happy 4th of July! (one day late)
Well, I haven’t been blogging very much recently. I feel like I have nothing to say except “wedding” which is pretty much all I think about these days. However, yesterday was definitely blogworthy. I wanted to post something about Independence or how I’m proud to be an American despite the problems I see in the country. However, I’m opting to just tell a story instead of my adventure yesterday. I am dedicating this post to the Garrisons, in memory of last year.
Since Paul had to work, we decided that I would meet him at CNN, whereby we would kill time, eventually ending up at Centennial Olympic Park for fireworks. I was a bit nervous because I was going to be taking MARTA (Atlanta’s train system), but I knew I didn’t want to drive and mess with crowds, parking, etc. Paul takes MARTA every day to work and back, so we would just be able to meet and then ride back together.
Due to the amount of time we would have (Paul gets off work at 3:30pm) we decided to go to the Coke Museum. I met him at Underground Atlanta where we walked around for a bit, running into Catherine Grisso by the parade, before going to the Coke Museum. We had both been there before, but we still enjoyed ourselves. I really enjoy looking at how the advertising has changed throughout the years, and how Coke has been able to sell itself to the public. (I really think I should have gotten a minor in marketing… it’s very fascinating to me!)
I bought a deck of cards (and a keychain, of course) at the gift shop, and we sat in Underground Atlanta playing card games. Dinner at Johnny Rockets, wandering around gift shops, reading the various plaques about the history of the Underground and Atlanta’s viaduct system. Then we headed over the Centennial Park for fireworks. (Okay, now the interesting part of the story begins.)
The Park was crowded, but that didn’t bother us. We didn’t have blankets or anything so we just plopped ourselves on the grass and played more cards, and talked about what names we should name our kids (none serious… I believe “River” came up several times, along with other nature names). Finally, it started to get dark. I was excited about the fireworks. About 8:45, the skies opened up and we found ourselves in the middle of a downpour. We huddled under Paul’s umbrella, getting mostly wet but keeping my purse and his bag dry. We thought it would let up (I was still convinced that I would get to see fireworks). When it didn’t let up, and there were only a few groups of people left, huddled under umbrellas and blankets, we gave up. Paul took the umbrella, since he didn’t want his bag to get wet, and I walked out in the rain. We were completely soaked. I had thought about dressing up slightly yesterday, but now I am grateful I just wore a t-shirt! The rushing water at my feet tugged at my flipflops, and so I ended up carrying them to avoid losing them to a drain. So I got to walk through downtown Atlanta barefoot. :-)
We headed to the MARTA station. It was funny to see all the people huddled in buildings and under overhangs. The station was crowded – Paul said he had never seen it so crowded. There was a huge group of high-school age teenagers. I felt like they all knew each other, or were from the same school, or same neighborhood or something, but Paul disagreed. A fight broke out, which was scary, but the police were quick to break it up. They had to do a lot of crowd control, and even arrested one guy. They were walking around with tasers, and pushing people back as they started to fight. Finally, the crowd dissipated and we were able to get our tickets and get on the train.
So we missed the fireworks, but we had an adventure. It was fun – except for the fights, because that actually scared me. I am thankful for police though, and no was was hurt. Maybe next year… We should try to go to Stone Mountain next year. :-)