I’ve actually been growing quite fond of Atlanta… Lately I’ve been feeling restless, looking for a change in scenery, and Atlanta keeps coming to mind. There’s a wonderful coffee community, my uncle lives there, and it’s just a nice size city – not too big, not too small. AND it’s only a 4 hour drive from Nashville, so I wouldn’t be too far from my mom. We’ll see what the future holds, but I do have some ideas brewing…

Anyways, Saturday morning Joe and I began our venture down to Weeki Wachee, Florida!

Weeki Wachee is really not that exciting of a place – it’s mainly just a home for retirees – but I was determined to go to the beach while I was in Florida… The next day we took a day trip to Clearwater Beach, and then to a nearby Greek village called Tarpon Springs, where apparently, the area is known for having the “World’s Finest” natural sponges. Lots of beach shops with TONS of sponges, and amazing Greek resturants and bakeries. Wohoo! It was so nice to be by the water…

Monday was probably the highlight of the trip. My cousin Sean was in town visiting my Grandparents as well, so Joe thought we should all go to Universal Studios, to check out the new Harry Potter theme park.

The park was SO busy, and there was about an hour long wait to get on most of the rides. There was a 2 hour wait to just get into The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, but it was so worth it. Oh, and I had the privilege of getting pushed around in a wheelchair because of my feet, so I was fine with waiting in line :)

It’s absolutly amazing how they made Howarts and all the shops in Hogsmead look so real! I never really got into the Harry Potter books, so I wasn’t geeking out like I know my sister would have, but I  have to say I was thoroughly impressed…

Tuesday, Joe and I headed back to Atlanta. It was a short trip, but I know it meant a lot to my Grandparents that we came down. I feel like our family is pretty distant, both emotionally and geographically, and I’m trying to do what I can on my part to work on that. Hopefully, one of these days we can get everyone together in the same place! It makes it difficult with me  and my mom in Nashville, Tom and Deidre in Connecticut, Joe in Atlanta, my Grandparents in Florida, and now my sister out in Arizona.. oh, and the rest of the family in New York.

Anyways, here are a bunch of pictures from the trip. Enjoy, and feel free to comment :)

Here’s a ton of pictures from our trip!! Enjoy!!!

Well, it didn’t work out that way… When we got to the airport, we found out our flight had been canceled and we would fly out at 6:30. No biggie. They made us fly into Atlanta instead, because the flight to Cincinnati would only give us 15 minutes to board the next plane. Then we would fly out of ATL at 9:30 and be in Seattle by noon! Still, that’s great! The whole day to hang out in the BEAUTIFUL weather Seattle is having this weekend!!

Yet again, it did not work out that way. Atlanta has had terrible rain the last few days, and OF COURSE, right as the plane was taxiing and getting ready to take off, the pilot gets a call and tells us the Atlanta airport is undergoing flood control. It was only a 15 minute delay, but our flight to Atlanta was only 37 minutes long, and it was just enough of a delay to make us nervous about getting to our next gate on time. We landed, and busted ass to get to the OTHER SIDE of the airport to gate T. (uhh. We were at gate B) There was a train we could have taken to get to our terminal, but of course we walked right passed it without paying attention. We finally got to our gate, and the lady said they close the doors 10 minutes prior. UUUGGGHHHH!!!!

SO, we go to the customer service desk, get a Standby ticket for an 11:00 flight (which we ended up not getting because the flight was overbooked) and the next flight out was at 2:55. Yup. 2:55. We waited a total of 5 hours in the Atlanta airport. Atlanta isn’t even on the way to Seattle!! It was a total detour that ended up screwing us.

I understand that this kind of stuff happens, but our whole day was jacked up, and Delta really didn’t seem to give a crap! I was so angry! I can confidently say that I will never fly Delta ever again.

ANYWAYS, my amazing boyfriend is taking me to Seattle next weekend, because I’ve ALWAYS wanted to visit the Northwest, and Seattle IS the Coffee Mecca of the US. It just so happens that Coffee Fest will be going on the same weekend, so of course I will be attending. 

Just looked at the weather forecast in Seattle next week, and it’s sunny! The whole time I’ll be there! Freaking awesome!