Atlanta!!!

It has been a bit of a busy week for Chris and I . We were in Philadelphia for the first part of the week. While we were on the plane back from Philly, the Phillies clenched a spot in the World Series. Chris is, of course, super excited about this!! The best news is that the Rays are going to be playing them, so the Phillies will be playing down here in Tampa!!! We are very excited about hosting the World Series!!!

So, Chris and I took a long weekend to Atlanta this weekend, and it was phenomenal. I am ready to move to Atlanta, well, not really....but it is nice!! It turns out that our two favorite artists were both playing in ATlanta the same weekend, so we felt like all of the stars were aligned, and we just had to make the trip up there to see them. So, on Friday morning, we packed up and got on the road for our long trip up I-75! After battling rush hour traffic in Atlanta, which was not pretty, and getting slightly turned around( I know, I know- that is atypical for Chris and I given our keen sense of direction, but it does happen), we checked into our hotel. We quicklky changed and headed up to Alpharetta to see Ryan Adams. We were both super excited and enjoyed the show for the first 45 minutes, until Ryan announced that he was losing his voice, and he would not be able to continue to perform. This was disappointing, although we did get to hear what was quite possibly the most beautiful performance ever, when he sang Wonderwall.

Now, we don't have much luck with Ryan Adams. We went to see him in 2005 in Philly, and he was quite a character, complaining that the AC shouldn't be on, because it detracts from his performance. Mind you, this was mid summer- not a good time to shut off the AC. He also got extremely irritated when people requested songs from him. Finally after a while, he threw down his beer bottle and stormed off the stage saying he couldn't continue to perform for us. So, now that he has sobered up, we figured that he might actually give a complete performance. Not so. This man is odd. He does, however, have an angelic voice, so we won't hold it against him!

The next day we woke up bright and early to the sound of hammers and power drills. Apparently, our hotel was under renovation, and they work early in the morning on SAturdays, so we were up pretty early. We went to a charming little town called Marietta to see a Gone with the Wind museum. The museum was okay, but the town itself was wonderful. We got to walk around the square and enjoyed lunch at a little deli. We made our way back into Atlanta and headed out to dinner and then to see Ray LaMontagne. I am slightly obsessed with Ray, so this was very exciting for me! His show had sold out, so I bought tickets from a guy through craigs list. They were e-tickets, so I was slightly concerned he had sold them to several unsuspecting buyers, and that they wouldn't actually work. They did, however, work, and the show was wonderful! The show was in the "Tabernacle Theater," which is a converted church, so it was a very interesting venue. I am now even more obsessed with Ray, and I am hoping he comes back to the states to tour again soon. He performed my very favorite song, "Trouble." He also played a song called "Jolene," that is quickly becoming my second fav behind Trouble.

The next day we got up early to have lunch at Mary Mac's Tea room, Chris's favorite southern restaurant. It is quite nice. We then headed back to Tampa to make it to the Bucs game by kick off. We stopped in GAinesville along the way to check out the UF campus, which was quite nice! We made it to the Bucs game right after the game started. The game was incredibly dull, but we did get to sneak some peeks of the Rays game across the bridge, and we were thrilled that they beat the Red Sox to advance to the world series!!! :-)

Very exciting stuff!!!