Trip Report: On Tour with Weird Al Yankovic (Day 2)

So long awaited… Time for the first concert of my trip to the Weird Al Tour 2018!

Tried to start early in Lawrenceville, GA. After my first day in Georgia has been not really met all my expectations and showed me the terrible Atlanta traffice – time to have a better one on day 2.

Day 2 has definitely not been a Friday, 13th, to me. Headed North from Lawrenceville towards Gainesville, GA, to the beautiful Lake Lanier area. The Lake Lanier Olympic Park hosted rowing and canoeing during the 1996 Olympics – and the faciltiies are still in use.

If you are interested in the Olympic sites, you might like this posting.

Blue Ridge Mountains

It has been a bit painful that I could not stop too much on the road – the city is beautiful as well as its surroundings. There are a couple of interesting sites in the city like the Atlanta Botanical Garden. I headed West and had a quick stop at the North Georgia Premium Outlets – nice location and architecture… and not at all crowded on a Friday morning.

From there, my trip took me North Again, along Highway 60 into the Blue Ridge Mountains. Such a beautiful drive – but unfortunately very rare stopping occasions at the Chattahoochee National Forest.

Tennessee… And barely North Carolina

I then did a stop at Copperhill, which is quite funny, as the border between Georgia and Tennessee is crossing the city – more or less right where the lady on one picture is crossing the road. Would have loved to ride the Blue Ridge Mountain Scenic Railway, due to the lovely nature around there.

I got a bit lost on the road and barely hit North Carolina, before I found my way back to the next Olympic site, the Ocoee Whitewater Center, where the canoe slalom has been held. The slalom facilites are taken away, but the infrastructure is still there, mainly for canoening and rafting. Also stopped by one of the dam facilities, which are used to control the waterflow. The infrastructure around there is massive – it is likely very crowded on the weekends.

Lovely Views of Lake Ocoee

Driving around Lake Ocoee, I found a sign “Scenic Lookouts”, which was pointing up a hill road – just had to do this one called “Oswald Rd” – and it has been absolutely worth it! Look at the beautiful views from there.

I am a bit sorry for the Kia Optima rental car that my Garmin then suggested to take the Benton Springs Road down the hill (it has been that bad…). Right down the hill, I got stuck in another traffic jam on US-75 due to some burning cars (thought of Weird Al’s “Why does this always happen to me”…), so I decided to go straight to the hotel and skip some Chattanooga sights. Hampton Inn outside the city (and much more reasonably priced than the central ones…) – the room even got some sort of view (even though part of it has been on the Hamilton Place shopping centre).

Just prepared the room and headed into Chattanooga city in the next traffic jam. The Walker Threatre is quite centrally located – so after I ran into a Weird Al Yankovic podcast recording, I could even visit some parts of downtown. It seems to be quite efficiently organised with free bus shuttles through the city and the riverfront was lovely. Unfortunately, I did not make it to sights like the Lookout Mountain Incline. Some of these, I visited one year after, though, going to the CMA Fest 2019.

And finally… The Show 🙂

After grabbing a quick bite, time to head to the show. The pre-show has been marvellous – will try to enrol to “Jeopardy” one of the next days. Emo Phillips opened the evening – and I loved his 30 minute performance (even though I did not get all the jokes). The show, just having parodies in altered versions and not using video screens, costumes and stuff like that, has been amazing, a very diffrent experience. Met some people again, so it was really fun!