Bye Bye Bama

Well we've come to the end of my journey to Alabama. I'll be leaving in a few hours to catch a plane to Atlanta and then another one back to Ireland. Its been a crazy 2 weeks. I cant remember the last time i've done so much in such a small piece of time.

On Tuesday we went to friends of Jeris' family, The Crookes, for an Independance Day BBQ. The There was enough food to feed a large division of an army so we went back for seconds about three times! We also got to fish in the lake at the end of their garden for a while. There were huge catfish swimming about and we came close a couple of times to catching one but no luck. We did catch a few smaller fish and the odd turtle here and there which was terrible to watch. Mr. Crooke introduced me to his collection of classic cars in his garage. He has two at the moment, a 1967 Corvette Stingray (beautiful) and a MG from the 1950's. They were incredible but the most incredible thing was the garage he kept them in. I've seen operating theatres that were dirtier than this. There wasn't a speck of dust or dirt anywhere!!!

We hung around their house for a few hours, eating and drinking, and then we left for Atlanta which was a good two hour drive, maybe more. We met up with Jeris' fiance Jordan and a couple of his friends and watched some of the World Cup highlights and the end of a baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals. Atlanta lost so they weren't in the best mood.

The next day we got up late enough and went to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. Its supposed to be the largest in the world but we had our doubts. It was incredible! They had one huge tank filled with thousands of fish ranging from stingrays to great white sharks (which are huge by the way!). I'll put up the photos when I get them.

After the aquarium we went to a baseball game in Turner Field. It was between the Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals again. We went early to watch batting practice and try and catch a few stray balls. Our seats were in the dirct firing line so you had to keep an eye on things (mainly small spherical things hurtling towards your head at a high speed). Since the game was at 7.30 in the evening, we didn't have the sun beating down on us which was great, but it was still really warm. The game kicked off a little late due to a short rain delay. This time Atlanta unleashed hell on the Cardinals and sent them packing back to St. Louis. We left after the 7th inning because Atlanta were winning 14-4 and it was pretty much over. After that we just headed back to Birmingham and a good nights rest.

So thats it! All over. Have to go pack and try to cram everything back into my bags. I'll put up the photos the minute I get home and let you all see what i've been talking about these past few weeks.

Till then.