Friday, December 17, 2010

2010-Dec., Angie and Josh's move to Atlanta

Another 2010 "working" vacation. This time was to help Angie and Josh move to their new place just north of Atlanta, Georgia. Alpharetta, to be exact. Josh went out ahead of us to start working at his new position within Cintas. Angie and I followed about a week later with their 2nd car and the 2 pups.

I was really surprised how good the dogs were! This was at the start of the trip. Molly already seemed to be wondering if we were there yet.



But soon they settled in and spent most of the 9 + hours trip like this.


We lucked out on the timing of the move. The week before and the week after the move were exceptionally cold for this area. But the mountains of Tennessee were still in the freeze and had many icy views for us to enjoy.

Sunset somewhere in Tennessee.


More Tennessee sunset. I think we were entering Chattanooga.


We spent the first night in a studio hotel and left bright and early the next morning to meet the movers at the new place.


Here are some pictures of the before, during, and after unpacking stages.






I guess the move wore out the pups.

Here's our attempt at getting a picture of the pups in front of the gas fireplace. Molly wasn't too cooperative.



Sometimes I think Murphy thought he was in prison.

Molly looking inquisitive.



The pups greeting "Dad" when he finally made it home for the first time from another 12 hour work day.



Angie and I spent 2 long days unpacking and moving stuff up and down 3 levels. On the weekend, Josh joined in the fun of unpacking. We were all pretty exhausted for the next 4 or 5 days. But we did make it out to shop a few of times and to some great dinners. Starting with dinner at Josh's brother Joe and family's house for a fantastic homemade lasagna dinner with home made gingerbread cookies for dessert. Dinner and company were great. Another night we went to Tara Humata for dinner where we had a very tasty Mexican dinner. After another day of some shopping, we brought home a pizza from Mellow Mushroom. I wish we had one of them in St. Louis! And I have to brag about Teds Montana Grill where we had another wonderful dinner. Their specialty is bison meat. The last 2 nights Angie even cooked 2 delicious meals----her home made chili one day and italian sausage with peppers the last night.

Angie and I hit a nearby outlet mall one day. That was also the day the weather turned really foul and Atlanta had the coldest weather it's had since 1976 and it lasted for 5 days. An ice storm even crippled the city and outlaying areas the day before I flew home.
We also made it into towards the city one day to go to the AMC movie theatre Fork and Screen, an interesting concept where you're waited on while you watch a movie. We saw an interesting movie, The Tourist, and ate popcorn and nachos.

The day I flew home, we headed out early to run through the Atlanta Aquarium before I had to catch my 3:37 flight home. It was still very icy when we left the townhome. But I imagine the warmer weather that day and the rain probably melted it by that afternoon. Here we are driving along a road near her townhome.


It was pretty misty as we were entering the city.


Another city attration we hope to see one day is the Coke museum. It happens to be next to the Aquarium, but we didn't have time to hit both that day.



I love aquariums and went wild taking pictures in it. It is a very impressive aquarium!



One of the most impressive things is knowing Angie did a lot of the architecture designing of interior spaces within the Aquarium and the exterior covered walkway. She even came across an employee she knew who is in charge of the cold water aquarium which houses a lot of her work. Here they are in the penguin area.

We spent quite awhile watching the playful penquins. They seemed to be really enjoying their newly designed space. This was even the first time Angie got to see it done and in use.


A penquin hello.



There are even interesting crawl through spaces and pop up windows for kids (and adults).


An overall view of "Angie's" penquin area.



A little anxious about the weather, we left there pretty early and headed off to the airport. Soon I was on a plane back to St. Louis.
Sad to see them move, but I'm excited for them and their new oppurtunities.