Monday, October 10, 2011

Gone Country...Aka Our trip to Georgia

Our entire marriage (over four years) we haven't been able to go to Caleb's parents house. Mainly it is super expensive and mainly because I don't want to spend my birthday/Christmas away from my family. It's complicated =). But when Caleb's little brother Joel joined the Army I knew we needed to get out there before he was gone for years. And luckily I found some pretty amazing tickets. So off we went!
I loaded the pictures the wrong way so it's from finish to start but that's ok!
Porter at a battle field.
Oma and Opa Wilkins and Porter at the battlefield.
Proof that we were there too.
Our awesome ride. It is a mini-mini van and we loved it!
One thing I knew we had to experience in the SOUTH was the food. Porter loved it. His mouth is FULL of fried ham and waffles.
Only one person recommended that we eat at the Waffle house. Sure glad we did. It was delish.

Somehow I didn't get any pictures of Porter with his cousin Shane. This will have to do.
One tired kid.
Caleb and his mom.
So beautiful.
The Chattahoochee river!
This was at the museum for Martin Luther King Jr.
This was an extremely moving museum. The statues are walking towards freedom.
Porter said "hi" to most of them.
My boys.
Here we are in MLK Jr's chapel where he gave his sermons. They restord it to look how it did when he preached there. It was really beautiful. Th stain glass had faces and it was amazing.
Outside of the chapel.
Here we are at the Freedom Walk.
One of the oldest fire stations in Georgia.
At MLK Jr's birthplace door!
Here is the home!

We ate at the Varsity. It's a little bit famous and a lot of bit fun and delish. If you go to Georgia you need to go to the Varsity.
So many reminders that we were in the South. I was worried that my little family of three was what this sign was warning us of!
Inside the varsity!
Of course Porter loved it! We actually had to go and order him more!
Happy family!
And a yummy apple pie to go with it.
Porter met another Porter at Cenntenial Park.
I had visions of him playing at Cennitial park, splashing in the water and laughing. Instead Georgia decieded to rain and have tornados this weekend.
Entering Cenntenial Park.
Tasting Mr. Coke's drink...
View of the Atlanta skyline!
And here we are at the World of Coke. And that's about it. I thought it was free 99 to go to but turns out it's like 30 bucks a person. And after paying for tickets, renting a car, buying food you better believe I was not about to pay to go taste samples of coke when I have actually had the coke from 10 different countries myself. But maybe next time.
We get art.
Caleb and his parents at his Dad's place of work!
This picture is so sweet to me! Opa showing Porter things from his mission in Africa. Opa and Oma are grandpa and grandma in Africans.
As we were leaving the Dinner the tornados started touching down. The sirens were going off!
I was totally disgusted when the waiter brought bread and MANNAISE to the table. A little too country for me.
Leah, Caleb's sister said we should try this place so we all went after we said our goodbyes to Joel. It sure was tasty!
Porter really wanted a hat and he usually gets what he wants!
When we dropped Joel off they gave us some ARMY stuff to show our support. I am not a shy person so you better believe that backpack is packed FULL of goodies.
I went to This is It! And had my first Hush Puppy. It was delish.
Saying goodbye to Joel. His little sisters made cute signs. This family is the most picture taking haters I have ever seen. Luckily I was able to get them to be silly and take a cheerful picture to say "GO JOEL!"
Leah, Shane, Opa, Oma, Joel, Caleb, Porter, Awesome mamma, Kara.
These two were able to get some bonding in. This picture makes me get a little teary eyed.
See what I mean about the picture haters? Daddy, Porter and Uncle Joel.
The family just chillen.
Porter loves his Auntie Kara.
Opa reading some scriptures.
Oh yeah, their a little bit old school! Opa broke out the slides from his mission in Africa. It was one awesome home movie night complete with popcorn!
This is Caleb's highschool football field. It was used in part of the filming of Remember the Titans.
Daddy and Porter at one small part of Caleb's highschool. It used to be a University and it is really the most beautiful campus I have ever seen. Way more beautiful than BYU and that's saying something.
We saw lots of spacious homes!
All in all we had a wonderful time in Georgia! I loved the accents and the slower way of life. I was able to go on a few runs and I felt like I was running in the forest. There are so many trees, and a flock of geese flew over me and I heard them honk! Never had that happen before! It is really beautiful in Georgia. I wish we had loads of money and could go back soon! We had a blast with Caleb's family, his parents HATE Atlanta and I basically had to drag them to go with us! But I think they had a good time too, and they hadn't ever been to MLK JR's birth house or monument before! Everyone was surprised when I said I could live in Georgia. That said, I would want to live in or near Atlanta or at least a bigger city than where Caleb is from. I also don't want my children growing up where racism is rampid. I was always the monority (until we moved to Utah) and never understood rasism. The south is still batteling this, despite being the birthplace for the anti-rascism movement. However, Georgia is beautiful and fun.