Atlanta 2010 - Part 1

We decided several months ago to take a trip to Atlanta with the Franci and be super tourists for the weekend. With most of our weekends booked with weddings and other events, we decided to go 4th of July weekend. Since we all had Monday off work it ended up being a great time to go. After a good bit of planning we managed to squeeze into one weekend all the things we had on our list. It was a great weekend of relaxing and sightseeing, but most importantly I got to share it all with my wife and our great friends.

We got packed up and hit the road Friday afternoon. This car ride started a weekend tradition of the girls falling asleep while we drove. We got to my parents house, woke the girls up from their nap and ate dinner. Mom had a fabulous steak dinner for us.

Our next stop on the itinerary was Yogurt Mountain before we headed to the Drive-In Movie. For the drive-in we went in my brother's truck with a couch strapped in the bed for us to sit in for the movie. The yogurt shop is located in one of the uppity neighborhoods of Birmingham, so I'm sure the abundant clientele there questioned the large truck and couch driving through the parking lot. We were on a tight schedule for the movie so we had to get the yogurt to-go. I got about 4 flavors, my favorite being strawberry cheesecake, along with an abundance of toppings none of which stood out as a favorite, just a bowl of goodness.

We then made the trek out to Harpersville where our truck and couch rig is probably a more common scene. The drive-in was packed and we barely made it in before Toy Story 3 started. We parked the truck at a slight angle to the screen and watched the movie from the couch sitting in the bed of the truck. It was really a great set-up, comfortable weather, and aside from a barking dog for 10 minutes, could not have asked for a better evening. I'm a big fan of the drive-in theater. Its obviously not ideal for every situation, but if the weather is nice; the drive-in is cheaper, you can bring a couch to sit-in and you can supply your own snacks. I thought the movie itself was very good. I'm a big fan of the Toy Story franchise and was pleased with the third installment. It was a little more intense than the other two, so there were more action scenes which meant fewer comedic scenes. Not a big deal, just a change from the previous movies.

Our excited faces for Yogurt Mountain based on degree of excitedness.

Our tourist pose outside the store. Our truck and couch probably made the photographer think "they don't get out much."

One of our yogurt creations.

Our view from the bed of the truck.

Day 1 of our trip was a strong start.