Atlanta with Most of My Peeps!

 Once upon a time, about 6 years ago, we planned a trip to Alaska, so I could finally get to my 50th state.   I'd been at 49 states for more than 20-years and we decided it was finally time to remedy that.  

Then, sometime after that trip was all planned,  Glen realized that he only needed to visit 4 more states and then Alaska could be his 50th state as well!  Thus was born our Spring Break 2017 trip to the Deep South, so he could visit Georgia, Alabama,  Mississippi, and Louisiana. 

We had a great trip exploring the South and thought we likely wouldn't visit again for a very long time, but, lo and behold, our daughter, son-in-law, and grandbaby  now live in Alabama and we visit as often as possible!  Who would have guessed six-years-ago we'd end up such frequent visitors to the Deep South?! 

So...back to the present day and another trip to the Deep South...though this time not in Birmingham.  

We wanted to have one last hurrah with Ellie before she went off to college, so we thought a little Labor Day family gathering would be fun!   We had hoped it would include everyone, but Adam on his mission, but, alas, Spencer's dog is hard to find care for, so he stayed at home on Kiwi (and Denali) duty!   Garrett's time off as a second year medical resident is limited, so we knew it would need to be somewhere near the Alabamans to make it doable for them.   When weighing all the options, we landed on Atlanta as the location.   It's only a 2 hour drive for Cami and Garrett, Cami had never been to Georgia before (since she was on her mission during our 2017 travels), we really enjoyed our time there in 2017, and flights are cheaper there too.   In other words, it was a perfect fit! 

☺So...be forewarned.  There are approximately 2,093,299 photos in this post and most of them contain the sweetest little 21-month-old in the universe.  ☺

 Emma, Ellie, and I flew into Atlanta on a Wednesday night, picked up our rental car, then immediately drove to Birmingham to spend the night.   We girls had a super chill day on Thursday playing with Lucie, going on a walk in the cutest neighborhood in B-ham (see collage below), getting a little shopping done, and just enjoying some girls' time.

Later that afternoon we all (meaning all the girls) shlepped to Atlanta together and got checked into the AirBnb!  We chilled there for the evening, then eagerly went to sleep, meanwhile Glen's journey was just beginning with a red-eye from Las Vegas.   I picked him up from the airport nice and early the next morning, then brought him back to sleep for a bit, before we headed  to a big farmer's market  for some Georgia peaches, etc.  It was like a Costco of Farmer's Markets and we had fun wandering around seeing what there was. We had to laugh when we found the peaches and discovered that they were all imported from Idaho.  Haha!  We bought them anyway, figuring Idaho peaches in a peach crumble would still be pretty delicious! 

Later that day, we went to the Atlanta History Museum.  It was a place we'd visited during our 2017 escapades and I knew Lucie would love the animals and all the girls would enjoy seeing the Swan House, which was the filming sight of President Snow's home in the Hunger Games movies. 

 

We went to dinner together, then Garrett joined us later that night.   The next day we headed to the world famous Georgia Aquarium.   I've never been to an aquarium that rivals the National Aquarium in Baltimore, but I'd have to say that Georgia's does.  It's the largest aquarium in the world and is one of only three aquariums in the world that have whale sharks.   The whale sharks were quite a sight to see and we very much enjoyed our time there, though Lucie did start to lose steam  and we ended up skipping out on the sea lion show.   

After a good lunch at a Mediterranean place, we wandered around Olympic Centennial Park...{this collage is kind of random}

Eventually we made our way to the Coca-Cola Museum (right next to the Georgia Aquarium).  The lines were long and it was jam-packed inside, but it was an interesting and well-done tour.  The last stop on the tour is a tasting room, where you are handed a cup and allowed to sample as much of the products as you wanted via help-yourself-soda-fountains.  Apparently Coca-Cola offers over 4000 products and the tasting room was filled with dozens of those from around the world.   We tried Ugandan soda, Thai apple soda, and some others.     I am not a soda drinker, so I got overwhelmed very quickly in there and ended up on Lucie duty.   Lucie thought it was the coolest place ever and was eager to sample the wares herself or to try to get me to drink more.   It's not a place I feel the need to ever go back to, but it's totally worth a visit if you ever find yourself in Atlanta! 

