured 3 days off.  What to do, what to do...where to go, where to go? 

I remembered that Kitty had told me a little while ago about a Harry Potter experience she had seen on the Wizarding World website she likes to visit.  I checked into it and saw that it was in Atlanta.  By George, we can do Atlanta in a few days!

So Atlanta it was.  We crammed in as much fun as we could into our trip and it turned out great.  We only had 2 hiccups along the way: Kitty came down with a sore throat and cough our second day there. Typical. And we waited too long to eat lunch the day we went to the Georgia Aquarium and exchanged angry words on our excursion to a greasy-spoon lunch counter - Kitty was hankering for a hot dog and they didn't serve hot dogs. Don't worry, we reconciled on a bench in Centennial Olympic park and then found Jeffery a toy ball on our way back to the car.  It was exactly like the one she loved and lost - a Spring Break miracle!     

Our first excursion consisted of fun at the Harry Potter experience, where Kitty and Michael dressed up.  Michael 3D printed a moving eyeball to replicate Mad Eye Moody and Kitty was Hermione (naturally.)  I dressed up as the chubby pregnant lady.  I'm sure there's one of those in the Harry Potter world.  It was fun to see movie props and the elaborate exhibitions they had set up.  We had a great time there.  

We also visited the Georgia Aquarium where we saw an enormous sea turtle and Kitty saw fish and penguins up close when she crawled into a viewing tube.  It was incredibly crowded but still a fun time.  There were also Dippin' Dots.  You know how the nerds feel about Dippin' Dots.

We found ourselves at a Medieval dinner show one night.  Kitty got to see a falcon up close and then during the show it flew right over our heads!  I thought it was going to clip my ear and leave me maimed like van Gogh.  (It didn't.  Apparently it's trained not to rip off the guest's ears.  That's good business sense.) 

And of course there were shenanigans in the hotel pool.  I sat on the deck and sipped an ice cold soda while Kitty and Michael played.  It was perfect.

The days flew by and it was time to head back. We took the long way home so we could hit up Ruby Falls in Chattanooga.  There's a natural waterfall inside a cavern!  It was spectacular and a great way to spend our final day.  We were walking through these narrow caverns and then suddenly it opened up to a giant waterfall.  Definitely worth the trip.  It also happened to be St. Patrick's Day.  Luckily Kitty and I had made green bracelets a few days prior to protect us from the pinching.  They worked. We also stopped at a Buc-ee's gas station on our way to the falls. I'd heard all about these gas stations from various people and I gotta say it didn't disappoint.  It was more of a tourist destination than just a gas station. But I didn't take any pictures there because unlike Buc-ee's, I am a huge disappointment. 

And to cap off our journey we had the most delicious ice cream at a local place in Chattanooga called Clumpies.  It's a shame Chattanooga is far away because you know how I feel about ice cream. 

Well...we did it.  Even though it was different and I missed my sissy, we pulled off a successful Spring Break.

Next year maybe I'll be more prepared.

But I doubt it.  I'm a huge disappointment.