We got third place at PLANET!!!! I had a great time in Atlanta, Georgia. The redbuds, azaleas and dogwoods were all in bloom. I really wish that redbuds grew here because they were so beautiful and such vibrant shades of pink and purple.
This is a redbud... so pretty!
We flew out April 7th in the afternoon from Idaho Falls, spent an hour or so in Denver with a law over and landed in Atlanta at about 11pm. A company called Heads Up had dinner waiting for us at the Hotel, which was amazing of them to do for us and was very much appreciated, we were all hungry.
Our Hotel-Homewood Suites, it was really nice!
Jackie and Andrea, my roomies and team mates, we were the only girls on our team!
We had to be up bright and early the next morning to get registered, attend opening cerimonies and to get going on our events. There were over 70 teams that attended this year, including one from Canada and one from England. This was the first time it's been international!My team mates all had seminars to go to that were about their events but I didn't have any so I went with my advisors Bro. John and Bro. Nelson on a group tour of two lovley gardens in the area. The first was called Smith and Gilberts and has only been open to the public for two years . The gardens and buildings have been growing and evolving since the civil war, which is why the original main house is no longer standing as it was burned during the war.
Smith and Gilberts gardens were very natural and woodland in style.
This is a helleborous or Lenten Rose, I love them, they just barley grow here but in Georgia they flourish, I was slightly jealous.
They had over 200 bonsai's, most of which were only recently donated to the gardens.
After lunch at Smith and Gilberts we drove to a private residence owned by the Williams that is maintained by Park Landscaping. It was AMAZING!!! The gardens were amazing and I was constantly having to run to keep up with the group because I would get distracted and be taking pictures of everything! I took 500 pictures ( I know this because that's all my camera would hold, I may have taken more though becasue I did delete some to make room). It was here that my love of Japanese maples grew as they had over 100 varieties, including one of the largest specimensin the USA of one type.I will try to limit the pictures from the Williams garden even though I have tons from there, here are some favorite highlights.
This is that Maple I mentioned earlier, the biggest of it's variety in the USA!
All day it had been kind of over cast and rainey but as we finished at the Williams and got back to the main hotel where most of the competitions were held it really began to rain and we all got drenched!
Later that evening they held the scholarship banquet and 10 of my teammates and I were able to attend and formally receive the scholarships we'd been awarded. I received $1000, which basically covered my cost to attend PLANET. They also held a party that night at which there were games, food, raffles and fun to be had by all. We almost won the tug of war contest, but instead of a trophy all we got to take home was blisters, cuts and sore muscles. Oh well, we put a good fight! After a late night of studying and another early morning the competitions officially began. They held a career fair at which many companies in the industry had booths and students were able to speak with potential employers and hand out resumes and create networking connections. Late afternoon I did my first event- Business Management with my team mate Micah. I did okay, there were over 90 people in the event and I came in 37th, Micah did even better though I don't recall his score. I was so tired by the time I went to bed that night after traveling and minimal sleep the two nights before, I crashed as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Saturday everyone went to the North Metro Tech and Chatahochee collage for our final day of competitions and events. I spent the morning rooting on my teammates and taking pictures as my events weren't till after lunch. In the afternoon I had Interior plant ID in which I placed 26th out of about 90 people and immediatly after that I had Interiorscape design in which I placed 5th in the nation!!! At the end of the day a company called CoCal from the Bay Area in California bought pizza and cookies for my team and BYU Utah. They like recruting from BYU's becasue they like the quality of employee that they produce. Here are some pictures from the competions!
Andrea and Micahs bench won 1st Place!
Go Team!!!
If you are ever in Atlanta Georgia and want a good meal with great southern hospitality definalty try Mary Macs!
We took an extra day in Georgia on monday to check out Georgia. We went the the Coca-Cola factory that morning and had a great time.
While at Coca-Cola we were able to try over 20 types of Coke products from all over the world, most weren't to bad but there was an Italian one that was HORRIBLE! It was called Beverly and the faces say it all! Yuck!
After the World of Coca- Cola we drove to the Callaway Gardens. We rented bikes to get around. It was so nice ot get out and move, not to mention it was a beautiful day for a bike ride!
My dream home solarium, one day I will have one. can you just imagine this off your master bedroom... ah paradise!
Everyone was all tucked out after our week of competitions and explorations.
We had a great time but I think everyone was glad when it was time to head home! Can't wait till next year when we will be at Joliet Collage in Chicago Illinois!
