Wednesday, April 30, 2008

ATL-DCA

Made a quick 2-day trip to DC for a meeting, not sure if that counts but I did it! ;) The weather was nice, but we just missed the cherry blossoms. Got to see a speedy tour of the monuments in the taxi on the way back to the airport - ha ha! And here's a tip: Don't eat at petits plats in woodley park - le yuck.

- Mary

Sunday, April 27, 2008

ATL-SFO

Shannon was in San Francisco over the weekend to attend JartFest 2008 and do a little sloping on the CA coast. You can see a pretty cool video of the festivities here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6161826426448652013

Here is some information about what a JART is and some background information. http://www.jartworld.com/

This was a very specific trip I took and made me question my SANITY once I got to San Fran. I flew there and back in the same day.
I left ATL Saturday morning at 8:00 A.M. Reached the slope site (Thorton Beach) via the BART and a local slope pilot by noon. I was able to fly and hang out till the sun went down. The costal lift is really SMOOTH compared to the conditions I typically fly in here in GA and AL. I caught a ride back to the airport from one of the local slope fliers and boarded a 10:30 flight back to ATL. This put me landing in ATL on Sunday morning about 6:30-7:00. So pretty much 24 hours after I left ATL on my little adventure I made it back home pretty exhausted but all grins from a successful trip. Slope soaring is like surfing, its kind of like getting something for nothing. I doubt too many people would understand it but it is a hobby I really enjoy. Non- Revving makes a "rediculous" trip like this possible, not something just anybody would go out and do.

Monday, April 14, 2008

ATL-ORD


I (Mary) had meetings in Chicago this weekend for work and luckily Shannon was able to take Friday off and come along for the ride! I was in meetings until late in the afternoon on Saturday, but Shannon ventured out and then we had a couple hours on Sunday to walk around before we had to catch our flight back (well one of us anyway;). We went to Lincoln Park and saw the zoo and conservatory on Saturday, and also went to Millennium Park to see THE BEAN! For dinner, we had deep dish (true chicago-style) at Pizzeria Uno (www.unos.com) which was delicious! On Sunday, we checked out Navy Pier, but were bummed to see that the ferris wheel was closed due to the weather (cold, wet and WINDY!). To cheer ourselves up, we went BACK to the bean for more fun and checked out the 'magnificent mile,' had garrett popcorn and walked down to the river, which is BEAUTIFUL. It was a great trip and a it's a beautiful city, we really liked it! Unfortunately, Shannon couldn't get on a flight out Sunday, and after three tries and one very close call, had to come back this morning at 6 am instead. But he's a trooper and is now safely back at home (thank goodness!) and says it's all worth it! ;) I'm posting a couple pics of the bean aka 'cloud gate' sculpture at millennium park - it's definitely one of the coolest things I've ever seen!