2008
Atlanta Band trip
AKA Mrs. Pork Chop comes to town!! 
[Day one][Day two] [Georgia Aquarium]photos and story by J.Starke! This trip was was educational, enlightening, fulfilling, fun and best of all the band family had time to spend together! The Honda Battle of the Bands was off 'da' hook! Sorry english teachers it was so good we had to use a common vernacular. Fitting in so much fun and entertainment in such a short period of time, seemed impossible. What we accomplished in this short visit to Atlanta will not easily be topped.
If you didn't have fun on this trip, then check your pulse-you must be dead!
We pulled out of the band room at about 5:30AM... We put in the now
traditional Drumline DVD.
They had the best blue berry, baked apple, syrup toppings to adorn your pancakes with. The waffles were flying out of the buffet area... There were no complaints of anyone being hungry. Pulling out of Shoney's was our bus driver Mr. Ruffin. The bus ride was so smooth, the DVD player so crystal clear sometimes you would forget that you were riding the bus. Sometimes the kids were so quiet we had to turn around to see if they were still on the bus. Our kids have to be some of the best mannered kids around. To site an example while visiting the Dr. Martin Luther King exhibit our kids went room to room and took in some of our history. Then a somewhat noisy group of about 50 kids came in. They were from Plantation, Florida. Our next DVD selection was Rush Hour 3... We also saw Spiderman 3, Transformers and You Got Served. Roll Bounce was our last DVD we watched on the way home--we didn't finish, but it was fun while it lasted...
We made a pit stop at a big rest stop and to stretch the legs before we hit
the hotel... Pulling into Days Inn
Papa John's get's our vote for the best delivery!! A big thanks goes to Danny and Stacey for arranging to have pizza delivered to us on the bus while driving to the Georgia Dome! Talk about service!!! It was good and hot.. We manuvered around the traffic and we finally walked 2 blocks to the Dome. The traffic control is very disorganized.. If you go to the Battle of the Bands next year, give yourself some extra time, especially if you are on a bus.. Mr. Ruffin made a U-Turn as if he was driving a VW beetle and got us there safely and on time.
We took our seats and were entertained by the best 10 College bands from
Virginia to Texas. More about the bands later. We trekked over
to our bus and headed over to
Ryan's The adults were ready to retire for the night as we had a busy day. The kids were energetic and they were so pumped up we couldn't take them to the hotel yet.. We told the bus driver let's head to Jillian's on Sugarloaf-sweet! The adult, oops the teenage playground area. It seemed as if the adults had more fun than the kids did. Jillian's has a bowling alley along with a big selection of games and activities. Everyone found something to do. Back to the Day's Inn we headed as we had a busy early day planned for our second day of our band trip. Lights out and to bed. The next day we woke to get a continental breakfast. If you didn't see what you wanted, you could have just stopped by "Ms. Pork chop's" room and get something from her. Story by Mr. Young at the spring banquet!!! You don't want to miss that... Ms. Claudia from Days Inn gave us a tour of the downtown area. We took in the historical sites, the Olympic Park, The new MLK center and some of the well know universities. At noon time we headed over to the largest aquarium in the World, the Georgia Aquarium. It was awesome! At anyone time there was up to 3,000 people visiting the different areas. Many of the kids got to touch star fishes, baby sharks, sea anomelities (sp) among many others. The water loving mammals are always a hit. Along with the very formal penquins. The Bula Whales are such showoffs. Sharks and Stingrays grace many exhibits. You could just chill in any of the rooms. One popular area for the band kids was the eating exhibit!! We headed to our customary Mall visit. Some of the girls shrieked when we said we are heading to the mall. They started drooling. We went to the Stonecrest Mall as it was going in the right direction. Everyone grabbed a bit to eat and did some power shopping.
Band kids.. always remember to thank your parents for making this trip happen. And thank the parents who rode the bus with you guys and watched over you as we arrived safetly to our destination and back!
There was one band kid who
never guess who! |
How
fitting as we were going to see how Drumline all started. Driving a
little over an hour and 1/2 we stopped in Greenville, Al and switched bus
drivers and headed across the street to Shoney's for breakfast.
we
gave the kids about 1/2 hour to get ready to head over to the Georgia Dome.
Some of the girls scrambled and said 1/2 hour... I need more time...
1/2 hour later everyone was walking over to the bus. Mr. Ruffin,
our bus driver, took us to the Georgia Dome.. While driving there we encountered
some traffic.
where
they had a private seating area reserved just for us. The food was
fresh and hot as they knew we were coming and coming in hungry. The
desserts were fabulous. Chocolate ice cream with hot chocolate fudge,
pineapples, cherry, nuts with double death chocolate cake as a kicker!
got lost in the crowd
