What a ramping day !!!

Man oh man.. this one was tough to keep under our hats. But for WEEKS we'd been planning to surprise Ryan with a trip to Columbus, GA to see the Jeff Dunham show. Dale's Uncle is Jeff's bus driver, and was able to get us tickets to the show. 8 rows back from the main stage!!! It was awesome!! The plan was we would drive down early in the afternoon, spend some time with his Uncle, and then see the show. Tom's schedule was pretty packed, and as the driver, he needed to sleep before the show because immediately after they would be on the road to the next show ( Tampa FL ). Ryan and Ashley had testing this week, so I had to have Ashley check with the school to make sure Ryan could make up the test the next day. THIS was an important event and could NOT be missed! Luckily they live in a small town, and with that comes perks - like being BFF's with the Asst Principal's daughter :) So Ashley got the green light for them to be out that day. Whoooo hooooo ! We then told Ryan that we were going to meet up with Mom and Dave in south Georgia for a visit. He was soooo excited that he was going to see them - kinda broke my heart to see him so excited knowing that isn't who we were actually gonna see - but we'll see them in a month or so, so I knew it would be okay.

So Ryan and Ashley came down the night before so we could get up early and go. It's about a 2 1/2 hr drive, so we figured we should leave around 9 so we could get there in time to meet and chat with Tom. Well all well thought out plans usually don't go the way I want.. so we actually headed out about 10:30 .. which was actually good because we didn't have to sit thru the morning rush hour traffic thru Atlanta.

Just as we arrived in Columbus, Tom called and said he wasn't going to be able to see us before the show, that he had to get some sleep. So we would see him after. So we went ahead and drove to the civic center so we could "stretch our legs". Actually this is where we sprung it on Ryan that we weren't really there to see the grands. I had Ashley take a video of it - which might have given us away - but Ryan was soooooo excited! He thought we were messing with him!!! It was fantastic !!!

So.. now we're in Columbus with 7 hrs to kill.

First we went to find food. OMG what a nightmare THAT was turning out to be. We had to cross over the Alabama line to go to Appplebees. The GPS on my phone kept telling us that Applebees was literally on the side of the interstate. An interstate, mind you, that was two major highways crossing over each other with round about on/off ramps. So as we kept trying to navigate to the restaurant, the GPS lady kept saying " Take the ramp".. over and over... I swear I thought she was going to start cursing me! FINALLY we found the place which was NO WHERE near what the GPS said. I blame it on it being Alabama !! LOL  Lunch was good.. pricey but good!

So... what do you do with three teenagers after they've been fed and have 6 hrs til a show.. well..as it turns out, we were near Ft Benning...and being near a military post, there was a Ranger Joe's! Chris locked it into his radar the minute we came off the exit. So we ventured into there. Chris was in HEAVEN !!! Dale was in flashback mode because this was where he went for basic training with the Army... every time he saw something he remembered he would shiver! :)

There was LOTS of kewl stuff in there... here are some photos I snapped of the store and inside the store

While we were in the store, two of the men in there told us about a military museum up the street. So away we went! It was really kewl because to get to the museum you had to go thru the old post entrance. The new post entrance is up past the museum so we didn't have to go thru any check points. 

As a kid, our Dad used to take us to museums a lot and it was always such a cool experience. I guess that's where *I* get it from - going out and seeing things like this. I just know I'm grateful for all the really cool places he took us to when we were kids. 

The museum was AMAZING !!  It told about the history of Ft Benning and the importance it had to the town around it and it's history in the wars. There were so many different displays. It really is an impressive museum. 

Here are the photos I took: