Honeymoon with a Tomahawk

This project was truly an adventure from the start.  Our honeymoon began and ended in Gatlinburg, Tennessee with a short trip to Atlanta, Georgia for the sole purpose of seeing a Braves game at Turner Field.  For Daniel this was important because even though he is a Reds fan, he grew up watching the Atlanta Braves on TV long before the Reds games were so televised.  Daniel hates it when the Reds and Braves play each other because he does not want either of them to lose.  The game we would go to was at Turner Field on Friday August 13, 2010.  So our adventure to Atlanta started with a trek over the Great Smokey Mountains then way down yonder on the Chattahoochee.

Once we were in Atlanta, we had to stop by the Coca-Cola Museum before heading to the game.  Here is our first helpful hint!  DO YOUR RESEARCH!  We got to Atlanta quite a bit early and had to kill time between the museum and ball game.  At this point, we decided we would go eat before the game.  Not knowing the city at all, we ended up at the most sketchy Wendy's we have ever seen or could have imagined.  Put it this way: they could tell we were from out of town so the police officer came and sat next to us (true story).  

Finally we arrived at Turner Field.  We parked in a grass lot right next to the stadium for $10.  We then went and explored Monument Grove where all the statues of Braves greats stand. After Daniel got his picture taken with the statue of his 5th grade research paper topic, Hank Aaron, we followed the marching drum line into the ballpark.  Once inside, the pregame entertainment was a softball home run derby.  We didn't know softballs could be hit so far!  After the derby finished came the most important part of the day, Game Time.  We sat at the first base line where we got a great view of the field and the huge jumbo-tron.  On top of the left field stands was a giant Coca-Cola bottle that had a spinning label and next to that was a Chick-fil-a cow in a Braves hat trying to get us to eat more chicken.  The atmosphere was great.  The fans went wild the whole game.  They were all dressed up with Chief feathers.  The big tomahawk on top of the jumbo-tron led the Braves war chant; our arms turned into tomahawks after each big play.   

The game was against the Los Angeles Dodgers.  It was a pitcher duel with a 1-0 Braves victory off of a Brooks Conrad home run to deep center.  It even rained a little but none of the fans left.  They all stayed through the end.  Tim Hudson got the win and Billy Wagner got the save.  After the game there was a fireworks show above center field.  Once the show concluded it was time to head back to Gatlinburg.  The traffic around the stadium and Atlanta was heavy for a long time, so in the future we might try to wait out the traffic by staying at the ballpark for as long as possible.  Daniel drove all the way until it was time to cross the mountain then Stephanie drove from there.  Crossing the mountain we almost hit two bobcats at different times during the drive, but we made it back to our hotel safely and with a ballpark checked off our list.

Our next post will be more about Turner Field itself and the things we learned that we think will help you on your trip to the ballpark.  Please leave your comments.