Jackson US Summer Tour 2013 - GA

     Atlanta is always an essential stop on our visits to the States and it tends to be where we spend the bulk of our time since we have so many family and friends there.  This year I spent a week there by myself while Marisa finished her graduate school in Virginia, and then we came back to spend about two weeks there before heading to California for the end of our trip.  We had a great time visiting with tons of friends, staying with the Brazells and Bryans as usual, checking out local breweries - both new and old, running a 5K, and keeping my dad company while he recovered from surgery.
    
     Highlights from our time in Atlanta:

1.  Sweetwater Brewery get-together
     On our last day in Atlanta we managed to pull together a nice selection of friends from college and high school for an extended happy hour at the Sweetwater brewery.  The place holds a bit of nostalgia for us as we can remember the weekly beer tastings at the brewery while we were in college.  The place is hardly recognizable from that time.  Before it was merely a warehouse with an informal tour and the beer was served from taps in the parking lot for around $1 per pint ($4 for a glass and four generous "tastings").  Today it's a massive production facility/distribution center that puts out 1 million barrels (or kegs?) per year with a tasting room/event space and swag store that definitely impresses.

My how the brewery has grown.  This mural decorates the new (to me) addition to the previous brewhouse.  "Don't float the mainstream".

It was great seeing our world-traveler friend Nicole who stayed with us in December.

Joel and Dave graced us with their presence twice this summer

Marisa and Chris - like old times in Salamanca, Spain

Fellow East Paulding HS alumni - Nicole, Sarah and Cole

 Jeremy is maintaining a low profile with his Wrigley Spearmint shirt.  Pop!

2.  Globalscope 5K

     In support of our missionary friends we made it down to Atlanta just in time to run in the "Around the World in 5K" that was organized by our friend, Lukas Fortunato.  While the course surprisingly a cross-country course, it didn't seem to slow us down much from our previous showing in the Newburyport "Yankee Homecoming 5K".  It was also a blast visiting with tons of old friends from GT Christian Campus Fellowship (CCF). 

Andrew and Quiggle ran a 5K while it appears that I have just stepped out of a swimming pool.

Trey and Meredith

3.  Visiting family
     This summer I was able to have some quality time with most of my family in Atlanta.  My dad had some corrective jaw surgery to alleviate his sleep apnea, so I dropped by a few times to keep him company.  Marisa was also pleased to display her "juicing" skills  with their new juicer to help him mix up his all-liquid diet from OJ and Ensure.  Of course my 14-yr old brother Jake is nearly my height, so it'll probably only be a year before I'm looking up to him.
     We also were able to have lunch with my grandma and aunt Amy, which was a pleasant time.

I caught Herb and Grandma at Jim and Nick's on their way up from Jacksonville.

Aunt Amy

Amy and Grandma Shirer 

4.  Visiting friends

     We spent one week at the Brazells and one week at the Bryans which included several big get-togethers and many other lunches, happy hours, and dinners.  One thing that stuck out to us was the generosity of our friends to offer a home-cooked meal, which was certainly welcome in a six-week gluttony tour.  It's always nice catching up with people face-to-face and hearing about how people have been growing in the past year.  We were also pleased to have a lot of questions about life in Hong Kong, since we know that people don't always know what to ask.

Cole and Becca moved to Atlanta this year and brought Addilyn with them.  It was duly noted that they have been sleep-deprived in these first few months, but isn't she worth it?

Cookout at the Brazells - Andrew, Neal and Cole.

Good to have my boy back in ATL - not that I'm around or anything, but at least that guarantees a visit when I pass through town.

Buck

Meredith, Mae &, John Nolen, and Liz (making a quick drop-in from Charlottesville)

We were fortunate to catch Scott and tour the new b-ball facilities at Tech before he took off on some European adventure.  This guy lives the high-life.

Had a really fun night with Rick and fam at his place.  He's so much more relaxed during the summer.

Nice little Sunday lunch with Nick and Kimberly at their place - complete with sugar-free brownies!! (very thoughtful)

Another year, another pilgrimmage to Senoia for time with the Dukes.  Always guaranteed laughs with these two (and kids).

Not sure how we were convinced to strike this pose.

Mel and Chris for happy hour and dinner in Smyrna.

On a scale of 1-10, Marisa was probably an 8 in terms of excitement to see Kayce for happy hour.

5.  Spontaneous tour of Monday Night Brewing

     After lunch in Atlanta, we got a wild hair to stop by a new brewery called Monday Night near Georgia Tech campus.  We knew that they wouldn't be open for tasting, but wanted to see it anyways so we found the warehouse on a little industrial street.  While it was closed, we were greeted by a very friendly staff member (Carlan) who does the marketing and private events for them.  After a brief introduction and mentioning that we live in Hong Kong but are on a summer brewery tour she invited us in to have a couple of beers.  Why do awesome things randomly happen to us?  She let us sample their brews, talked about the history of the brewery and gave us a quick tour - all on a whim.  Needless to say, we were very impressed by their hospitality........and their beers are pretty good too.

