Saw Rock City and other things

I hadn't been to Rock City in ages and, honestly, it hasn't changed a bit. We had fun walking up the mountain which is hard to see that you are doing it with the path the way it is created. And we had fun in the kitschy fairyland section with all the gnomes. I did find a gap in Ariel's education where I had to explain to her what moonshine and revenuers were. Caroline had a lot of fun. We had to walk a bit more carefully since there had been rains through and the path was more wet than usual. All in all it was all that I remembered and I was glad to share it with Caroline. I took plenty of pictures.

We had lunch at Fuddrucker's which is the holy grail of chain stores for burgers to my mind. The drive to Atlanta was uneventful which when driving long distances is a good thing. We arrived at my parents about mid-afternoon.

That evening Peter took Ariel and me to see Hamlet 2 which he saw out in San Diego with some friends of ours. I thought it was one of the funniest films I have seen in the past couple of years. But then I come from a theater background so I have encountered most of the character types in real life. It is one of those movies that is like riding a roller coaster. You start up slowly as things build and then about the last 1/3 of the movie the coaster takes off and goes totally off the rails but you don't mind because you are laughing too hard. I don't think I will be getting "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" out of my head anytime soon. Ariel loved it too.

Thursday was all about those last finishing touches for the convention. I finished up our laundry with a lot of help from my Mom (Thanks Mom). I repacked the bags. I got my art show stuff ready to go. Peter went and bought Caroline new sandals since hers were falling apart.

Then we were off to DragonCon. By we I meant Peter, Ariel and myself. Caroline was giving the option to go to the convention or stay and visit with her grandparents. She told us that she wanted to have a sleepover with Grandma and Pop-pop. So when we left, she told us that she is going to miss us and gave us all hugs. Then ran off to play with some of my old toys. Later I talked to her on the phone. She told me that she missed me but she was having fun at her grandparents.

We got to the Marriott about 2:30 and checked in after a bit of a wait. By the time we went to get the car around 6pm to go to Fat Matt's, they were close to capacity in valet and hotel guest parking was pretty much full. Anyone arriving Friday is going to be rather disappointed.

We arrived Thursday to avoid the lines and get into the con slowing rather than diving in. We stood in shorter lines than what is going to be happening today. I got my art work into the art show. I have one small repair I have to make to one of the puppets but a little needle and thread and he will be OK.

The line for pre-registration was around the block for most of the afternoon and evening. I can't even think what it is going to be like today.

I got to spend some time with my brother Sean on his birthday yesterday evening. It was nice just to sit down with him and his lovely wife and just talk and catch up on life, the universe and everything. I don't think I have been in town for his birthday since I moved to New York. He was getting ready for his weekend here at the con as well.

Today we have some time to get ourselves ready for the marathon that is DragonCon before it official opens. I plan to take the time to breath a bit and relax.

I am grateful that I got to spend time with my brother on his birthday.