The next day we headed to Stone Mountain for a hike.   It's a very unique mountain, which is exactly what it sounds like...a mountain made of sheer expanses of stone.   The trek up is a total party with pretty big crowds of people of all ages from the very old to the very young.  The summit has a spectacular view of the surrounding area, including the Atlanta skyline in the distance.

Here are some more random pics...including a beautiful covered bridge we found, my Atlanta postcard export, another one from Stone Mountain, and an adorable one of Ellie and Lucie at church!

Here are a few more random ones, including Glen at the temple (after the rest of us left), Emma and Lucie playing the "Night Night" game where they'd pretend to sleep until Lucie deemed it time to wake up, and us just loving on Lucie as much as possible.  

Not pictured:  The delicious peach crisp the girls made with our Idaho peaches and the super contentious game of CodeNames where it was lamented that no one knew what the LaBrea Tar Pits were and it went over everyone's head that platypuses have eyes! 

Before parting ways, we broke out the Christmas pajamas a little early.  I had bought these in Thailand for everyone and wanted to get a picture with as many of us as possible and since this isn't our Christmas with Cam and family, we figured this was as good as it was going to get!      Lucie was hamming it up big-time, while I, on the other hand, was feeling greasy and gross at the time, so this photo is NOT something you'll see in the Christmas card!! 

Speaking of my favorite grandbaby (for now), I'll finish up with a little Lucie update:   She's 21-months old now and is quite the little charmer!  She recognizes when she does something funny and she'll repeat whatever it was that made us laugh to try and elicit more.  She has quite the vocabulary now and she can repeat almost anything we say...except for Spencer's name...which, for whatever reason, she refuses {with a laugh} to even try.   She's getting a little independent streak {just like her Mom} and she is starting to want to do everything herself...including, buckling herself into her carseat, brushing her hair, feeding herself with a fork, putting on her shoes, and choosing her own clothes.  I love that she watches Cosmo the Cougar videos while her Mommy puts her "piggies" into her hair each morning.   I sure love this girl! 

In case it's not obvious, I really, really, really enjoy being a grandma {and a Mom} and am very grateful for the time we were able to spend together in Atlanta.    Now we just need to figure out a way to do it more often.  💖

Spring Break 2017: Georgia

We've taken a lot of road trips over the years  and in the process have been to most of the continental United States together.  Even Ellie and Adam had been to 40 states, Emma was at 42, Spence and Glen had been to 46.   Me?   I've been at 49 states for over twenty years.     

This year we decided it was time to start knocking off those last few states off our list.   Our summer vacation will get me to #50 (Alaska), a fact which made me very excited.  However, I got even more excited when I thought that at least Glen and Spence could also join me in hitting #50 together, which is how our Spring Break to the Deep South was born!   

We found super cheap tickets to Atlanta, so decided to start our trip there.   

We loved this hallway in the Atlanta airport.    

...and I was extra excited when we picked up our rental car and ended up with a car with Minnesota plates!  Yay for my homeland!  

ATLANTA HISTORY CENTER 

Georgia is state #41 for Ellie and Adam and #43 for Emma!  

We loved learning a little about Atlanta's role in many different historical times.   WE especially loved learning about Atlanta in  the Civil War, because it was definitely a different perspective than most of the other Civil War sites we'd been to (mostly north of the Mason-Dixon line).    

The grounds of the Atlanta History Center had beautiful gardens and live animals.  

 Ellie rather liked the bighorn sheep (or whatever they were). 

SWAN HOUSE

The Swan House is also on the grounds of the Atlanta History Center.  The Swan House is the home of an influential Atlanta historical figure from the early 1900's named Edward Inman.    We have a Sister Inman serving as a missionary in our ward, so we all thought that that alone was cool, but it definitely is much cooler than even that.  

Ellie got soooooo excited when we learned that the Swan House is the home of President Snow in the Hunger Game movies.    She had just been reading the series (because she wasn't allowed to read them until she was 12) and this little factoid made the whole day extra cool.   

