epic trip to Atlanta

We are home. (And this is a long post due to all of the photos we took. I only have 15 of the 88 posted here.)

Everyone is safe, our car wasn’t damaged, and we made it through rush hour in Atlanta. That’s saying a lot. On Monday, we left in the late morning and drove to the big city. It felt like it took foreverrrrr, but it was really about 4 1/2 hours after our stops (gas stop and lunch.) We checked into our hotel (where the people were super, super nice) and valeted the car. We then headed to Centennial Park for a while.

It was hot. It was cool by Atlanta’s standards (in the low-90s), but it was hot. We roamed through the park and found ourselves at the World of Coke. This was the one thing that I said I was NOT going to do, being the avid Pepsi drinker that I am. And then I found myself at the beginning of a tour. I took a lot of pictures, and we tasted what felt like 30 or so different types of Coke products (I’m a fan of the products they have in Asia, and notsomuch of a fan of what they serve in Europe.) I especially liked the watermelon drink, but found myself feeling sick when we finally got to the Coke Classic and Coke Zero. Ugh. (Pepsi, you’re still my favorite.)

Oh, and yes, I did feel sick after drinking all of the soda.

After the museum, we had to head over to the Buckhead area and meet my friend Bekki for dinner. We ate at 5 Seasons, which I had been to before. Dinner was wonderful!! I haven’t seen Bekki in a couple of years, and my husband had never met her, so it was a fun time.

We then headed to Chastain Park which was about 3 miles from the restaurant. It’s a very cool venue set in the middle of a neighborhood. I worried about noise ordinances, but I guess they have all of that worked out with the residents 🙂 Tori Amos was a good show, but I kind of preferred the opener, One Eskimo. Tori’s show was weird though, mainly because of the crowd. I also think that Tori lives in her own little world. She snapped out of it when a couple near the front were fighting, and totally called them out. She then sang this song:

(And you can click here to watch the full video of her reaction to the fighting couple – there is some rough language, so you’re warned.)

Back to the hotel around 11:30 and we decided to wander over to Hard Rock Cafe, which was a block away from us. We were right on Peachtree Street, which put us near almost everything.

This morning we ate a $30 breakfast at the hotel (not worth the money, but we didn’t have many options if we wanted to be lazy) and then we wandered the city. The hotel let us check our bags with them, and leave our car valeted, so we didn’t need to find more parking. I don’t know how Atlanta residents do it every. single. day.

We found ourselves at CNN, but I declined a tour since I kind of know what a newsroom looks like, and how it works. And, really, the rest of our morning was spent walking and wandering and checking out parks. When it came time to meet up with Aubrey and Gavin (friends who just moved to Atlanta last month), I was sleeping on a park bench in Centennial Park. 🙂

We ate lunch at Max Lager’s. Again, good food (and the boys enjoyed the beer.) It wasn’t overpriced either.

And then it was time to leave. I wanted to get back at a good time, and I was exhausted from the walking. We made it back around 6:45 this evening. Not bad timing, at all!

Oh, and I believe we’re going back in November to see Joshua Radin. Plans are in the works.