Catching up on 2009 - fall adventures

After several years of drought, Atlanta caught up this fall, resulting in record floods at the end of September. There was no major storm - it just kept on raining steadily. The Chattahoochee is mostly dam-controlled where we are (although the dam in question is a long way upstream), and though we are within 20 yards of the river, it generally stays nicely within its banks and our place has never flooded. On that Monday, when I left for work, the river was at  the top of its banks, and when I came home that night, I was greeted by the sight of all the neighbors out on their decks watching and the river almost at the edge of the decks. Our decks and condos are just to the left of this picture, and the light post is about where our place is.

This is Jeanie on her deck, which adjoins ours.

Ed's response to all the craziness was to put on swimming trunks and water shoes, grab and beer, and go explore! :)













Even after the water started to retreat, it was a soggy mess, with silt, water plants, standing water, and tree trunks lodged in odd places, and parts of the bank washed away. (taken from our deck)

In mid-October, we took a long weekend to hike in the Smoky Mountains, out of a cute little town in North Carolina called Maggie Valley. Ed and I did a 13.5 mile loop in under 7 hrs - it was overcast and drizzly lost of the way, so it was muddy, but overall made hiking conditions easier.




There are a few remaining massive trees. While it lived up to the "Smoky" part of its name, with lots of clouds, occasionally we got a break in the clouds and a great view. After the hike, we took a drive a saw elk and a black bear, and on the way home, a bald eagle.

The weekend before Halloween, we had the Harts and Ellisons, and their kids, over to carve pumpkins.

What artistic gourds!

Georgia Tech and Vandy played at Vanderbilt on Halloween, so we road-tripped to Nashville for the game, and stayed with two friends from medical school, Raj and Sonal, and their two gorgeous little girls. I still don't have any Georgia Tech gear, but I did cheer for them. :)

For Thanksgiving, we went to Florida to be with Ed's family. Here's a very content Ed: munching a sub, on the beach in a t-short at the end of November. :)

We went to Cocoa Beach after Thanksgiving for the Space Coast Marathon, and visited Cape Canaveral, which is rather amazing in person! Since we didn't see everything we wanted to on Saturday afternoon, we came back after the marathon and I hobbled around. :)

Speaking of which ... marathon pictures! The weather was in the high 50s and low 60s, the course flat and beautiful, and while I hadn't trained as well as I had hoped, at least I wasn't injured. My first marathon was 4:56 (goal was to be under 5 hrs), and this one was 4:28 - (goal to be under 4:40) - 28 minutes less than the first!

I even had a little bit of energy for a finishing kick!

Very satisfying!