a southern thanksgiving

For the first time since my parents have moved down to Atlanta, David and I were able to make the trip down there and celebrate Thanksgiving with them. We have been in the summer, spring, early fall, and winter and we were expecting some nice, warm southern temperatures. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and the temperature peaked in the 40s the first two days and then ventured into the 50s for the remainder, which was still slightly warmer than Minnesota, which was stuck in the 20s (however now it is high 60s down there). The cool weather and crazy wind didn't slow us down too much, even though most of our plans were outdoors. If anything, it probably just kept the crowds away. I'm making excuses for why we look so bundled up, it really was chilly and windy those first few days! But enough chit chat, there's a lot of pictures to get through, so let's get started.


Day 1: Our first full day started at the shooting range (surprise, surprise). We followed that up with a trip into downtown ATL, where we visited Piedmont Park, the Olympic Park, and the (original) Varsity for a little lunch.

A little friendly competition

Piedmont Park

 

 The largest fast food restaurant we have ever seen. It was truly impressive the number of employees behind the counter and customers they were serving, and how quickly!

 Enjoying our chili slaw dog

Centennial Olympic Park- not terribly exciting, but I guess if you're already downtown it's worth a drive-by

Day 2: Thanksgiving day, as I previously told you, we got up early to participate in Marietta's Annual Gobble Jog 10k. The race started with temps in the low 20s (and warmed up quickly), and it was a little comical to hear the locals around us waiting for the race to start exclaim things like "I've never run in gloves before!" Nevertheless we were impressed with how many people turned up for the race despite the "arctic temperatures." Following the race was a full day of cooking, eating, football, and card games.

Here we go!

David at the halfway point

I'm in the maroon there crossing the finish- if you take into account the time it took me to cross the starting gate, I ran the 10K with about 9:40 miles, which I am pretty pleased with considering the hills on the course.

Ready for some turkey!

Let's have Thanksgiving dinner twice a year, ok?

Day 3: We met up with David's aunt and uncle who also live in the area for brunch at Cracker Barrel. We hadn't seen them since the wedding (and I had only met them once besides that), so it was nice to be able to sit down for a full meal and conversation with them. Afterwards my mom and I set out to do some thrifting, while David caught up on some football and my dad started his 5-hour rib-grilling process. Later, David and I hit up a local brewery, the Red Hare, for a tasting and tour. We ended the evening with some home-made ribs that just might have made me a rib-liker.

See that glass there? That is one of the six "tastes" we got with our tour!

Day 4: Our last full day in Georgia was jam packed. We headed northeast of Atlanta for a little day trip in the Dahlonega area. We hit up a few antique stores on our way out of town, before ending up at The Wolf Mountain Winery. Again, we participated in a tour and tasting. A wine tasting, especially when accompanied by a delicious cheese plate, is a little more up my alley than a beer tasting. After getting sufficiently full and drowsy, and learning quite a bit about the wine-making process, we decided it would be a good idea to hike up 600 steps to the top of Amicalola Falls. It was getting a little dark to really appreciate the view, but it really was a scenic "hike."

Not a bad view, eh? I can only imagine how gorgeous it was a month or two earlier.

 After the first 175 steps you get a little break to enjoy the waterfall

Part way up the trail

Only 425 more steps to go to the top

I made it!

And FYI, there was also a lot of this that went on in the backyard "shooting range" every day:

Overall we had a wonderful time, thanks Mom and Dad!