This past weekend, Erika and I went to Atlanta for a nice weekend getaway. The main reason for going was to see some hockey (Nashville Predators vs. Atlanta Thrashers) at Phillips Arena on Friday night. The game was great, but unfortunately the Predators lost in a shootout. The Predators were down early 2-0 but managed to work their way back, eventually gaining a 3-2 lead with just a few minutes left in the game. With 2.4 seconds left in the game, the Thrashers tied it during a 6-on-4 power play. Overtime was exciting and the Thrashers believed they had gotten a last second goal to win, but the goal was waved off.

On Saturday, we headed out to the Georgia Aquarium for a few hours. The aquarium is huge with five different areas to explore. It is quite possible to stay there all day watching all of the fish, rays and whales. The Georgia Aquarium has a massive viewing window 61 feet wide by 23 feet tall that gives everyone a glimpse into life at the Meso American Barrier Reef of Central America. You can watch schools of rays swimming around with other schools of fish and giant groupers. Four huge whale sharks also swim throughout the exhibit, the largest being at 18 feet long. Before going to the viewing room, visitors have to walk through an underwater tunnel. Watching those huge whale shark shadows glide by overhead gave me goosebumps.

After visiting the aquarium (and watching the first half of the Alabama/Florida game) we traveled down to Turner Field to watch the Braves and Astros play. For some reason, it was called obnoxious for wearing my Mets jersey to the park. Hey, I can't help it if the Braves suck and won't make it to the playoffs this year. Why can't I be able to celebrate the Mets breaking Atlanta's 14 year streak of being NL East Champions? I admit, I wore it just to rub it in the Braves' fans faces. It certainly ruffled some of the fans feathers judging by some of the comments from behind me.

The worst thing about the weekend was traffic. It didn't matter where we went or when we went there was always a traffic jam on one of the major interstates. It always seemed to be because of closing down lanes for either no reason or for an accident. On top of that, the traffic patterns after an event is absolutely insane. Coming out of Phillips Arena Friday night, we had to follow a path all around the city to get to I-75/I-85. The traffic Saturday night was the most frustrating experience I've encountered in Atlanta. Coming out of the parking lot at Turner Field, I followed the leader to the Interstate only to find out only one lane turned onto the interstate. I couldn't squeeze in and the cop made me pass the entrance ramp. So, I thought that the easiest thing to do would be to turn around and go back to the entrance ramp. Driving back up, the cop still would not let me enter the entrance ramp. I was forced to drive the long way around only to be able to get on the Interstate going the opposite direction from where I wanted to go. I had to drive several miles down the road before I could even exit. Once I did exit, I couldn't figure out how to get back on in the opposite direction. I eventually stopped at a BP to get directions. Once I made it back to the interstate, I had to sit in game traffic to add to the torture. Finally, over an hour later, we made it back to the hotel.

Atlanta is a fun place to visit, but I will NEVER live there. I can't imagine dealing with that traffic every day. Spending an hour in traffic to go less than 10 miles is absolutely insane.