Shannon surprised me with a three day weekend trip for my birthday. It all started at work Friday morning, receiving well-wishes from co-workers and listeners alike (thank you, by the way!). One listener, whom I'll call SB, even baked my favorite cake and brought it by the station Friday afternoon. It was delicious, of course, and was gobbled up by the staff here in just a short time.

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    At Rox Star Friday night, my co-workers there surprised me with ANOTHER cake (on stage, in front of everyone!). It, too, was quite good! Immediately after Rox Star, it was time for Shannon and I to leave for our 3-day birthday weekend get-away. She planned the whole weekend, but had not told me where we were headed, nor why we were headed to where we were headed. We drove to New Orleans, checked in at the hotel in Kenner. After 2 hours of sleep, we headed to the airport to catch our flight. This is when I got word of where we were headed: ATLANTA! Our flight was uneventful, except for the beautiful sunrise:

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    Once we landed in Atlanta, we immediately got into the rental car and drove south. Destination: Callaway Gardens near Pine Mountain, Georgia.

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    Shannon had done a search to find where some 'cool' concerts would be for my birthday weekend, and she stumbled upon some bands that I liked, all playing at the same festival. It was the Inaugural Harvest Moon Festival at Callaway Gardens, featuring:

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    We had to 'hurry' to make it there before noon so we wouldn't miss Martha's Trouble. It was great to see Rob and Jen again (though Jen was feeling a little under-the-weather). The shows we didn't want to miss were Martha's Trouble, Ed Roland, Mat Kearney, Big Head Todd and the Monsters (we had to split the time between BHT and David Ryan Harris), John Hiatt and Shawn Mullins. Luckily, the tent and the main stage were only a 2 minute walk from each other, so it was no problem getting back and forth between shows. This was the view for the John Hiatt Show (we were actually about halfway closer to the stage, I took the picture coming back from a "beverage" run!):

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    Mat Kearney jumped off of the stage and ran all around the festival, singing to/with people, having a great time. I liked him before I saw him live, and now I like him even more! A great entertainer - he put on a great show.

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    After John Hiatt, it was time to enjoy one of the greatest songwriters/performers (in my opinion, of course), Shawn Mullins!

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    Oh, and the festival also had food and arts and crafts and stuff (just a side-note in my mind!!). On Sunday, we drove through FDR State Park, and actually came across the grill that FDR built:

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    We were headed to the next surprise: Shannon had found an Aviation Museum to visit!

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    The Script performed at The Tabernacle, an old church in Downtown Atlanta that was converted into a super-cool concert hall. After the concert, we ducked into the Hard Rock Cafe for beverages and to finish watching the Atlanta/Green Bay game (it wasn't looking good for the home team!) By the time we got back to our hotel, this was the view from the window of Downtown Atlanta:

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    On Sunday, we had a few hours to kill, so we headed up the street to The World Of Coca-Cola for an inside look at the mega-company:

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