Whirlwind Weekend

I spent the weekend on a middle school band trip. That one sentence alone should convey my current sense of exhaustion and mental instability, however, l'll get specific for those more interested readers.

In Atlanta, our first stop was at the "World of Coke" museum. Talk about shameless self-promotion. I think l'll open up a "Dan museum" and put artifacts up about my life and accomplishments, along with 65 different flavors of Dan that the public could sample. I mean, I enjoy a Coca-cola classic every now and then, but do they really need a whole museum?

We had lunch at ESPN Zone. Again, I love a good sports recap broadcast on ESPN Network, but a restaurant? I could get burgers and chicken fingers anywhere. They did have quite an extensive arcade upstairs. This, of course, a haven for middle school boys.

Next, to Turner field for the Braves v. the Dodgers. We sat in the nosebleeds and ate ourselves silly on footlong hot dogs, funnel cakes, and cotton candy. Ask any of the kids what the highlight of the evening was and what will they reply? Seeing Chipper Jones hit TWO homeruns? No. It was watching the drunk dude puke all over the place several rows above us. Moving on.

The next day was the competition in Chattanooga. Wait, what? I thought we were in Atlanta, doing Atlantaish things. Well, lets throw in a band competition in Chattanooga, just to keep people on their toes. The band did well and got excellent ratings from every judge. Then we went to an IMAX movie called "Nap time for the entire band and all of the chaperones: 3D!"

That night we ate at Medieval Times. This is one of those dinner and a show type deals. I thought it was AWESOME! Depending on where you sit, you cheer for a different knight. We cheered for the priest of Santiago- the black and white knight. We watched as they engaged in Medieval games on horseback. They jousted, they threw spears, a falcon flew around the arena. It was awesome. Then, it was revealed by Cedric the soothsayer that there was a traitor in the King's service. Thus, the games went from friendly competition to DEATHMATCH! Seriously, the knights were now competing for their lives in hopes that the traitor would just be killed I guess. They lowered nets to protect the audience from flying swords. This was the coolest part. Well choreographed fights using various period-appropriate weapons ensued. I was on my feet yelling and screaming! The Priest of Santiago won, but was then betrayed by the true traitor, Lord Chancellor so and so. The blue knight then rode out and battled him, eventually capturing him and sending him to the dungeon to be tortured.

The next day we went to Six Flags. I love roller coasters, but that's for another post on another day. We spent the whole day there and it was glorious. One of our students puked on the wheelie. I rode several of the coasters multiple times. I finally got to ride Acrophobia, which has been shut down EVERY time i've been to six flags in the last few years. All in all, a great day.

Did I mention that I had a suite to myself in Atlanta? This was the largest and most apartment-like hotel room i've ever stayed in, and I had it all to myself! I couldn't help but imagine that I was some sort of rock star, walking around my hotel room in my sock feet, just biding time until the show that night. Then, I wake up, realizing I have to go down the hall and awaken six middle school guys; tell them to clean the cheetos up off the floor; and take them down to breakfast. We have a long day ahead of us.