Beach Pics.

Wonyoung

Jumi

New Grad Students

JJ and I are hitting the library again after lunch tomorrow.  Hopefully, I will have a little bit of free time tomorrow night!  To say that life has been crazy the last 5 days would be the understatement of the year.   JJ and I are both in the process of trying to figure out how to balance our study and work times.(More on that later)

Topics to blog about later this weekend

• First week of Grad School
• New computer
• Korean connections
• GA work
• Money(or lack there of)
• New Korean Books

The Den

We had dinner at the new Carter Green Steak House and used every penny of his 400 dollar comp. I wish that I would have brought my camera.  It was probably one of the best steaks that I have ever tasted.  I had a Filet Mignon topped with lump crab-meat. AWESOME!!!! We topped off the meal with creme bru lei and bread pudding. It was a good thing that I didn’t have to pay for the meal.  I would have had no money to gamble with.

We left dinner and hit the gaming floor for a few hours.  JJ and I ended up sitting at the center bar playing video poker and enjoying free drinks.  We didn’t win any money but still had a great time.

We got up around 8 and waited for the weather to clear before going out and buying fishing licenses and launching the boat.  The weather was still somewhat overcast but it looked like we were going to be able to have a great day of fishing but it was not to be.

Heading out into the Gulf

The Captain and his first mate~!

JJ and our friend Dana

JJ and Glen

It took us about 45 min or so to get out past Ship Island.  The sea was a little rough and JJ and I both were feeling somewhat seasick.  We were just about to start fishing when Jason checked the radar and saw that a storm was coming into Gulfport.  We decided that we would probably not enjoy being in really rough water so we ended up calling it a day.

Trouble Brewing

Even though we didn’t get to do any real fishing, it still was a great day.  I can’t wait to get back out on the water in better weather.  We did see some oil booms set up around Ship Island but didn’t see any oil in the water. We really didn’t get south of the islands and I was real curious to see if there was any oil washing up but the weather prevented us from checking it out.  We made it all the way to the harbor when the rain started.  We got the boat on the trailer in the rain and headed back to Hattiesburg.

JJ and I headed south around 12p.m. and had plans to eat a late lunch at Acme Oyster House.  Acme is featured in about every guide ever printed for New Orleans and there were about 30 folks waiting in the unbearable heat to get inside.  We kept walking and ended up going to Dickie Brennan’s Bourbon House next door.  I knew the Brennan name from other restaurants in the city but had never eaten here before. We were really impressed with the food and the service.  JJ had the seafood gumbo and the shrimp remoulade which was suggested by our waiter.  I had a shrimp poboy.

My Shrimp Po Boy

My poboy was great but JJ’s shrimp remoulade was out of this world. I was impressed. It contained boiled shrimp, fried green  tomatoes, melted mozzarella cheese, greens, and some type of spicy dressing.

JJ's Shrimp Remolade

I think that we may skip Acme intentionally next time to visit the Bourbon House again.

We then moved to the River Walk and enjoyed a little bit of shopping before heading back down to the French Quarter.

I have probably visited about every bar in the the area and still head back to Pat O’Brien’s for the original Hurricane every trip.  Pat O’s has a wonderful piano bar that is always filled with tourist having a good time and enjoying way too many hurricanes.

JJ had never experienced the piano bar before.  We were looking to get out of the heat and were lucky enough to find seats inside.  Of course we had a few hurricanes and were surprised by the number of Mississippians in the bar.  Not only were we surrounded my folks from Jackson, Greenwood, and Hazlehurst but both of the pianist were from Mississippi as well.  We got to listen to Henrietta Alves from Winona and another lady(didn’t catch her name) from Hazlehurst play.

Ms. Alves keeping everyone entertained.

We stayed here for a few hours enjoying the music.  Not only could they play and sing but their banter with the crowd was hilarious or maybe it was the hurricanes. The pianists take requests written on napkins and can pretty much play anything you want.

Tunes for Tips

I did hear them say that they didn’t know “Get Crunk” but that was about the only request they turned down.

The Piano Bar

Photo Via Pat O'Briens Website

On of my favorite parts of the piano bar is the man that comes out to stand between the pianos to tap on a  silver tray covered in coins while wearing metal thimbles on his fingers. There used to be an old black man that played on Friday and Saturday nights when I used to visit. I spoke with him a couple of times back in the day and he was always curious about where we were from and if were enjoying ourselves in New Orleans. I got curious since he was not there when JJ and I visited. I started searching for him online and found out that he passed away during Katrina. He was a fixture at Pat O’s having worked there for more than 67 years. His name was Eddie Gabriel.His grandson also wrote a great article about him for NOLA.COM

Mr. Babineaux playing the tray!

