Georgia part II - arrival

My first view of Georgia is this: fairly flat, slightly hazy and actually quite green. Trees everywhere.

Off the plane we walk a small distance before we are confronted by a scene I don't recognize (keeping in mind this small city gal just arrived in one of the largest airports in the country). Next thing I know I find myself taking an underground train towards baggage claim. I wonder if I'll feel panicky hurtling down a big dark hole, but it is okay.

After waiting a while for our luggage and letting Miriam run around laughing and clapping her hands ("Finally! I'm free! Weeee!") my husband and I trek our way to the hotel shuttles (another 1st for me, unless you count my cruise shuttle). We wait maybe 20 minutes (one review of this hotel said 1 hour, but it was inexpensive, so I feel lucky). I know I am really truly in the south when I see an exit for Birmingham/Chattangooga.

At our hotel we order Chinese, the leftovers of which we wistfully leave on the table as the was no fridge (how did I not notice that on the website?) and look up the Auto Shippers phone number. I also took a moment to determine - yes, Arby's is all over down here. Miriam goes to bed and we settle down watching Crusoe.

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We wake up around 8:30am (Georgia time) because Bill needs to take a cab to pick up our car. The auto shipper is 5.3 miles away and we pay $20 to get him there. Yikes - and you think gas is pricey. He comes back with our lovely Toyota which we promptly load up and head off to find our new apartment - we hope.

11:30am - Miriam toddles around the apartment happily, laughing, squealing and clapping her hands. We pay the deposit and rent for October and get our keys. It's got 3 bedrooms, we're by a man made lake - that you can fish at, has a pool, fitness center, alarm, free cable (not that we currently OWN a TV) and is gated. We're getting a $135/month discount. So dad and I feel like running around laughing and clapping too. Suddenly I like this place.

2:30 - Since our check-in is complete it is time to go get a few 'essentials.' from the store. We don't have hardly ANYTHING with us, besides diapers, formula and clothes. So a few hundred dollars, 5 hours, and some very sore feet later (I'm wearing flip-flops) we drive our loaded car back to our apartment. I'm pretty sure I can get from my apartment to the hub of civilization (read: Target, Costco, etc.) and in 5-10 minutes to boot. Map quest is about to become my best friend and it is hard to believe that in two years time I'll know these roads without hardly thinking, but it's true.