Oct. 31, 2005
by Kristi Miller – All week our team had been told that we would be doing something mysteriously fun on Saturday after practice. The only information we were given was to wear Western clothing… everything else was kept top secret! After playing matches in the morning, we all came into the locker room to shower and change into our cowgirl outfits. Of course, Kacie being the fashion diva that she is, had her outfit planned from her purse all the way to her flannel shirt. I couldn’t quite compete… I was a little disappointed that my cowboy boots were still up in Michigan. However, I think the hats that Coach and Cheryl brought gave each of our outfits that little extra pizzazz we were looking for. My sisters were visiting me for the weekend and decided to come along on our Western adventure.
Before leaving the tennis center all the GT cowgirls posed for a few pictures (Click here to view them!) and then we saddled up for the ride to our first destination. After a few detours, we arrived at Sonny’s Barbecue on Cobb Parkway. We all started laughing as we walked in… we were quite the sight to see. Imagine 10+ people walking in wearing crazy Western outfits to eat lunch on a Saturday afternoon… . And, of course, we didn’t make a quiet entrance (that never happens when you’ve got Shosho on your team). Everyone in the restaurant stared at us as we walked to the back of the restaurant where our long tables were set up to accommodate us. All of us were feeling very hungry, so we ordered a lot of food (which is actually quite typical… we love food). When we got our food, everyone started eating quickly. We ended up with an extra meal that we passed around the table as our “community” meal for anyone who was still hungry after their lunch was gone. Shosho got experimental with the different kind of sauces for her pork. Her favorite was the “Smokin” sauce… and every time she put it on her food she kept repeating its name over and over. I think it’s safe to say that everyone enjoyed their food thoroughly, at least judging by all the empty plates and dirty napkins we left as we exited the restaurant. =)
After lunch, I thought we were just going back to the tennis center. I wasn’t really paying attention to where we were going, when suddenly I looked up and realized we were going north on I-75.. we definitely weren’t heading back to campus. We kept driving into some unfamiliar territory and turned off onto a different highway and then started driving into a little town. We started to see signs for a corn maze, and I was pretty excited because we had just been talking in the car about how fun it would be to go through one. We finally arrived at the corn maze, bought our tickets, and then split up into groups to go through the maze. There were different checkpoints and quizzes along the way. I went through with my sisters and we took a few random pictures along the tricky trails. After everyone had completed the two parts of the maze, we took a few more pictures (it can’t be avoided when you have a scrapbooker like me on the team). On the way back to campus, everyone was pretty exhausted and most of us dozed off for a nice little half hour nap.
Well, since fall is a time to be thankful for what you have, I thought I would just write that, in summary, it was just an awesome day and I was so glad to be a part of it. Not only was it a beautiful fall day… but also, I was able to spend time with my team and my sisters! The amazing thing about our team is that everyone gets along so well, naturally. I feel so lucky to have all of them and whenever we are all together it feels like one big family. I never laugh more than when I am with my teammates. I think that’s why we are successful on and off the court, we just enjoy each other and enjoy life! Okay, enough sentimental thoughts! Until the next Yellow Jacket diaries… go TECH TENNIS =)
