Atlanta: Kennesaw Mountain

David had to take two prerequisite classes this summer before starting his MBA program so while he tackled those, Zara and I went exploring. I decided to make a trek out to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park right there in Marietta since I'd heard a lot about it from David. No, not about the battle, just the cannons. See, for David's Eagle Scout project in high school, he painted two cannons at Kennesaw Mountain. Well, I wanted to see these cannons for myself. (And also, did anyone know about the battle of Kennesaw Mountain? I sure didn't.)

On our drive out to Kennesaw Mountain, we passed by Kolb's Farm, which had a hand in the battle.

I also passed some of the most beautiful houses I've seen in Atlanta. This was not one of them. Though I'm sure it was quite nice in its day.

The farmhouse is now used as a headquarters for park officials or some such thing. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't get any closer.

Zara didn't care. She just wanted to run around and stretch her little baby legs.

After a stop at the Visitor Center, where I watched a video about the battle (but I don't remember a thing about it so don't ask me) and bought a Christmas ornament with cannons on it to commemorate David's superior painting skills, I drove up to the top of mountain which had a spectacular view of Atlanta.

It was while I was up there, looking at one of their placards, that I realized that it was the anniversary of the battle that very day. It seemed like they should have been having a party or something but no one seemed to be making a big deal about it at the Visitor's Center.

I visited a few cannons (though not THE cannons of painted perfection, David informs me) and then drove back down the mountain and headed home. The trip home took me forever because our borrowed GPS took much delight in taking me in the longest, most round-about way ever. Those things are really annoying, but also, sometimes really helpful. But mostly annoying.

So if you're ever in Atlanta, you can probably skip Kennesaw Mountain, unless you're totally into military battles and the Civil War and awesomely painted cannons, in which case, you should totally go. Otherwise, it's just a big mountain with stuff on it. Oh, and a really good view.

I think I've got the makings to be a really stellar guide book writer, don't you think?

Atlanta: MLK Historic Site and Oakland Cemetery

After the first exciting leg of our roadtrip, we spent two weeks in Atlanta this summer. The majority of our time was spent hanging out with David's family and helping his parents move into a new house in Powder Springs (a suburb of Atlanta). The moving took quite a bit of our time so we didn't get to visit a lot of Atlanta's attractions, but we did make it out to a few different ones.

Our first stop was the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in the Sweet Auburn district of Atlanta. We visited the site the first time I visited Atlanta (for David's sister's wedding in 2007) but we hadn't gotten to explore much of Sweet Auburn or the accompanying sites so I wanted to re-visit it.


After a stop at the NPS museum, we headed across the street to the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change which continues the work that MLK started. The center houses a large reflecting pool; in the center is the tomb for MLK and his wife, Coretta.


They also have an eternal flame lighted.

Right next to the King Center is the Ebenezer Baptist Church where both MLK Jr. and his father preached.
On the other side of the King Center, into the Sweet Auburn neighborhood where MLK was born and raised is Fire Station No. 6, which was built in 1894 and was one of the first integrated fire houses in the city. It served the community until 1991 when it became a museum.

They have a fire engine from the 20s (if I remember correctly) and a lot of old gear.

I love old contraptions.
Down the street, across from a row of shotgun houses (which people still live in) is the MLK home. We didn't get a chance to take a tour of the home (since all their tours had filled up for the day) but we visited the gift shop and looked at photographs of the interior of the house.

After our visit to the MLK site, I wanted to check out Oakland Cemetery, the oldest cemetery in Atlanta (and one of the oldest historic sites in Atlanta, since it wasn't burned during the Civil War). I knew it was close to Sweet Auburn so we attempted to walk there, but the neighborhood quickly became a bit sketchy and there were train tracks impeding our progress. We hopped back in our car and drove over which was a much better idea since the cemetery is quite large and you can drive through it. It made seeing the graves and tombs much easier.

I've got a thing for old cemeteries, especially Victorian garden cemeteries which really focused on the peace and beauty of nature as a final resting place for those interred there. There are many notable people buried there, including 25 Atlanta mayors, 6 Georgia governors, several prominent Georgia politicians, businessmen, and cultural icons, including Bobby Jones (famous golfer) and Margaret Mitchell (author of Gone With the Wind).

There's also a large section of Confederate tombs as well. There are around 6,900 soldiers buried there, about 3,000 of whom are unknown.

There's also a large Jewish section, black section, and a Potter's field, which was intended for poor people who couldn't afford a burial site.

But my favorite parts of the cemetery were the lavish mausoleums built for important Atlantan families.

I particularly liked this one built for the Austell family.

Both sites are well worth the visit if you happen to be in the Atlanta area. And you know, the more and more blog posts I do about our road trip, the more and more I think I start to sound like a tour book. Oh well.

Cottonwood Canyon with the Cottrells

Ahh, fall.
It's my absolute favorite season. It didn't used to be. Growing up in San Diego, with its subtle shift of seasons, I never knew what seasons were all about. But having lived in some places with phenomenal autumns (Virginia, Korea, Utah), I've come to relish the fall season. The trees, the colors, the crisp air, the pumpkin cookies! Oh, if only it could be fall year-round.