Love the logo - appealing to the "young professional".  My recommendation is the "Blind Pirate Double IPA", the "Drafty Kilt Scotch Ale", and the "Eye Patch Ale w/ Serrano peppers.

--Justin

Jackson US Summer Tour 2013 - South Carolina

     While in Atlanta for a two-week stint, we broke it up with a quick trip up to Greenville, SC to visit my brother and his family.  It has been a busy year for their family, especially with the addition of their son Fisher in March.  We were eager to see them after a year and to see how much our niece, Arden, had grown.  It was a nice couple of days where we hung out and spent some time in downtown Greenville.

     Highlights from our time in Greenville:

1.  Stroll through downtown Greenville
     We'd never been to Greenville proper in our previous visits, so it was nice to see some of the shops on Main Street and the bridge over the old waterworks.

Jason and Fisher at our ice cream stop at Marble Slab 

On the bridge near the old waterworks. 

Downtown Greenville 

I got some practice using the stroller. 

2.  Catching up with the family

     Great chats were had and we had some quality time with the Jacksons.



Aunt Marisa and the kiddos 

Candace and the kiddos 

Jason and the kiddos 

Brothers



--Justin

Jackson US Summer Tour 2013 - New York City

     From Philadelphia we took a train into New York City for a day with the main purpose of seeing the Atlanta Braves take on the N.Y. Mets at Citi Field.  We went in a bit earlier to spend some time walking around and to meet up with our friends, Andy and Amy who live in Brooklyn.  The weather was hot and the tourists were out in droves, but it ended up being a great day.  As a bonus, we also got to visit Marisa's sister Kendra, since she was in town for work.

     Highlights from our time in NYC:

1.  Braves vs. Mets at Citi Field
     While it's not really my official goal to see a baseball game at all of the ballparks in America, it is fun seeing a game in different cities - especially when you can see your home team.  I guess Citi Field is one of the newest baseball stadiums in the country and just hosted the All-Star game this year.  The only two bummers were that the Bravos lost 4-1 and we missed seeing Zach Wheeler (East Paulding HS alum) pitch for the Mets by couple of days.  Otherwise it was an awesome time.

Citi Field

Mr. Met

Shout out to Jackie Robinson since he played for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Local beer



Couldn't have asked for better weather.

2.  Times Square
     We had been to New York before, but it had been several years and it was nice to just walk around again along Broadway Street and take in the sights.

Empire State Building



Marisa loves mascots and there was a hoard of them outside the Toys R' Us.



We poked our heads into the Toys R' Us in Times Square and were blown away by the scale of the place.  They had this giant ferris wheel, an ice cream place, life-size Lego sculptures and several floors of awesomeness.

3.  Dinner in the park with Andy and Amy
     It was also nice to visit with our good friends we met in Frankfurt who now live in Brooklyn.  We wish that we would've had more time to explore their neighborhood, but time was short so we settled for dinner in a park and a couple of hours of catching up.  It was really good seeing them and we hope to have a return visit.

The crew in front of one of these temporary art exhibits in the park - piles of nautical rope, tied in knots, and died in bright colors.



4.  911 Memorial
     When we visited before in 2006, the plans were still in the works for the 911 Memorial and since it recently opened a year ago we definitely wanted to check it out.  The museum is still under construction, but they have opened two memorial pools where the previous foundations were for the World Trade Center.  Engraved along the guard rails are the names of all of the victims from the attacks and the rescue attempt.  I thought that it was very well done (and designed by a Georgia Tech architect) and serves as a very serene and contemplative monument.  The visit definitely brought us back, thinking about where we were and what we were doing at the time of the attack and it had an especially personal meaning for my step-dad who had a friend who died in one of the towers.



There are two pools that look identical, with waterfalls running down the side walls and falling down into the inner square, of which you cannot see the bottom.

Each pool is dedicated to different groups of victims with one pool containing names of those of the flights and rescue workers and the other with names of those in the WTC.

There is a master plan to build several new buildings around the park and I think that this one will be the largest of those - planned to be the tallest building in the USA upon completion.

 



5.  Bonus hangout with Kendra
     Although we would be visiting her in Massachusetts in a week, Kendra was in NYC for work so we got to meet up with her for drinks after the Mets game and again for lunch the next day.  It was random, but fun having a chat before our visit.  More details to come in the next post...



--Justin