One Little Victory
Man, I just got back an hour ago from Atlanta. We drove all the way back straight through and I must saw... it was AMAZING! Every single penny was worth the trip! There is so much to say I better start typing before it gets too late.
We left Friday afternoon around 5 PM after everyone got to Jordan's place and loaded up. On the trip it was Jordan, Arun, Danny, Sarah, Amy, and Renee. After the drive to Birmingham, Alabama we stopped off at a hotel where we spent the night. All of us crammed into one little room amazingly. Jordan and Renee were in one bed, Sarah, Amy, and Danny in the other.. and Arun on the floor, and myself on the floor. I couldn't sleep, I was much too busy thinking about the events to await us in Atlanta.. I was highly anticipating the Rush concert. So the next morning I was up around 7 AM after off and on sleeping all night. I splashed some water on my face and laid on the cushions until everyone got up. We all went down for breakfast, and just my luck the machine ran out of orange juice and I got yellow water... Greeeat. As you can tell I'm getting into really precise detail, oh well it was THAT cool of a trip. After we loaded up again, we set out for Atlanta. After several hours of driving we reached the rolling hills of Atlanta, Georgia. We got to Jordan's uncles house which was in such a nice location.. very upscale neighborhood. We all got settled in and showered and such and his uncle and aunt planned for us to go somewhere. After a foosball (wow, don't know how to spell that) game or two we went to this giant park with an ENORMOUS rock mountain in the center with a carving done in the side of it. We set out blankets and sat down on the hill by the mountain and waited until 9:30 PM for the laser light show. It was pretty awesome, never seen anything like it before. After that we headed back to his uncle's home. I worked out for a bit (luckily they had some weights) I went to the room with the others in the basement and we all got ready for bed. Arun took the couch, the two couples (Danny and Amy, Jordan and Renee) took the two air mattresses, and Sarah and myself had the other. We all fell asleep around the same time after some talking between the whole gang.. I'd say we all crashed around 3 AM. The next morning Mrs. Judi (Jordan's mother) woke us up and said Mr. Dave and Mrs. Katie (Jordan's uncle and aunt) had planned for us to go to the old copper mines. We all put on some old clothes and got ready. Mr. Dave asked for a volunteer and everyone volunteered me thinking it would be work or something, but I was volunteered to ride in the brand new Corvette with Mr. Dave. AWESOME! We stopped at a flea market and I got Batman and Batman Returns on VHS for seven bucks. I was going to buy a sword but I didn't have enough money to spare. Jordan got like.. twenty NES games which was cool. We left there and headed for the mines. After arriving at this little path in the woods we got out of the cars and followed the trail. We finally reached this GIANT opening in the mountain and went into this cavern. It wasn't a guided tour or anything, just a cool spot. It was huge.. looked like something out of a fantasy movie or something.. like a dragon's cave. We climbed up huge cave walls unharnessed (dangerous, but awesome) and such.. those reaching 60+ feet up. That was my thing so I scaled those things like a monkey or something.. it was cool. We explored there a while, I found a little opening and crawled in and scared the others as they walked by. It was awesome. So anyways, when we were done there we followed the path a bit more and played around in the river by the water fall. Danny, Arun, and Jordan didn't really feel like getting wet so they didn't come in with Amy, Sarah, Renee and myself. It wasn't my original intentions on getting soaked, but after slipping off a rock into the river I didn't have much of a choice. It ended up being really fun though after they all came in and we messed around a bit in the water. We rode back to the house and got showered up and such. By that time it was around 4 PM and time to head out to the Rush concert. We loaded up in the two Hondas and set out for the Hi Fi Buys amphitheater. There was a huge wreck on the highway so we were held up an hour or so, afraid we'd miss the concert.. but we made it on time. When we got there it was AWESOME! Rush started up with a cool melody of a few of their songs, then it was Spirit of the Radio.. one of my favorites ever. I don't remember the entire setlist but here are some of my favorites they did
Spirit of the Radio
YYZ
Earthshine
Red Barchetta
Between the Wheels
Xanadu
Resist (Acoustic version)
Mystic Rhythms
Subdivisions
Roll the Bones
Red Sector A
2112
The Trees
Limelight
Neil's Drum Solo
Many more.. too many too name!
