ATL

I barely got two hours of sleep today - it was brutal getting up at 4:30am! Got to the airport and tried to take a nap before the flight. A family of six showed up. A little old lady named Sue, her husband and 4 grown up kids. It took all of me not to laugh out loud at their conversation - they were so funny - joking, making fun of each other.

It has been 37 years since the parents have been on a plane, the kids have never been on a plane. They had a heavy accent - definitely country folk. The best line came from the dad..."I remember one time we had turbulence when we crossed over a pond" Ha! You could tell the little old lady held the family together - she must really have a lot of patience! And they also sat next to me on the plane, but I didnt pay too much attention - fell asleep.

Got to Atlanta and picked up the rental car and then waited for my coworker, Larry. He got stuck on another flight. Larry is another one of my lead engineers - smart guy, he works closely with me on my program. We then made our way downtown. The hotel is definitely nice - HUGE! 1,248 rooms. Beautiful room, not very big, but modern, bed is comfy, big shower...all the way up on the 19th floor.

Larry and I then met up for lunch - we were both starving. So everything in downtown ATL is closed on Sunday - even the mall! Four restaurants were open in the area - we went to the Hard Rock Cafe. Delish - I had a caesar salad and um, 3 glasses of sweet tea. Bad idea, the sugar just rushed right to my head. But come on, there is nothing like sweet tea in the South!

I heard a lot of great things about the Botanical garden - we decided to check it out. Wow, beautiful place! And the weather was absolutely perfect today - sunny and close to 70. Felt good not to wear a jacket. Got lots of pictures! The orchids were just incredible looking! Would love to do the CNN building tour, maybe sometimes this week.

Got back to the hotel and rested up a few hours before dinner. We found a Mexican restaurant within walking distance...had chicken kabobs and two glasses of sangria. I don't sleep well in hotels, a drink usually helps with that ;)

Busy day tomorrow - heading into the office early and will probably be there all day. Then meeting up with friends tomorrow night.

Hope everyone has a great week!

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One year ago...out taking pictures at a local park...random kitty just shows up and starts to pose for me ;) Too perfect - more pics on my flickr site in the cats/dogs set.