Around Atlanta

While Leah was here we did a couple of sight seeing trips.
The first on was to visit Lake Lanier. It is a very big lake just 30 miles north from our home in Sandy  Springs. We drove up Sunday morning, rented a wave runner and hung out there for about 4 hours.

Jim and Leah getting ready to take off.

Here we go!!!

We toured around the lake. At first it was very quiet, not a lot of waves. We looked around at some of the homes - their were some unbelievable "lake" homes! We didn't see that much - it had lots of little fingers and coves.

We took turns riding. We could just pull up to the dock and switch.

Later Leah went for a ride on her own. It was getting busier so there were more waves to jump.

Lunch time.

After we finished we stayed and have some food and drinks at the little restaurant. We headed back and were home by 4pm. It was awesome how close it is!


Leah and I also took an excursion to downtown Atlanta. We took the Marta (lite rail - for all you Phoenician's). Our first stop was Underground Atlanta - former train station turned into a shopping center. We had a nice lunch but other than that it was kind of ghetto. The tourist books make it sound better than it is. But it is interesting to think of it historically.

Downtown Atlanta!

Olympic Park

We walked from Underground Atlanta to the World of Coke. The CNN building was there, also we walked by the Olympic park.
As we walked we saw a restaurant called "Dania's" We took a picture to send to Leah's friend Dania who just left Atlanta to head off the Miami and Equador for the summer.

We did the World of Coke tour. It was fun to see the history but also of course kind of like a big Coke commercial.

Giant Coke sign

We are going to watch the 3D coke movie!

We especdially enjooyed the taste testing at the end of the tour. You could try different beverages from around the world, all made by Coke - of course!

Taste testing, some were not so good!

Leah's favorite Mr. Pibb!!

Getting our free little bottle of  Coke at the end of tour.

It was a fun day, nice to see downtown Atlanta and the World of Coke. I'm happy to say I've been there but not ready to see it again for a while. In the end we enjoyed both days but the day at the lake has been the high light of our Georgia tours.
But.. we hope to have many more!

Way down yonder on the Chattahoochee!



The Chattahoochee River
Crossing the bridge for the house to Riverside Park

I thought I'd show you a few pictures of the great running area near the house. We need to go about a mile before you actually get to the park area but its a nice trail run along the Chattahoochee River. You don'e see a lot of the river during the actual trail runs because it's woodsy but there are some smaller trails that look like you could, I still need to check those out.

This boat is docked on the river near the bridge. There is a sign on it to rent. Sounds like it would be fun!

One of my favorite spots.

You cross a creek before the park and these turtles like to hang out there. Swimming and Sun Bathing! It varies, some times there are just a few but on others over a dozen.



These are different spots on the trail. It's quite comfortable running in the shade but I tend to sweat more because of the humidity. If you run the whole trail it's probably a 6 mile trip back to the house. Going home is uphill, steady climb with one big hill. I'm trying to get stronger on that one!

I am looking forward to seeing what the fall brings with the changes in the leaves.

Leah left for AZ this week, so it's quiet here. I'm getting more rooms organized. We got a new bedroom set so that helps a lot.

I'll update later, I can share some fun things we did while Leah was here.



The 4th of July tradition continues!

We had our usual BBQ this 4th with a few changes - a few less people, no pool, only 96degrees and rain storms!
We had Leah, her friend Vanessa, and Micheal, Angelique and Peyton Thomas over.
Eric had to head back to base by noon, but it is nice to have him drive up for the weekend.

"Kids"

Morning prep - boil them in (cheap)beer and onions!

Family photo op!

We have a large drive in back - that is where we set up the party.

There is a sharp drop off into the woods and there is a pond or stream down there.

The grill master!

Micheal Thomas, Vanessa, Leah

We moved into the garage when the rain got too heavy!