They played for a good three hours or so, along with some funny videos projected onto the screen behind them. After their encore Jerry Stiller unexpectedly appeared on the screen wearing a Rush shirt. After a short little speech by him he was like, "You're still here? Go home! I need some sleep!" It was quite funny. After that, as we headed to the parking lot there was a firework show since it was the 30th show on their 30th anniversary tour (ironic we went to that one). It was one of the best moments of my entire life, I swear.. I love Rush to death. So anyways, we got back to Mr. Dave's around 11:30. We all went downstairs and got ready for bed. Arun fell asleep immediately, Amy and Danny were out by 3 AM. Sarah and I just talked a while, didn't seem like we talked long but it ended up being like.. 5 AM when we got to bed after talking. Hahah, it's your fault Sarah! Hahah. Anyways, I don't know when Jojo and Renee were out because Jordan rolled over at one point and muttered it being 4:30 when Sarah and I were talking. It was pretty funny. So anyways, we all woke up.. and laid around for a while being lazy then proceeded to eat breakfast, shower, then hit the road. We stopped at Krystal burger on the way home (30 mintues after leaving, hahaha). Danny and Renee started feeling bad, poor guys (well.. and girl). They got over it and felt better later. The entire car ride home was AWESOME. It was so much fun. From Arun being absolutely hysterical loaded up on sugar, to Sarah plucking my eyebrows and making me do the Gollum voice, and Jordan being himself the car ride went by so quickly and VERY fun considering I hate car rides. I think we got into the twenties of trucks we got to honk at us by signaling them down with the infamous arm gesture. So we dropped everyone off, and I got home at like.. 1:45 AM and here I am. Wow, this entry is pretty long. I think I'm going to wrap this up by stating this is the coolest vacation I have EVER been on, EVER. Now I'm off to listen to Rush and watch Batman. Later guys.
We left Friday afternoon around 5 PM after everyone got to Jordan's place and loaded up. On the trip it was Jordan, Arun, Danny, Sarah, Amy, and Renee. After the drive to Birmingham, Alabama we stopped off at a hotel where we spent the night. All of us crammed into one little room amazingly. Jordan and Renee were in one bed, Sarah, Amy, and Danny in the other.. and Arun on the floor, and myself on the floor. I couldn't sleep, I was much too busy thinking about the events to await us in Atlanta.. I was highly anticipating the Rush concert. So the next morning I was up around 7 AM after off and on sleeping all night. I splashed some water on my face and laid on the cushions until everyone got up. We all went down for breakfast, and just my luck the machine ran out of orange juice and I got yellow water... Greeeat. As you can tell I'm getting into really precise detail, oh well it was THAT cool of a trip. After we loaded up again, we set out for Atlanta. After several hours of driving we reached the rolling hills of Atlanta, Georgia. We got to Jordan's uncles house which was in such a nice location.. very upscale neighborhood. We all got settled in and showered and such and his uncle and aunt planned for us to go somewhere. After a foosball (wow, don't know how to spell that) game or two we went to this giant park with an ENORMOUS rock mountain in the center with a carving done in the side of it. We set out blankets and sat down on the hill by the mountain and waited until 9:30 PM for the laser light show. It was pretty awesome, never seen anything like it before. After that we headed back to his uncle's home. I worked out for a bit (luckily they had some weights) I went to the room with the others in the basement and we all got ready for bed. Arun took the couch, the two couples (Danny and Amy, Jordan and Renee) took the two air mattresses, and Sarah and myself had the other. We all fell asleep around the same time after some talking between the whole gang.. I'd say we all crashed around 3 AM. The next morning Mrs. Judi (Jordan's mother) woke us up and said Mr. Dave and Mrs. Katie (Jordan's uncle and aunt) had planned for us to go to the old copper mines. We all put on some old clothes and got ready. Mr. Dave asked for a volunteer and everyone