Fall also bought another very sweet treat with it this year: our friends from Korea, the Cottrells. They're in America for a month before they'll head back to Korea. They'll be living there for another two years and we miss them tremendously. They spent two weeks in New Mexico with Amber's family and now they're in Sandy, Utah, where Spencer's family lives. They invited us to join their family for a campfire in Cottonwood Canyon. The Cottrells beckoned and so we went.

Zara didn't know what to make of the fire. It scared her a little bit. But she did like the river and the rocks and the McDonald's chicken nugget Amber gave her. I don't think she's ever had a chicken nugget before.

It was just gorgeous up in the canyon. I'd never been to Cottonwood Canyon but I've been trying to get David to go up to Provo Canyon with me some weekend to see the changing leaves.

Maybe we can go soon. I loved being up in the canyon. It was beautiful and peaceful and just the right amount of cold. But the fire was warm enough to keep us content and happy.

We ate dinner, roasted marshmellows and Starbursts, feasted on S'mores and hot chocolate. We talked around the campfire and then Spencer and his father broke out their guitars and treated us to some music and singing. It was a wonderful evening. We had to leave early so that we could get Zara to bed and we came home smelling of smoke and burnt sugar but it was so worth it. We had a great time. I hope we'll get to see the Cottrells a few more times before they return to Korea.

Jaker's Pumpkin Patch

David has the week off from school. There are several business conferences this time of year so rather than have students miss a bunch of school, they just started giving them the time off instead. David decided not to attend any this week (he's going to one in November) so we've just been hanging out at home, enjoying the time off. On Monday, we decided to visit Jaker's Pumpkin Patch out in Springville (a little south of Provo).

I'd never been to a pumpkin patch before so it wasn't quite what I expected but it was still a lot of fun for the family, especially because it was free (except for the super awesome pumpkin we bought which we still need to carve). The pumpkin patch had a small petting zoo area, several mazes, a corn crib, and a hayride.

We started out at the petting area. Zara did inherit one thing from me and that is her love of animals. She freaks out when she sees a non-human creature (in a totally excited, my head might explode from sheer joy kinda freak-out) and she was totally fascinated by the strange assortment of animals present at the petting zoo.

I'm totally freaking out here, Mom! Sheep! Goats! Llamas! Donkeys! Pigs! A Kangaroo!?!?!?!

For reasons I have yet to decipher, they had a young kangaroo there. So random. Zara didn't know what to make of it. They are rather strange creatures up close.

Zara was very excited to feed the sheep though. She kept grabbing hay and trying to shove it near them.

But as soon as they'd get close, she'd get scared or nervous and would drop the hay so David had to help her out a bit.

The most random attraction was the corn crib....like a sandbox but filled with corn. I know we grow a lot of corn in America, but that just seems a bit excessive.

Still, all the kids seemed to really love playing around in there. Zara was no exception.

David even buried her in the corn.

But she didn't really seem to mind.

After a good long romp in the corn, we picked out a beauty of a pumpkin and took it home with us. Hopefully we'll get around to carving it soon. It's been a long time since I carved a pumpkin so I hope it won't look too tragic. I've never had much luck.

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch. Free entertainment is often like that. Plus, we ran into several people from the MBA program (also interested in the free entertainment since we're all poor) including a member of David's group. It was delightful way to spend a fall day. I'm looking forward to Halloween and I'm super excited for our costumes this year.

Roadtrip: Birmingham

Wednesday, June 22nd, we woke up in Bessemer, Alabama, a short drive from Birmingham, Alabama. We were also not a long drive from our final destination of Atlanta, Georgia, so we knew we could take a little bit of time in the morning.

We decided to visit the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in downtown Birmingham, just across the street from the 16th Street Baptist Church and Kelly Ingram Park, which was the site of several protests.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take any pictures inside the museum, but I was very impressed by the hands-on exhibitions and the way the topic (civil rights) was presented and discussed. It was a very affecting museum and the video of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech at the end of the exhibition left me in tears. I highly recommend a visit to this museum if you ever happen to be in the area.

It was starting to sprinkle when we emerged from the museum, so we just quickly crossed the street to take some photographs of the 16th Street Baptist Church which was bombed in 1963 during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.

Four young girls were killed during the bombing and the bombers were not convicted (and in some cases not convicted at all) until very recently.

It was incredibly powerful to be read about the church bombing and the trials against the bombers inside the Institute, while looking out the window to the actual church across the street.

While the Civil Rights Institute was very impressive, the rest of Birmingham, unfortunately, was rundown and rather depressing. After visiting the museum and surrounding area, we grabbed a quick lunch at Chick-fil-a and drove on to Altanta, where we would stay for two weeks, visiting David's family.

"Dat! Dat! Dat!!!"

....though they are most commonly known as a cat. Apparently we need to work on our Cs.



Also, Zara has taken to meowing in response to Suyom.

Yup. I love my kid.

She's awesome. And 100% insane. That's how we know she's ours.