Mr Gabriel was wonderful but there was also another “tray player” who has been working for Pat O’s for over 40 years.  His name is Alvin Babineaux and he is also extremely talented.  Read more about him here. Here is another article written about Pat O’s and Alvin Babineaux by John Swenson.

After a few hours in the piano bar, we made our way down Bourbon Street and then back to Hattiesburg.  It was a quick trip and we didn’t do much but that is why I love the fact that New Orleans is only about a two hour drive away.  We are already make plans to go back for a weekend when the weather is a little bit more bearable.  The weekend after mid-terms is sounding better and better.

Ahhhhh Kimchi~!

We spent a lot of time here~!

Both images above via H Mart’s website

We bought a couple of buckets of kimchi and enough Korean cabbage for JJ to make her own as well. If you live in the South and have ever asked yourself “Where do I buy kimchi?”, then this is the place for you.  We bought 부추김치(leek),전라도식 포기김치(Jolado style),오이김치(Cucumber),포기김치(regular kimchi).  We also bought a few packages of Samgyeopsal (pork belly), a bunch of ramyeon, and even a couple bottles of makoli.

We got home around 8P.M. but still wanted to test our new grill!

Nothing like pork belly! Too bad I ran out of soju.

JJ got to work soon after dinner and made a batch of 겉절이  kimchi.  After tasting hers and the store made kimchi, I wish that we would have bought more cabbage so that she could have made more.

Washing and salting the cabbage

I am sure that it won’t take too long for us to be ready for a trip back to Duluth. Next time I want to spend the night in the area and hit up a tuna sushi restaurant and a singing room.

]]> http://www.mississippitokorea.com/2010/07/thank-you-h-mart/feed/ 2 http://www.mississippitokorea.com/2010/07/gatlinburgtn-part-2/ http://www.mississippitokorea.com/2010/07/gatlinburgtn-part-2/#comments Fri, 23 Jul 2010 03:25:42 +0000 JR http://www.mississippitokorea.com/?p=2772 We left Clingman’s Dome and traveled to the small touristy town of Cherokee, NC.  The children wanted to see bears so we visited a really sad excuse for a bear exhibit.  The “bear exhibit” cost five dollars per person to enter. With admission you were given a small tray of food to give to the bears. The cages were not clean and the bears didn’t seem real happy about their small enclosures.

Hungry Guy

Another Hungry Bear

The children then wanted a chance on the mechanical bull. The guy running this wasn’t making any money at all before we showed up. After the 4 children rode the bull, the line was snaking around the corner. We should have gotten a discount.

Maybe a future cowboy?

The next day we all met up for an Old Style photo and then JJ and I spent the day shopping. Can you believe that we passed a Beef Jerkey Outlet store????? Then in the late afternoon we all gathered again and went to Cade’s Cove. Cade’s Cove is usually a great place to spot wildlife but we were not so lucky. We mainly just stayed in the car and only stopped a couple of times. 3 of the kids rode with us and believe me when a four year old tells you she has to go to the bathroom, that means now~! Not later……DOH!~, so after we cleaned my car……

Photo of Photo

We stopped at a really old Missionary Baptist Church and there was a small cemetery in the back. There was one stone that stood out and it broke all of our hearts.

Too sad.

Hayley have a great time looking for deer.

As I mentioned earlier, we didn’t see that much wildlife but we did see this guy on the side of the road as we were leaving the park.

10 point in velvet?

We stopped for a quick group photo.

The light was awesome later in the evening. I love this shot.

We got up early the next day and headed back to Hattiesburg via Atlanta.(That will be part three of our road trip)

I really wish that I would have had a chance to get out in the park in the evening or early morning for some better photos. I am considering going back alone in the fall. I hear that the colors are unbelievable at that time of the year. This was my first time to visit Gatlinburg in the summer and honestly it was way too crowded. I have visited in the winter and it was much more enjoyable.

Ahhhhh Toast!

We woke up on day one and really didn’t know what we were going to do. All the girls wanted to go shopping. The guys wanted to play golf. Not being a big golfer myself, I decided to go for a hike. My good friend’s grandson asked if he could join me. We sat around trying to decide which trail that we wanted to hike and I finally found one that was not too challenging for an out of shape 34 year old and a 9 year full of energy. We choose to go to Laurel Falls which is about a 2.5 mile round trip hike. The trail was great but was crowded. The waterfall at the top was even more crowded.

