So about three weeks ago, Laura and I headed up to Norfolk, VA to visit our friend Chris. We decided to fly Delta, so we were stuck in Atlanta airport on a layover. We were there early in the morning, so we were looking for a place to have some breakfast. The last time we were there, we braved the frenzy that is McDonald's breakfast. This time we decided to go for something else. We were walking around and noticed that the Mandarin Express seemed quite busy:
You really can't tell what the little yellow sign says since Miss argyle is in the way, so I had to take another shot of it:
Is it just me, or is Mandarin Express the last place you expect to see a sign that says "Special: Country Breakfast - Ham, Bacon, or Sausage with Egg, Cheese, Toast, & Hashbrowns - $3.89". Sadly, I couldn't help but try the Chinese country breakfast. It was very tasty except for the very cafeteria-style eggs.
So first, let me dispense with the official (slightly posed pictures). First, there is Mama Kitty (mother of both George and Bella):
Then there is Adon with Chris and Adon with Chris's Mom:
Ok, so now that those are out of the way... the first night we were there (a friday) we went out on Chris's pontoon boat for a little bit. Not a whole lot happened on the boat, but when we got back to Chris's place, Christian made his "famous" (famous being in quotes since I think his friends are the only ones that have ever heard of them) margaritas. And of course we broke out the beer pong:
After playing beer pong for about 3 minutes, we decided to scrap that idea (Christian was the only one that even knew how to play). I really don't remember what we did that night and the pictures stopped with this one, so really have nothing to go on:
The next day we got out on the boat farily early in the afternoon. Sadly, I can't even tell you when we got started, but I can tell you it was one of the absolute best and most relaxing days of my life. Laura, Kim, Christian, Chris, and I went out on the pontoon boat ALL day. I think the general idea was to cruise around and explore the Chesapeake Bay / Elizabeth River area. And explore we did, but first we had a problem with the engine. Those of you that know Chris know that he is always tinkering with everything. Well, on this day, his fuel filter started leaking as we put the boat in the water, so we had to bring it back out and search for a parts store. So Laura and Kim sat on the boat while Chris took off the old filter to run into Pep Boys to get a new one and Christian kept his finger on the fuel line so it wouldn't be spilling into the parking lot while Chris was gone:
Once the fuel line was fixed, we proceeded to explore the area on the boat. After cruising along for a considerable distance, we realized that our cooler was running low on ice cold refreshment, so we started looking along the shore for anyplace that might sell snacks and beverages. We finally caught a glimpse of what we thought was a BP, so I was the designated person to get out and walk over to it while everyone else circled in the boat. I came back a hero:
So then the journey continued, until we hit the end of the river (ot at least the part we thought we could navigate):
And then we saw a boat to our side speeding out from under the bridge. We went over that way and found a channel through the random grass. There were several forks in the channel from that point, so we took to exploring each one. We saw some very redneck-ish looking places:
And some very nice looking places:
Also, we saw places for sale that we were curious about. Christian was the designated go-getter this time:
And we can't forget the coolest fort ever:
We continued up the river for what seemed like hours and hours:
And then we came to the actual end of the river... or at least we're sure it didn't continue this time.
On our return trip, Laura was standing near one of the boat doors and apparently fell into the door, which promptly opened and she almost went in except Christian managed to catch her before she completely fell in. The plastic lock that keeps the door closed on the boat now looks a little deformed:
On our way back, we saw something floating in the water that Chris and Christian insisted was a coconut. The ladies somehow knew it was a ball. So we picked this item up and what's the first thing you do when you pick up a moldy, slimy ball? You throw it at your friend, of course. Check out the marks on Chris's shoulder where Christian threw it at him:
I think Chris had a good day today:
So our journey continued towards home. On our way back to the boat ramp, we got to see the sun set:
The following day, our flight back home left late in the evening, so we decided it'd be a good idea to go out on the boat again. I got to intertube for a little bit:
Chris got to intertube for a bit as well, untill he wiped out:
Matt lost his sunglasses today... thanks to Chris. This is the last known picture of his shades:
So after the third day of fun on the water, we needed to head to the airport to catch our flight. On the way, we saw a want ad for the perfect job for Christian:
When we got to the airport, we found our our flight back to Atlanta was delayed 2-3 hours due to weather "in Atlanta". You would normally think this means that all flights would be affected and everything would be ok.... but that wasn't the case on that day. After killing 3 hours in the gloriously entertaining Norfolk airport, we arrived in Atlanta to find out that our Atlanta-Birmingham flight was perfectly on time. Weather "in Atlanta" my left foot. So since our missed connection was caused by weather, it was up to us to find some place to stay overnight until we could catch our connection to Birmingham. Fun stuff. I ended up making it to work the following day at around noon.
All in all, it was an excellent trip with a little bit of a bummer of an ending, all thanks to good old Delta.