Roadtrip: Louisiana and Mississippi

The morning of Monday, June 20th, we headed out of Denton towards our next exciting destination. Where that would be, however, we didn't really know. It was nice to have a few days along our trip that weren't really planned, to not have some destination we HAD to make it to before the day's driving was officially done. I liked days like that. All I knew that morning was that I wanted out of Texas. No offense to Texas (okay, maybe a little offense to Texas), but I was ready to get out of that state. Having married me a Georgia boy, I've grown to love the American South and while Texas puts on airs that it's part of the South, I wanted to get into the real South.

I had really wanted to visit New Orleans, but our time was short and I knew we wouldn't really get to do the city justice, so we decided to just follow the I-20 from Dallas all the way to Atlanta. There wasn't much to see along the way in northern Louisiana so we pushed on, across the Mississippi River, into Mississippi. We decided to stop just over the river to explore the town of Vicksburg. I wanted to see the battlefield, but I was surprised how charming I found the city itself. Vicksburg ended up being one of my favorite stops on our roadtrip.

As we were driving through Louisiana, I found mention of Cedar Grove Inn and Mansion in our AAA tour book. I called them up and when I discovered that they had rooms still available, we decided to check it out. I'm a sucker for historic homes, after all.

The house was started in 1840 by John Alexander Klein for his soon-to-be bride, Elizabeth, and was completed in 1852.

It was damaged during the Civil War (there's still a cannon ball lodged in the wall in the parlor), but mostly escaped severe damage because it operated as a Union hospital.

After the war, the family moved back in and the house remained in the family until the 1920s when it was sold and converted into an inn and restaurant. Supposedly it's also haunted (by some of the Klein children and Union soldiers who passed away in the home) but we were spared any visitations.

When we arrived, we were allowed to tour the house and visit all the available rooms and pick which one we wanted to stay in. We choose the Sherman Room, despite David's monumental dislike of Sherman, on account of that whole burning down Atlanta thing.

It had a beautiful view out the front of the house to the gardens and river.

It had a nice remodeled bathroom (with a tub) and beautiful furnishings.

But mostly we picked it for the king size bed. I was just super excited to stay in such a beautiful, old home. Since I've worked at several historic houses--where touching was strictly forbidden--I felt a bit naughty touching the furniture and sleeping in the bed. But it was also awesome because you so rarely get the chance to experience a historic house like that.

After getting settled into our hotel room, we followed our AAA guide book to Walnut Hills, renowned for its authentic, down-home Southern food.

In the morning, we were treated to a good Southern breakfast of biscuits and gravy in the Inn's dining room. Afterwards, we decided to explore the house and grounds a little bit more before heading out.

Here's from the roof of the house. You can see the Mississippi River in the distance.

Our first stop after checking out was the Old Court House Museum in downtown Vicksburg. It was a small little museum, but the old courthouse was a beautiful building and the exhibits, though old and in need of updating, were still fascinating and informative.

My problem with the South, however, was that it was so humid that my camera kept fogging up whenever I took off the lens cap. It made it hard to get good pictures.

The old courthouse on the second floor is still in tact.

I loved the beautiful woodwork.

We walked around downtown Vicksburg, such as it is. Unfortunately, it appears that Vicksburg has been hard hit by the tough economic times. A lot of businesses had closed up and shut down and downtown was sadly deserted. I always wonder what these places must have been like during their heydays. I bet they were amazing.

After the museum and downtown, we headed out to the Vicksburg National Military Park. You drive most of the battlefields, which was a good thing because it started to rain halfway through our tour.



By the time we got to the U.S.S. Cairo, an ironclad gunboat used on the Mississippi River, it was pouring. The Park Rangers also wouldn't let me take any more pictures of the boat because the big steel pillars act like lightning rods during a storm and they were apparently "afraid for my safety."

We made quick time of the rest of our drive. The battlefields of the Civil War aren't the most exciting places. Mostly, they're just big, beautiful empty fields. When you've seen one, you've seen them all.

But they are still amazing representations of our American history and the bloody battles that were fought on these big, beautiful empty fields. There's a different feeling on a battlefield. It's hard to explain, but you'll know it when you feel it.

Once our drive around the battlefield was complete, we hit the road again. I had really wanted to stop in Jackson, MS as well, especially to visit the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum, which suffers from a boring name, but which actually sounds really cool. I love living history museums. But the late hour and the rain--which showed no signs of letting up--forced us to continue on our way. We drove the rest of the way through Mississippi and decided to stop in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for the night but were turned away at the Hampton Inn because they were full. (Just like Joseph and Mary! Only we weren't riding a donkey. And I, thankfully, was not 12 months pregnant.) We weren't aware that Tuscaloosa had been recently hit by a tornado which had destroyed many homes and the hotels were full with victims and relief workers.

The nice people at the Hampton Inn (where we ended up staying quite frequently along our journey) did make us a reservation for a room in the Hampton Inn in Bessemer, just outside of Birmingham so we continued on for about another half an hour until we could finally rest for the night. (And eat at Cracker Barrel, thank the heavens! I was starving by this time.) Still, after sleeping in a 159 year old house the night before, the Hampton Inn just couldn't keep up.