Atlanta

As mentioned, Ann and I celebrated (belatedly) the fifth anniversary of our first date, and the beautiful springtime weather continues in the South. I've lived through many spring seasons in Kansas and in different parts of West Texas, and I wouldn't trade any one of them for the weather I've experienced in the last three weeks.

So with that as a backdrop, I took off toward Atlanta to meet my wife. We were in the Midtown district, about two blocks from Peachtree Street, and a short run away from the Georgia Tech campus. Friday night, we ate at an outdoor restaurant-- good eats (sorry AB), featuring barbecued pork soft tacos. And we managed to find an Irish bar to consume large portions of chocolate milk. It was a great night to relax and be outdoors, and the crowd outside in the bar district reflected it.

There was also a Kelvin Sampson sighting at this bar. I assume it was, since I didn't ask for his ID. Ann saw him first, then I saw him when I went inside. Ann has no issues with these situations, since she's dealt with it before during her time in the hotel business. I keep my distance, figuring they came to this place (or wherever I see them) to spend some time out of character. But he and I did share a moment as I walked back to our table. I was walking toward him and he shifted his glance to me for an instant. As mentioned, I went on with my business, but he seemed like someone who has a lot of folks come up to him wanting something- a handshake, an autograph, whatever. He went back to his conversation when he saw me continue on my way.

Turns out, Sampson is an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks. I ran ten miles in Piedmont Park Saturday morning and saw two guys running in Bucks t-shirts. I didn't know where KS was at these days, but it made more sense when we noticed that the Bucks were in town to play Atlanta in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Then it all made sense.

Speaking of the run and Piedmont Park, what a day. I actually ran eight at the park and two on the hotel treadmill. An awesome vibe-- some Atlanta skyline, much sunshine, and lots of folks walking about during a big craft show. It's hard to run seeing all these food booths, let me tell you. But the Atlanta Track Club put down a half-mile packed dirt track that's just awesome. I threw some minute pickups, comfortably hard pace, so my legs were pretty well shot the rest of the day. It was much different than running in the flatlands of Tuscaloosa.

That evening, Ann and I ate a wonderful dinner with my Uncle John and his wife Marianne. Terrific to see them. A great meal, some good wine and a lot of good conversation. One of the things I liked about moving down South is the chance to reconnect with family. We'd not seen other in nearly 16 years.

Sunday was church day, of course. Being married to Ann means no more 'off' Sundays just because we're on holiday. And this is a good thing. We attended the 9 am service at All Saints Episcopal Church. They advertise some 3,000 members, and it seemed as though most of them were there. Not true, of course, but a well-attended service. That there were five baptisms may have had something to do with it. An impressive church, to say the least.

Then it was another awesome meal, then back up to our hotel room to load up and head west back to Tuscaloosa. We listened to the Braves radio broadcast for a while, which made me wish we had a radio affiliate in our neighborhood. Just another great weekend