Big catch on the way to the big top

We took a road trip last weekend. First stop, Asheville. We dropped off Mary's car and her stuff at school. Then she showed us to the Asiana Grand Buffet for dinner. I've been to all-you-can-eat buffets before, and this one was definitely a cut above many of them. They had all kinds of food. Chow meins, lo meins, soups, sushi bar, frog legs, shrimp oh-so-many ways, squid, fish, sesame balls (?), steak, pork, chicken, salad bar, dessert bar, the ever-popular palm leaves (or palmiers), and so much more. No way could I taste it all...though I did try. After sufficiently stuffing ourselves, we went back to the hotel and crashed. Food babies and food comas all around.

Next stop, Atlanta. After dropping off some antiquated life boats - long story - we checked into our hotel. Good thing we had the GPS to lead us there. Wayne thought he had made reservations at a different hotel. The GPS led us to the right place. At least this hotel did actually exist - another long story. Once we dumped our stuff, we headed out to find lunch. Popeye's. Let's go to Popeye's. We don't have many around home and don't get to go there much. It's one of Wayne's favorites, and Mary was hungry for it, so that was the choice. We again enlisted the GPS to get us there. We found the address alright, but there was no Popeye's. Hmmm...maybe there used to be one here? While we're driving the street, looking for the nonexistent Popeye's, Mary starts making some comments...something about an awesome huge fish - ? I missed it, 'cause I was busy looking for the Popeye's. She was really drawn to this fish, and it was a BIG fish, so we decided to have lunch there instead. Well, Popeye's it wasn't. It was much higher class than that. The valet guy put our big conversion van in the lot with the Mercedes' and BMWs. Uhhh...where are we, anyway? The Atlanta Fish Market. They seated us in the back corner (Amy was sure it was because of her hoodie attire) under the jellyfish. The food was quite good and the service was wonderful. Mary wants to take the big fish home.

Barnes and Noble is a favorite of ours, so we stopped there to browse for awhile. Some of us had holiday gift cards needing to be spent, and browsing there is always enjoyable. Then it was time to head to Atlantic Station for the big show - Cirque du Soleil's Kooza. Once we figured out where to park our monster vehicle, we hoofed over to Target (yes, Target) for snacks - Icee, Frappucino, and chocolate milk. Then we were off to the Grand Chapiteau.

We have been to a number of Cirque du Soleil shows over the years, and this show was awesome, as always. Watching them on TV is good, seeing them is person is so much more. The control these people have over their bodies is mind-boggling. The music, the lights, the action... I actually think their earlier shows have been more creative than this one, but it was good nonetheless.

Our first order of business the next morning was IHOP. Amy was craving their stuffed French toast, and we had promised her a fix. Off we went, GPS in tow. We were once again led to the correct address, but turns out the wrong address was in the GPS. We needed Peachtree STREET and the GPS took us to Peachtree DRIVE. Right number, wrong road. Luckily, we weren't far off and found the IHOP without much hassle. Once we had again stuffed ourselves, it was off for our last stop....

Asheville again. We dropped Mary off at school and helped her schlep stuff to her new room. Her new single room. Being a junior does have it's privileges. It's an awesome space.

By about 6 p.m. Sunday evening we were back home, having retrieved Sienna from the kennel. Boston Market for dinner....then crash and burn. A good time was had by all. :-)