volunteered me thinking it would be work or something, but I was volunteered to ride in the brand new Corvette with Mr. Dave. AWESOME! We stopped at a flea market and I got Batman and Batman Returns on VHS for seven bucks. I was going to buy a sword but I didn't have enough money to spare. Jordan got like.. twenty NES games which was cool. We left there and headed for the mines. After arriving at this little path in the woods we got out of the cars and followed the trail. We finally reached this GIANT opening in the mountain and went into this cavern. It wasn't a guided tour or anything, just a cool spot. It was huge.. looked like something out of a fantasy movie or something.. like a dragon's cave. We climbed up huge cave walls unharnessed (dangerous, but awesome) and such.. those reaching 60+ feet up. That was my thing so I scaled those things like a monkey or something.. it was cool. We explored there a while, I found a little opening and crawled in and scared the others as they walked by. It was awesome. So anyways, when we were done there we followed the path a bit more and played around in the river by the water fall. Danny, Arun, and Jordan didn't really feel like getting wet so they didn't come in with Amy, Sarah, Renee and myself. It wasn't my original intentions on getting soaked, but after slipping off a rock into the river I didn't have much of a choice. It ended up being really fun though after they all came in and we messed around a bit in the water. We rode back to the house and got showered up and such. By that time it was around 4 PM and time to head out to the Rush concert. We loaded up in the two Hondas and set out for the Hi Fi Buys amphitheater. There was a huge wreck on the highway so we were held up an hour or so, afraid we'd miss the concert.. but we made it on time. When we got there it was AWESOME! Rush started up with a cool melody of a few of their songs, then it was Spirit of the Radio.. one of my favorites ever. I don't remember the entire setlist but here are some of my favorites they did
Spirit of the Radio
YYZ
Earthshine
Red Barchetta
Between the Wheels
Xanadu
Resist (Acoustic version)
Mystic Rhythms
Subdivisions
Roll the Bones
Red Sector A
2112
The Trees
Limelight
Neil's Drum Solo
Many more.. too many too name!
They played for a good three hours or so, along with some funny videos projected onto the screen behind them. After their encore Jerry Stiller unexpectedly appeared on the screen wearing a Rush shirt. After a short little speech by him he was like, "You're still here? Go home! I need some sleep!" It was quite funny. After that, as we headed to the parking lot there was a firework show since it was the 30th show on their 30th anniversary tour (ironic we went to that one). It was one of the best moments of my entire life, I swear.. I love Rush to death. So anyways, we got back to Mr. Dave's around 11:30. We all went downstairs and got ready for bed. Arun fell asleep immediately, Amy and Danny were out by 3 AM. Sarah and I just talked a while, didn't seem like we talked long but it ended up being like.. 5 AM when we got to bed after talking. Hahah, it's your fault Sarah! Hahah. Anyways, I don't know when Jojo and Renee were out because Jordan rolled over at one point and muttered it being 4:30 when Sarah and I were talking. It was pretty funny. So anyways, we all woke up.. and laid around for a while being lazy then proceeded to eat breakfast, shower, then hit the road. We stopped at Krystal burger on the way home (30 mintues after leaving, hahaha). Danny and Renee started feeling bad, poor guys (well.. and girl). They got over it and felt better later. The entire car ride home was AWESOME. It was so much fun. From Arun being absolutely hysterical loaded up on sugar, to Sarah plucking my eyebrows and making me do the Gollum voice, and Jordan being himself the car ride went by so quickly and VERY fun considering I hate car rides. I think we got into the twenties of trucks we got to honk at us by signaling them down with the infamous arm gesture. So we dropped everyone off, and I got home at like.. 1:45 AM and here I am. Wow, this entry is pretty long. I think I'm going to wrap this up by stating this is the coolest vacation I have EVER been on, EVER. Now I'm off to listen to Rush and watch Batman. Later guys.