Weekend in Georgia

I was finally able to make it to Atlanta and visit the CDC while still an employee. Dj and I got to spend a three day weekend seeing the sites. We got a city pass and were true tourists. I was surprised by how much I liked it there.

Olympic Centennial Park, still decorated for the holidays.

Woodfire Grill

For any Top Chef fans out there, this was our favorite season. We had to visit the Woodfire Grill, home to the best chef-Kevin. We treated ourselves to a tasting menu. Well worth it.


If you look closely, you can see all the goodies we got to eat, including antelope. It was amazing. Should have taken pictures of every dish (which half the resturant was doing--it was just that good).

Kevin was super friendly and took a minute out of his cooking to pose with us.

We were seated at a table with a direct view of Kevin's woodfire grill, so we were able to see him cook all night.

Atlanta High Art Museum and CNN

The City Pass included tickets for CNN, High Art Museum, Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola, the zoo, and a natural history museum. The CNN tour I was least looking foward to, buy ended up enjoying it a ton. It was really cool! First, we got to ride up this giant escalator that made me dizzy. Then we got to see everything, including the actual broadcast room.

We walked from the art museum to CNN and passed by the house Margaret Mitchell lived in while writing Gone with the Wind. Yeah, one of my favorites.

The art museum was having a special display on the drawings and sketches of Leonardo di Vinci. A lot of horses and battle scences.

Atlanta Aquarium and World of Coca-Cola

The aquarium is pretty awesome. They have a huge aquarium filled with a ton of fish and four whale sharks. They call this area the theater. Dj and I sat there for a long time just watching everything.
We were lucky enough to be there for feeding time for the whale sharks.

Everyone enjoying the view.

Sea otters = adorable. Can I have one?

Jellyfish.

And of course, the world of Coca-Cola, my favorite pop.

The famous tasting room. I was hoping I could get a Turkish Coke, my ultimate favorite, but no luck. They only had weird, fruitty stuff from around the world.

Atlanta Natural History Museum and Zoo

We happened to be in Atlanta during the coldest weather they have seen for ten years. This made our visit to the zoo a little short--it was way to cold for the animals. Eventually the sun came out, some some of the animals came out to say hi. The zoo was nice and gave us two free tickets to return. Anyone planning a trip to Atlanta in the next three months? Here are some of the animals that came out to say hey:

And finally the natural history museum. Kind of cool place. Had an entire floor dedicated to hands on science stuff.

OBX Christmas 2009

For Christmas this year, The Family decided to gather together at the Outer Banks, NC for some festive relaxation. Dj and I woke up at 3:30 am to try to make it by 1pm. The weather channel was warning of snow, but the most we heard was 4 inches. We packed the Big Green with the weeks food supply and headed on our way. And the snow fell. We slowly traveled, trying to stay behind snow plows, and the snow fell in complete white out at times. After 3 hours and only making it to Cumberland (not even an hour on a good day), we decided to pull over (ok--mostly I was scared out of my mind). We checked into a hotel, watched bad movies all day, and watched the snow fall. The next day travel went smoothly, for the most part, and we made it to our beach paradise. Here is a view out of our hotel window at 7am. It snowed another foot after this. Part of the adventure!

The 30 minute drive from Nag's Head to Corolla was the longest part of the trip. The house did not disappoint. Here is the first view as we pulled in.

Here is a picture of the great room. Amazing ocean views, a gas fireplace, decks all around.

The kitchen area.

This is a view of the house at night. A huge place! Notice every single light on. It was well lived in for the week.

Dj and I took a day trip to Corolla. We saw some sights, at some good southern BBQ, and enjoyed the sunshine. The weather was perfect all week, sunny and not too cold--just a little rain on the day everyone left. Corolla is home to the Currituck Beach Lighthouse. Unfortunately, it was closed for the season. It was built in 1875 and is still being used.

Across from the lighthouse was a nature trail. It was posted with signs, so we were able to learn about the sound's native habitat. Somewhere out there is the mainland.

Corolla is also home to the Whalehead Club, built in the 1930's for fowl hunting. For the very, very wealthy. Now it is a nice park, and the house is being restored to its former glory.

Admiring our private beach view from our private pier. I think I saw one other person on the beach the entire week. Nice to have it all to ourselves.

We bought a tree while there and decorated it the good old fashioned way: popcorn and cranberry garland and collected seashells. It was adorable.

A full view of the tree. Dj and I found a washed up buoy on the beach to top it off.

Shipwreck!

Dj and I enjoying a very memorable Christmas Eve lunch with the traditional steamed shrimp. Front row seats to the waves!

Decorating a gingerbread house with the kids.

Lots of guitar hero played during the week! Dj and Josh rocking out.

Also lots of puzzles put together. I think we finished two. This one did not get finished. The house had a perfect, sunny nook for reading and puzzles. I think it might have been empty a total of ten minutes the entire week.

We took daily, sometimes more, walks on the beach. Dj and I got lucky one night and found two star fish (one was alive) and a ton of hermit crabs. We attempted to take Maiya out the next day, but had not luck.

Because the Play Station wasn't enough, there was the Wii. Dj and old man getting a work out.

It was an incredible trip. We did a lot of R&R-- great company, great food, great surroundings. Lets do it again!