My hiking partner.

The weather was great and we had a great hike.

On the second day all 13 of us woke up and went to Clingman’s Dome.  It was about a half mile walk to the observatory. At 6643 feet, Clingmans Dome is the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It was really cloudy/hazy day and visibility was cut way short.  It had to have been at least 15 degrees cooler at the top.

John and KK walking up to the top of Clingman's Dome

Just a little cool at the top!~

John and Beth Walking to the Top!

Not much of a view.

We didn’t stay at the top long. Visibility was poor and we weren’t dressed for the cooler weather. We got back down to the parking lot and took a few more photos and then headed to Cherokee.

JJ and Mr. Ray

Would have been a cool photo if I would have picked a better BG

The next couple of days were filled with more adventures. I will post more once I have gone through all the photos.

Last Second Family Photo

It took us about six hours to get Gatlinburg. Having to drive through Nashville, I took the time to try to convert JJ to country music. I didn’t have that much luck but we listened to this song so many times that I think that it grew on her.

The girls were thrilled when JJ arrived.

The back door of our cabin opened up to a great balcony and we sat out here pretty much every night. Ronnie and the crew saw a bear as soon as they arrived. We were not so lucky!

View from the balcony.

Looking for bears.

We spent the first night hanging out and catching up with everyone at the chalet. Even though everyone lives only 30 minutes away, we really don’t get to see each other that often. The chalet was 3 stories with a game room and hot-tub on the bottom floor. We ended up staying up really late enjoying micro-brewed beer and the hot-tub.

The next few days were spent shopping, sightseeing, and hiking. I have tons of images to go through and will post a few of them tomorrow~!

A doe that didn't really like me in the field.

The area around my grandparents is filled mainly with corn and tobacco fields. It is pretty easy to spot deer in the tobacco fields. There are also a couple of cow pastures that I regular visit to try and catch deer crossing.

I left on Friday morning heading to one of my fields and I was in the process of checking my camera settings and driving down the road(Not that unsafe if you knew the population up here) when these two crossed the road. I really wish that I could have gotten a better photo of the monster buck that I saw cross in front of me. I did get closeup of his running buddy. I think that the buck that was running across the road was the same way I captured on the deer camera in January.

Monster buck in velvet.

No Fear Deer. I am probably about 15 yards away.

This may be the same deer that is crossing the road.

My grandparents actually live outside of New Concord and as you can see from the next couple of photos that there isn’t much to New Concord. The next biggest city is Murray, which is about 25 minutes away.

The New Concord Post Office

Once upon a time this was the general store.

I really was hoping for some new shots of the bald eagles but never saw them this trip. The area around the lake is so grown up that I really didn’t spend much time there.

These guys were plentiful but quite elusive. You could hear them scuttling through the brush as you hiked and I just happened to catch both of these in the front yard.

Kentucky Lizard

Kentucky Lizard II

We got to spend some great time with my grandparents. We were able to attend mass twice with them and that is always a treat. We also were able to catch up with our friend Billie from Korea. On Saturday night we met up with him and I had pizza and beer at a local sports bar.

Today was a lazy rainy day and after early mass and great homemade fried chicken we took naps and then woke up for coffee and the World Cup. JJ and I will leave after a country breakfast in the morning and make our way to Gatlinburg, TN. We have a good 5 and half hour drive ahead of us but are looking forward to arriving and visiting with our friends who arrived yesterday.

A composite shot of some of the rocket's red glare.

Our plan is to leave on Wednesday morning heading to New Concord, Kentucky where we will get to visit with my grandparents and my aunt and uncle. My aunt and uncle are returning home on Thursday and we have plans to stay with my grandparents until Sunday. On Sunday we will head out to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. My good friend has rented a cabin at a resort in Gatlinburg and we plan on staying there until Thursday. On Thursday we will come home via Atlanta. JJ and I are both extremely excited about going through Atlanta as we will stop at an Hmart! I have heard that you can find pretty much every kind of Korean food at Hmart. We have started a huge list of items that we need and we will probably drop at least a couple of hundred dollars on Korean food.

We don’t really know what the agenda will hold for Gatlinburg. I hope to get out and go take some photos and maybe do some hiking as well.

We traveled to Madison to visit with friends for Memorial Day. It was a great chance to catch up and meet some new people as well.

The last few weeks I have knocked out a few books that I have been meaning to read. I am trying to spend more and more time reading and less time surfing/reading blogs/twittering/wasting time.

Adding a plug-in for the Facebook like button(See Below). I am also working on a couple more pages for this blog mainly Korean language links and books!~