Home Sweet Athens

Ok time for Part Deux of my Atlanta/Athens weekend post:

I can not even begin to tell you how amazing it feels to drive into Athens after a significant period of time away.  Wide eyed, I'm unable to quell the squeals as I recognize all the landmarks I've missed.  Don't get me wrong, Atlanta is great, but I was born and raised in Georgia's low country, so it's not my home.  Athens, on the other hand, was my home for four glorious years and it felt great to return.

I would venture to say the two boys in our carpool to the game were not as giddy as I was since they were a little too hungover to enjoy it.  On Friday night, after pregaming a bit, we headed to Johnny's Hideaway.  The fact that we went to this bar should give you an idea of how drunk we were.  Johnny's Hideaway is known as Atlanta's premiere cougar bar and I was ready to see some of these wild animals in their natural habitat.  It's an interesting scene that I'm pretty sure looks the same as it did when my Daddy used to go there back in the late 70s/early 80s.  I believe everyone should go there at least once, preferably after you've already had a few drinks so you'll have no qualms about joining the cougars on the dance floor with the great tunes.  It was hard to pull ourselves away, but we decided we needed a little rest so we headed home for 3 hours of sleep.  As mentioned, the boys were not feelin so hot on Saturday morning, but Patricia and I have well-trained livers so all we needed was the mandatory stop at Chick-Fil-A for a chicken biscuit and we were ready to hit the road.

It was a noon kickoff, so there wasn't too much time for tailgating but we got in a few early morning beers before walking to the stadium.  It was a must to get to Sanford Stadium early because this was not just any football Saturday; it was Uga VIII's first day on the job and we wanted to watch the passing of the collar ceremony.

New Uga!

I fell right back into all the Uga traditions: "Teenage Wasteland" playing in the stadium as the crowd files in, old footage shown on the jumbotron to the tune of a single trumpet player in the stands, and the alma matter - it was like I'd never been away.  Making it even sweeter was the fact that we beat Vandy in a blowout.  It's no secret that this hasn't been our best season, but I was happy to see we didn't lose to the Commodorks while I was around.

The Konter fam bleeds red and black

After the game we walked around downtown Athens, grabbed a drink at one of my favorite restaurants, East West, did a little shopping, and ran into tons of people.  I have come to the conclusion that I will be incapable of staying away from Athens for more than a year in the future.  That means, I'll be repeating this experience every football season.

I was heading back to Atlanta with my parents but Mark and Allison had to make the four hour drive back to Savannah so we grabbed an early dinner at Calientitos, a phenomenal BYOB Cuban restaurant.  I couldn't decide what to get so I ordered my usual cuban (this time with chorizo instead of chicken) AND a fish taco.  I typically prefer grilled over breaded fish in my tacos; but although this was fried, it was one of the best fish tacos I've had.  The plantains were also perfectly fried.  My parents and I drove back to Atlanta with the intention of going out for dessert or drinks, but by the time we got there, we were so full and tired, we just went to sleep instead.  Some may wag their fingers at me for not rallying, but I say being that tired is the sign of a great weekend.  I'll see you in a year, Athens.