"Happily Oblivious" - Traveling as an absent-minded individual (while Erick was in his conference)

On Wednesday, Erick had a full day of conference, so I planned to fill our morning with Centennial Olympic Park. I planned to pick up lunch at McDonald's before we headed there. Sounded like a brilliant use of my time. We had visited the Aquarium the day before, and that was adjacent, so I knew I could find my way there with no problem. Right?

After packing my bag carefully, preparing snacks and extra drinks, we headed to MARTA for the fifteen minute ride into the city. Once we got off at the station closest to the park, I realized that I had forgotten my carefully packed bag. Brilliant! Back on the train, Sophie. Sorry. Back to the hotel and back on MARTA. Let's try this again. Completely packed and ready for fun! This time we got off the train, and I headed straight for Harris Street. I was very proud of myself because I remembered the name of the street that led to the park. It was at the bottom of the hill, so how hard could it be, right? Unfortunately, the MARTA station was on a ridge, so Harris Street went downhill on both sides. I realized this when Erick called to check on us. Didn't he trust me to find my way around the city? Geesh. He described what I should see, and when I didn't see it, I headed back up the hill to go down the other side. Joy of joys.

Now to find McDonald's. I was certain that I had seen one on the way to the park the day before. Why couldn't I see it now? I reached the park with no sign of a McDonald's, so I asked a friendly bystander for the nearest McDonald's. He wasn't sure, but he thought there was one at the top of the hill by the MARTA station...where I had just come from. The other option was the food court in the CNN building. So we opted for that. It was closer and felt less humiliating. After waiting over 30 minutes for our food at Arby's....Sophia and I finally had lunch and were headed to the park.

The rest of the day was much more successful. If I was normally an organized person, I'm sure a morning like this would have made me crazy. As being lost is a state in which I frequently find myself, I actually really enjoyed seeing new things. Apparently Sophia is already used to the feeling as well, because she didn't miss a beat.

There were plenty of other instances of my directional miscues throughout the week, but none so dramatic or entertaining. Mostly just turning the wrong way after coming off the train and having to backtrack or ending up in some store when I was really looking for the exit. All in all, a good show, if only someone had been around to see it!

I didn't take many pictures that day. I guess I was probably afraid I might lose the camera! Here is Sophia enjoying a "slide." She isn't crazy about real slides for some reason, so she would climb up these fake rocks and scoot down saying "Weeee!" Kind of pathetic, but very funny. Just another exhibition in our traveling show.