I was able to check off another city - Daesan, S. Korea. It's a smaller town about 2 hours south of Seoul on the coast. It's the first city that did not have a McDonalds or KFC around. I did experience the local cuisine and it was delicious! Not exactly sure what the place was actually called but I heard it referred to as the Seafood place. You ordered a basket of scallops, which were still alive, and cooked them at a coal grill at your table - extremely fresh!
 |
| Tom cooking the scallops. |
 |
| A little shell that you had to suck the meat out of - it was very salty. |
 |
| L to R: Tom, me, Mike, Ellen, Nataylia, and Luis at a typical Korean restaurant. |
I spent a week in Korea and then Tom got released so we headed back to the States to Atlanta - avoiding the nasty snow storm that was occurring up North. I had been to Atlanta before but did not really experience to true taste. I definitely recommend everyone to go to the Coca-Cola museum - it's very cool. You can see the bottling process, see old advertisements, watch a 4D movie (cheesy but still cool) and taste test Coke products from around the world!
 |
| Taste room to try various Coke Products |
|
|
|
I went to my first NBA game - Atlanta Hawks versus LA Clippers featuring Blake Griffin. It was a bleak rainy night so we assumed that not many people would show up - boy we were wrong. It was definitely a good game. Al Horford hit two free throws with 0.6 of a second left and the Hawks won, 101-100. The following week, we went to another Hawk's game. After the game, at the Philips arena, GA State took on GA Tech in the intramural basketball game, rivals I guess. While they were warming up a few of the Hawks players came out - didn't get any good pics however. The player, who happen to score the winning shot, from the other team also came out and walked right by us to get to the other side of the stadium. He has this HUGE diamond embedded watch and ring - it looks ridiculous in magazines and even more so in person!!
 |
| Tom & I - prior to game starting |
I definitely ate well while down in the South - lots of sweet tea and greasy goodness. Carver's is a small old shop on a corner in Atlanta but still very well known. There was a sign at checkout saying the Food Network channel would be there a few days later - I should watch Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives to see if I see Carvers :) I think I went into a food coma after that meal - which probably could last me three meals.
 |
| Oh The goodness! |
|
|
My first beer brewery tour was at the Sweet Water brewing company in downtown Atlanta. It's a small brewery, only one warehouse, but the beer is yum. I recommend trying Sweet Water Blue - it has a hint of blueberry taste. The tour lasted all of 15 minutes but the real fun came in the tasting. You get a pint glass and 6 tickets which allows you to try up to 6 beers if you like!!!
Hadn't seen my Aunt since I went on the road over a year ago. Luckily we were able to set something up to split the driving time and meet halfway. Tom wanted to check Applebees off his list of places to eat at while home - so we ate there and went bowling afterward. My goal is always to try to break 100 which I did on my 2nd game. Didn't win but still had a blast!
 |
| Aunt Deed and me |
The weather got a little nicer each day I was in Atlanta. I was able to enjoy not wearing a winter jacket while throwing a football and Frisbee around in shorts and a t-shirt. It was glorious. I made the mistake of wearing my watch which I later realized had somehow been torn off my wrist. Tom, Tim and I did a three person search on the hill and Tim actually found my brown watch in the brown grass. It's been more difficult searching for a replacement wristband than it was finding that actual watch - who knew.
 |
| Tom and I at Piedmont Park. |
