Destination for Connections

The show was originally scheduled to play Columbia, SC this past week, but the performances were cancelled because of Hurricane Florence. We rerouted our tour to spend a weekend off in Atlanta! We stayed by Centennial Park in downtown Atlanta, which named itself "Your Destination for Connections." While this phrase probably has something to do with the Summer Olympics of 1996 when the park was created, it certainly holds true for our weekend thanks to the number of Bird scooters in and around the park. A few posts ago I wrote about the sudden appearance of motor scooters all over OKC. The Bird scooters were also all over ATL. This provided a perfect, and cheap, opportunity for our company to explore the city. Part of the game is hunting down the scooters themselves. It's an adventure. Here are some places I got to see thanks to Bird, Uber, and a hurricane:
Sarah and I found Pittypat’s Porch for Southern dining on our first night. We sat on the porch and lived our Scarlett O'Hara dreams by eating cornbread, biscuits, and muffins while drinking Watermelon punch and the appropriately named Hurricane down Peachtree.

Our second afternoon in Atlanta began with a sea lion show in the Georgia Aquarium. They're so similar to dogs, it's fascinating. We also saw the dolphin show and the aquarium's four whale sharks, which were rescued from being eaten in Thailand and shipped via UPS for free. 

Tin Lizzy’s is open late and makes a great veggie quesadilla.

Our third day started with an accidental Uber ride to Bread and Butterfly. This was fortunate for me, because I heard about their wonderful pistachio macaroons, I even dreamed about them the night before, but I didn't think I would go because they were kind of far away, too far to scooter, so I thought I wouldn't get to explore their flavors. But, due to a communication error, my cast and I ended up there and I purchased one macaroon, received two, and then ate them both before getting into another Uber to find the actual place we were supposed to go for brunch.

The High Museum usually offers a student ticket rate, but since a majority of the exhibits are closed for renovation tickets were sold half the price of adult admission. We walked through their collection of paintings and sculptures titled The Outlier and views the works of Gertrude Koch, Mina Lowry, and Janet Sobel.  Koch and Lowry sketched with graphite, colored pencils, and ink and painted with watercolor, and the combination of these tools gave their pictures a photographic quality. I've included a photo of one of Sobel's works because it reminded me of the black lit 3D highlighter/sharpie drawings I saw at Meow Wolf a month ago.

Sonic Playground by Yuri Suzuki. noot noot.

Enamel on glass with oil and sand on canvas gives a similar effect as sharpie on highlighter under blacklight with special glasses.

Music Midtown was happening by the Atlanta Botanical Garden. We walked by both and entered neither but I'm sure they're magic.

I took a Bird to explore the other side of the city. I stopped a the MLK Memorial, the Krog Tunnel and Market (where I ate Fred’s & Yalla falafel pita), walked The Loop (which is lined with with historical photographs and articles about the Civil Rights Movement), and Ponce City Market (where I looked at bougie things and drank free water.)

For eating I recommend Ted’s Montana Grill. You are greeted with pickled cucumbers, which I learned are not the same as pickles. They have their own taste and now I only want those and never plain cucumbers or pickly pickles. Each table includes a map of the western prairie, and you are encouraged to try their freshly squeezed lemonade. Don't be surprised if it just shows up on your table for free. The veggie burger with pepper jack is delicious and so are the garlic mashed potatoes.
After you eat the garlic, ride the Skyview Ferris Wheel in Centennial Park and kiss your love. 

On our final morning, Marco and I climbed Stone Mountain. Our plan was spontaneous. I had heard of the mountain and wanted to climb it, but it's a half hour drive from the city, so I thought I would have to put that plan on hold, but luckily Marco told me he was planning on going and was open to letting me join. After a half hour of a smooth jazz Uber we hiked the giant granite boulder into the sunrise. The mountain is covered in small yellow flowers, pine needles, and not a lot of people at 6:30AM.

Here it is again