I am running out of days in the deep south. July 3rd is our last day in Atlanta, but between now and then there is a trip to Nashville to see my niece’s ballet recital and a trip to Myrtle Beach and a solo (work) trip to Toronto for me (where I will be working but I will also get to see my brand spanking new house. Yes. The one my husband purchased and I have yet to see) so, you can see how it is that I am starting to panic, yes? The (mostly) single parent in me was often too tired to plow through the MUST-SEE-IN-ATLANTA list. So, I’ve decided to start packing it all in.

See? I’m not kidding.

But to be fair to the Atlanta Cyclorama, it wasn’t an actual reenactment, like, say, the one Earl Smooter participated in.

(If you don’t get the reference, you are dead to me. Unless you are this lovely lady. Or if you have a penis.)

This was less this

and more of the world’s largest oil painting hung in the round plus a life-sized, three-dimensional diorama adding 30 feet of depth around the painting, retelling the story of the battle of Atlanta, a battle fought on July 22, 1864, which marked a huge turning point in the civil war. It’s pretty friggin’ cool, even the kids loved it.

(I will stop geeking out on you, because, well, you know how I feel about history and what talking about it does to me and well, is it hot in here??)

I could have spent all day looking at the artifacts. The uniforms. The hats. The guns. The ammo. But, perhaps the coolest things were the things you don’t think about. A set of dominoes. A deck of cards. Letters written to family members. The things these soldiers were doing in their down time, when they were in hurry-up-and-wait mode to find out where they were heading next to face their enemies head-on.

The kids didn’t think these things were as cool as I did.

No.

They were more interested in the gift shop, especially the President section. heh.

See what I did there? I gave my little Lincolns-in-training the vintage effect. I am so fancy.

Speaking of fancy camerawork…I made a big purchase this weekend.

It’s not the 40D I was looking at and almost bought. But, I KNOW I’m going to be happy with this purchase. The reason this pretty baby is such a big buy is two-fold: a) I spent what I had saved. I didn’t try to convince my self that I should stretch to buy the 40D. I don’t need it. YET. I even had money leftover in the Ali-saves-for-a-camera-fund to buy a 50mm lens too! and b) I AM NOW A CANON GIRL. I have always owned Nikons, mostly because that’s what my parents own. I had a d40, and I have been using a d80 for the past year. BUT, too many people whose photos and opinions that I value shoot with Canons, so, I made the leap.

I know it will do nothing but take beautiful shots as we continue our quest to plow through our Atlanta bucket list in the next few weeks…up next: The kids first trip to Krispy Kreme! A Braves game! The Margaret Mitchell museum! Oakland cemetery!