This room is where one of the scenes with President Snow was filmed.   

This little playhouse outside of the Swan House absolutely delighted my girls and though they're mostly past the age of playhouse playing, I think they liked imagining the fun they would have had in one when they were younger.  

ATLANTA TEMPLE 

The Atlanta Temple and visitors' center was closed for spring cleaning when we dropped by, but I loved that the grounds were still well-kept and there were still plenty of gorgeous flowers! 

ATLANTA BOTANICAL GARDENS

The Atlanta Botanical Gardens ended up being one of the favorite places we visited...

This botanic sculpture of the earth goddess reminded us of Te Fiti from the movie, "Moana".  It was a beautiful site to behold and made me want to return sometime to see it in bloom.  

Some of the exhibits were closed down and it clearly wasn't in full bloom while we were there...

but we loved our time there nonetheless. 

It was also a bit chilly...

but we still managed to spend a few hours wandering around (and pondering about life).  

PONCE CITY MARKETS AND THE BELTLINE

We stayed parked at the Botanical Gardens and walked to the Ponce City Markets for some dinner. 

After we enjoyed our overpriced, but tasty dinner, we walked back to the Botanical Gardens along The Beltline Trail.  

We had a great view of the Atlanta skyline as we walked along the trail through Piedmont Park.

CHICK-FIL-A  HOME OFFICE TOUR

When I searched for things to do near our hotel, one of the top things that popped up was visiting the Chick-fil-A home office for a tour.    Chick-fil-A happens to be one of our favorite fast food restaurants, so we figured it would be interesting.    

And it was.  

We loved learning about the values that the founder, Truett Cathy, based his company on.   When a Corporate Purpose is listed as "To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us.   To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A," you know it's a unique company.  

Besides being a man of faith committed to glorifying God, keeping his stores closed on Sunday, he was also a man with a sense of fun and humor.   We loved his little mini-dwarf doors that serve as the entrance to all his conference rooms.   

We also loved his inspirational quotes and use of cow decor. :)   

It really was an inspirational, as well as an interesting tour.   

And made me feel just fine about supporting Chick-fil-A. 

DOWNTOWN ATLANTA 

Our last full day in Atlanta, we decided to go explore the downtown for a while. 

We enjoyed walking around Olympic Centennial Park (home of the 1996 summer Olympics)...

We took a ride in Skyview (a 20-story Ferris wheel right in the heart of downtown Atlanta). 

We got a cool view of the city from up there! 

After walking around and seeing the Coca-Cola headquarters and Georgia Aquarium (we didn't go inside either), we took a streetcar around on the full loop to see what else we could see. 

There are 12 stops and we got out at two of them.  Our favorite discovery was Sweet Auburn Market where we found a couple of gastronomical delights to try.   

THE ORIGINAL CHICK-FIL-A

After our Chick-fil-A home tour, we decided to eat a meal at the original Chick-fil-A (which was then called the Dwarf House). 

You could order regular Chick-fil-A fare there, but they also served some of the original dishes, which was a lot of good old fashioned Southern food...

....including fried okra and corn muffins! 

They also had the same mini-dwarf door that they had at the entrance to all the home office conference rooms. 

We decided that we like the regular Chick-fil-A food better, but it was fun for the experience! 

STONE MOUNTAIN

Our last stop in Atlanta was Stone Mountain.  This was at the top of Glen's list of places to visit, so we saved it until he arrived.   We got there in the evening time and enjoyed our trek up the mountain. We laughed when we passed this pole full of chewed up gum.  It was a pretty gross concept, but looked kind of cool anyway.  

It was a pretty easy hike and we got to the top right about sunset! 

We took a bunch of pictures...

Our favorite was this one a random stranger offered to take for us.   

After enjoying the glowing view for a while, we headed down the mountain and watched the laser show.  

We were tired and a bit cold by then, but it was still pretty cool.  

And thus ended our time in Atlanta. Early the next morning, we loaded up our Minnesota van and headed on to Florida.   Stay tuned for more spring break adventures....

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