Atlanta, Georgia

5/20/17

Baby Lou slept like a champ for the whole drive from Tampa to Atlanta. What a relief. My impression of Suntrust park is that it's very classy and beautiful. I was so close to skipping this park after a very fussy and stressful night at Tropicana last night, but I decided not to be lame and the weather so far is .. it's ironic that I stopped typing at those dots to hold May and since then it went from "perfect" to downpour. There's a tarp on the field and we're lucky enough to be sitting under an overhang. This is actually more entertaining than the game. The tarp holders are getting dragged all over the place because the wind is so strong, and the crowd is cheering them on. This is the last and final game to complete the BBT for Garrett. It's both exciting and a little sad that we won't have these to look forward to every summer now. It took 11 years to complete the loop for Garrett, and he has a hat from every stadium now. After the game we walked home and had dinner together in Eric and Lauren's hotel room. It's been fun hangin with these friends.

5/21/17

On our last day we visited some of Atlanta's biggest attractions. Garrett wasn't excited to go to Ponce city market, but after eating a very fresh pain du chocolat and chicken in a biscuit there I think he was a fan. Then we checked out the Olympic Centennial park, and the largest aquarium in the northern hemisphere complete with dolphin and seal shows like sea world. It was quite fun and our overall impression on Atlanta was that it far exceeded expectations. 

Lou-berry slept through the sea lion show, and only woke up when the sea lions barked.

On the way home May stayed awake, but the pressure didn't seem to bother her at all. She watched a movie with Garrett.

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The Everglades

The Everglades were a fun bucket list item to check off. We only did a short half-day there, but hit the most important things. We started off with an air boat tour of the swamps, and saw an alligator in the grasses next to our boat. The area we toured seemed a little more open and grassy than I had imagined, but I think the Everglades look different as you travel to different spots. I'm not sure how much mangrove area there is there, but I think that's more of what I was picturing in my head. The grasses were interesting too. After that we went and walked through a little zoo area with lots of neat animals. We only got a picture with the tortoises, but there were all sorts of exotic cats, cougars, leopards, huge gators, reptiles, and other random animals that have been saved from irresponsible pet owners. 

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Fort Meyers and Estero Island

Fort Meyers was a surprise favorite for the trip so far. Honestly when we pulled up I was not in the best mood and kind of dreading trying to do beach time with the baby. It's really hard to enjoy the beach at her age. I'm constantly worrying about her being in the sun, too hot, too cold, or about the sand getting kicked in her face. She can't sit up and doesn't see far enough to stay entertained alone, so it's constant anxiety to try and keep her happy. So when we pulled up I was considering just sitting with her in the shade, but once I saw the shells and the perfect sand I decided it was worth the bother. Bill and Randa were extremely hospitable, and their backyard was a little piece of heaven. I sat in the sand and let May kick around in the waves that reached us in the shade of my body. She had a blowout in my lap,and we washed her little naked self off in the water of the Gulf of Mexico, while dolphins swam by in the evening sunset. She didn't act too excited about the water, but I enjoyed watching her discover the new feeling of the baby powder-like sand and warm waves. 

After some time at the beach Randa brough us out some "snacks". It was a fabulous spread of freshly caught shrimp, cheese and crackers. We all recharged, talked and I got to know Bill and Randa for the first time.


May had sand in all the little fat folds after sitting naked in the sand, so Garrett cleaned her off in their outdoor shower. It was a delightful sight.



After drying off and getting dressed, we went to the ice cream shop in town to hear Bill perform with his little band and enjoy some ice cream. It was really a perfect day.

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Miami

In Miami we explored the beach close to south beach, ate at a very tasty sandwich shop, and watched our first game of the baseball tour at the Marlins stadium. I'm trying to think of more to narrate, but that pretty much sums it up.

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The Florida Keys

   We made all of the Florida Keys into a day trip. It was a very scenic, beautiful 3 hour drive out to Key West, and May took the drive quite well. Mitch was with us too, and kept things fun and interesting. We first took May's first ferry out to a lovely little private key, with a little public restaurant with absolutely delicious fresh food. While on the ferry we watched a water spout, which is like a tornado on water form not very far from us, but it didn't last very long. It didn't seem stormy at all where we were on the water. After the restaurant we explored the beautiful island, only big enough to require a few golf carts to get around. We walked it in less than an hour, and May got to stick her little feet into the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.  After taking the ferry back, we explored the main drag of the city of Key West, saw Ernest Hemingway's house, and took a quick picture at the "southernmost point in the continental US".  We took the drive back across the 7 mile bridge at sunset and the pink sky and keys on the water were exceptional. 

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Universal Studios and Cape Canaveral

Right now may is sitting on my lap grunting gruffly and staring at the Tin Tin cartoon on my shirt. She seems to like the picture. I chose to stay in the car while Garrett and Mitch ran in the Publix to get some water and snacks for the road trips ahead this week. So far we've been to Universal Studios for two days, and May was incredibly compliant and easy through it all.We took full advantage of baby swap and waited in no lines today. Our overall opinion of Universal was that it was a touch underwhelming in comparison with Disney, but we had a good time still. I especially loved Diagon Alley, which was very well done.  

Hogsmeade was also fun, and had a lot of fun little shops. It downpoured towards the end of the day and we were stuck in one spot for a while, but it cleared up and we finished that park shortly after.  Mitch's younger brother Brad came with us with his little 2 year old girl, which was lots of fun. Poor little Kate ended up getting sick though, and I'm sure the rain and cold didn't help. Luckily May got through our trip without catching it. I think the problem with Universal Studios is that they're doing too many motion simulator rides, which just can't be as thrilling as real ones, and make me super sick. I steered clear of those for the most part and enjoyed the shops and characters. 

It was rainy the first day and sweltering hot the second, and I'm not sure which was more difficult haha. May didn't seem to mind, she's a trooper. We stayed at Brad and Alissa's house and had a great time chatting and exploring Tampa on Sunday. Just now we came from the beach where we watched a satellite launch from Cape Canaveral. It was pretty neat to see a space launch for the first time. Garrett and Mitch threw a baseball while we waited. May preferred sleeping.

We're heading out to Miami tonight to get settled, and I honestly don't know what we're planning on doing tomorrow. I'm just along for the ride, and enjoying it all. 

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