Atlanta, Georgia

For Father's Day this year, my sister and I surprised our dad with a trip to Atlanta to see his/our favorite baseball team of all time, the Atlanta Braves! This would not have been possible without the generosity of my mother-in-law and her buddy passes (free standby tickets). It was a trip of a lifetime and one we will never forget!!! Of course, these are not even half of the pictures we took, but you'll get the idea!

Flying standby is always an adventure. Here we are sleeping in the Vegas airport during our 5 hour wait. This summer it has been particularly difficult to get on flights. After days and days of scheduling and rescheduling, we listed for what seemed the most plausible (even if a bit ridiculous) and actually made it on every flight we tried until our last leg home.

I knew that if we could get out of Orange County, we'd make it there and so here we are celebrating the fact that we were actually on a plane and we were actually, really, going to see our Braves in their home stadium! Dream come true for all 3 of us, especially my for my dad who's been a fan since he was 5 years old! :)

At the visitor's center where we got our first real taste of Southern hospitality. My, what a different world. We walked away with accents and had fun using them throughout the trip! :)

Shocked we were really in Georgia. It was beautiful though very, very hot and humid. We drove through Alabama and Georgia ... and really loved the experience. At times, it felt like we were in an entirely different country.

It took us two full days to get there with 4 airport stops, an overnight in Chicago, and a 2.5 hour drive from Birmingham, AL to Atlanta, GA. It was all worth it the moment we walked in to the park. I have no shame in saying that the 3 of us actually teared up. It was a moment we'll never forget!

The stadium had been built to replace the old one when the 1996 Olympics came to Atlanta. It was gorgeous.

Couldn't stop smiling. We'd even lost sleep the 2 nights before just giggling with anticipation!!

Growing up, I think we spent just about every game the Braves played during the 90's sitting in our living room learning about the strategies of every pitch and the chess game going on between managers as certain calls were made. My dad taught us well. We loved the players, their stories, and after winning the division title year after year, finally watching them win a World Series!! We remember many a game tomahawk chopping in our living room as we cheered them on. Imagine the surreal moments we shared with 39,000 other fans as we all tomahawk chopped in this huge stadium. Coming from Dodger stadium where you want to blend in as much as possible when rooting for the opposing team (think recent beatings!) to be in the home field where nearly everyone is dressed in Atlanta clothing and cheers and applauds with you was so weird and so cool.

Thankfully, we had great seats both games and they won both times!

During the day on Saturday, we visited "The World of Coke" museum.

A mural of the 125 year history of Coca Cola.

After Coca-Cola, we made one of the most meaningful stops of our lives... to the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site. We watched a 27 minute video that had us in tears the entire time. Then, we walked through the museum seeing and reading about horrific, shameful things and cried some more. Finally, we visited MLK Jr.'s birthplace, church, and crypt. We walked away absolutely devastated by the atrocities of man and yet so incredibly inspired by the life of Dr. King and those who followed him. It was a place every human being should go and we're so thankful we got the opportunity. It was just blocks from our hotel and blocks from the stadium.

Back at our last game. After waiting a lifetime to be here, we were very sad to say good-bye. It may not make much sense to you all, but believe me when I say this was a dream come true and we thank Gina for making it possible!! 

We love you, dad! :)