Pulling up in our cab, we were greeted with the enormity of our ship: the Caribbean Princess. I had heard cruise ships likened to felled skyscrapers, floating on one side… and it’s a pretty apt comparison. The closer we got, the more we felt swallowed up.
Since this was pretty much the most anti-climatic NYE party ever, I thought it would be funny to take a self-portrait of ourselves. For much of the night, Liz just focused on her knitting. And for me, if I wasn’t watching a movie… I was probably playing Triple Town on my phone. Again.
The thing with dry ice is that, through a process known as sublimation, it shifts from a solid to a gas without an intermediate liquid stage.
If you’ve seen it done in science classes, you know the cool “fog effect” that happens when you mix dry ice and water. The present we got Cameron was basically this experiment, but with a slight twist. Luckily for us, Cameron had never experienced dry ice before… so it got to be a cool thing on multiple counts for him.
Saturday morning, Julie and Liz looking over grandma Denler’s old sewing machine (and the machine Julie learned to sew with). Liz has a similar, but smaller model.
Before we knew it, we found ourselves at a very large, wooden structure standing at the edge of a very lengthy field. This was nowhere near 1.5 miles, and it wasn’t something Julie remembered at all. Though we saw a few other paths nearby, we also saw signs warning against trespassing. So we decided to stick around at the main viewing area, and would perhaps return for a future search for the original spot.
We got up pretty early this morning, making our way downtown at around 6:00 AM. Liz was going to meet her friend Meg at Buckingham Fountain around 6:40 AM. Though we made it downtown in decent time, we got stuck a bit, trying to get into the underground garages on Michigan. When it got closer to 6:30 AM, Liz hopped out of the car and went off to meet her running partner.
Afterwards, we drove a few blocks and found our way to a place called stuff. It was a store chock full of antiques, set up in the traditional “booth” style where each area contained items belonging to different folks.
Originally, we were told to head south as there was the promise of seals. But after crossing over a wide expanse of wet rocks (a pretty difficult terrain, even for the adults), we decided to turn back and head the other direction.
Had another lazy morning, and decided to loaf around the hotel room until Liz was available for lunch. We decided to hit up a nearby place called The Green Goddess, thanks once again to the great Huffencooper Guide to New Orleans (courtesy of Cinnamon Cooper and Andrew Huff).
Here’s what totally helped: I looked around online, and many other people had reservations about this particular segment of the program. Many folks were giving the same advice: slow down. Slow it WAY down. So though I looked like a senior citizen with a limp, we kept things slow and I was able to keep one foot moving in front of the other. Time enough to work on speed and distance… for now, my goal is time-based.
This morning, Liz and I woke up early (although not Flea Market early) to go to Vintage Garage. We were meeting up with several of Liz’s friends: Lauren (who’s from Nashville and was in town with her boyfriend Landon), as well as Tasha and her partner, Mel.
Liz is meeting up with several sewing/knitting bloggers this weekend for a get-together, and as a treat… she wanted to make a batch of macarons for them to have, during their outing on Saturday. So by the time I got home on Friday, she was already a whirlwind of activity in the kitchen.
One of the things we did a lot of, while in Atlanta, was spend time in the pool. Oftentimes in the past, we’ve visited mostly during Christmastime (and not really swimming weather).
With the sun out and the weather as nice as it was… any chance we had to go in the pool, I was there.
On the first full day we were in Atlanta, Liz’s dad arranged for a canoe and kayak rental, and made plans for us to spend the day going down the Chattahoochee River.
I know going out on a river was on Liz’s to-do list this summer, so it worked out perfectly. The day was gorgeous, and we joined a large throng of people who had the same idea.
I was doing a bit of an inventory – looking back on the things I’ve done, the things I’m planning to do, the things I haven’t done yet. “Sad” is too strong a word, and “bummed” a little too light of one. Somewhere in between.
When I mentioned this to Liz, she stood up and said I’ve got something for you. I wasn’t sure what it was, but she went into the office, came back, and handed me this: