Atlanta Trip

John and I had a great time while we were in Atlanta for his convention. He is on a board of a rural electric public power company and was attending the national convention. While he was in meetings I attended a few of the speaker sessions they had for spouses. One presenter I enjoyed was Charlotte Stallings who's talk was titled "Today Doesn't Dictate Your Tomorrow." She told us all things which most of us know but forget at times so it was good to be reminded. Another session I enjoyed was presented by Michael Benidt and Sheryl Kay of Golden Compass. I took lots of notes during their presentation titled "Hidden Treasures of the Internet:Get More Efficient With Your Time Online." They gave lots of hints for using Google more efficiently, etc. They do have a blog which I am reading now and you can find the link to it on their website.

Along with all the meetings John had to attend we also got to attend the concert put on by the group Sawyer Brown. We had wonderful seats - were 7 rows from the front and center of the seating. The group is energetic and have been together for many years - Mark Miller being a great lead vocalist. They won the Star Search TV talent contest in 1983, a forerunner to American Idol and the other TV talent contests now. The concert was wonderful!

After the meetings were over we had time to tour part of a day before our plane left the next day. We toured CNN first. It was a very interesting tour and learned a lot about live TV news broadcasting.

The Atlanta Aquarium was next on the list - lots of fish to look at including the very large Whale Sharks.

A photo of my friend Sue and I at the Aquarium. Was nice to have another couple we knew at the convention. We had a great time sightseeing and of course eating out in the evenings.

Atlanta is the headquarters for the Coca-Cola company so took in that tour too. At the end of the tour we could taste about 48 different kinds of Coke products from around the world. Some were good, some OK, and some were just awful! Outside the building the trash cans are even shaped like Coca-Cola bottles - of course John and I had to pose for a photo beside one.

Of course we had to eat out and chose restaurants different than what we can find here in Nebraska, especially rural Nebraska. We enjoyed eating at an Irish Pub - mmm wonderful corned beef and cabbage and at a southern style restaurant where I had a fried chicken meal and pot licker appetizer. If I understood correctly it is a soup/broth like concoction of turnip greens, pork rind cooked in broth and served with corn bread that you crumble up into it before you eat it. It was certainly yummy!

We had a great trip there and back and have now been home for a week trying to still catch up on everything. The only regret I have is that the temperature was not warmer when we were there. We have had such cold, cold temperatures here at home I wanted just a few days of milder weather....oh well, we still had fun.

By the way it is warmer here today - at 2:30 it was up to 43 degrees so some of the snow is melting a little. Still have a lot to go though.

Lynn

A New Ride

This is the car (Ford Crown Victoria) we have been driving for many years - actually this isn't a photo of our car but a photo of one just like the one we owned. It had 140,000 miles on it when we traded it off for a new car last week. It still looked good and had not had too many problems so far but it was time to get something newer before it did.

Last Friday we came home with a brand new midnight blue Ford Edge. John has wanted to get a SUV for some time and I was the one dragging my feet. The Ford Edge is not technically called a SUV but is labeled a Crossover. Guess it is a cross between a SUV and Station Wagon.

The interior looks like this but is light tan like the second photo. Like anything now days there is a lot of technology built into the Edge. It has a built in navigation system, satellite radio, weather maps, plus lots of other features. One thing it can do is sync my cell phone to the car and I can make and talk without using the phone but use buttons on the steering wheel to call or answer calls.

One of the things I have really enjoyed is the seat warmers. These cold days it is nice to turn them on and get toasty warm in just a few minutes.

We had ordered this car several months ago and it came in just last Thursday. We had to squeeze in a trip to the dealer to pick it up on Friday before we left on a trip to Atlanta, Georgia the next day. You didn't know it but I was gone for a week and posted my blog entries before I left so you would have something to read while I was away. Love that feature on Blogger. (Bet you wondered why I dragged out the border discussion on the split 9 patch quilt over several days.)

We left on Saturday driving the new car to the airport then left it there and flew to Atlanta, Georgia until Thursday this week when we flew home. John had a convention and I went along and hung out with a friend while her husband and mine were in meetings. We did get to see a few of the sights in the city before we left and had some wonderful dinners at local restaurants!

The Edge is a little different to drive than our old Crown Vic but it sure is nice. I think I can force myself to enjoy driving it! Probably the hard part will be finding it in a parking lot after shopping.

I am trying to play catch up now here at home - you know how it is after you have been gone for a while. I did get the laundry done and the backing fabric pressed for my split 9 patch quilt but that was about it yesterday. Today was a wash out though as we went to watch our granddaughters bowl in a tournament with their dad. They were so excited and got scores better than their averages so that was fun for them.

One thing I hated about being gone was missing watching some of the Olympic events. We did see some after we got back to the hotel each night though. I really like watching all the events so have parked in my chair in front of the TV the last two days.

Home again,
Lynn