<p>Joev, Last summer, our family of four did a few days vacation in Atlanta, and I got hoodwinked into going to Ikea. After about 10 minutes and begging to have each and every one of my fingernails pulled out one by one, my son and I bailed out and left. My wife and daughter stayed and shopped for a few more hours in absolute bliss. My son and I went and looked at cars. The next day we went to a Braves game which my son and I loved. My wife and daughter looked bored out of their minds.</p>
<p>Lukester-
thats funny. Nest time take them to the Thrashers! Love those hockey fights!</p>
<p>Binx, that lewis grizzard thing is awesome. I must see if I can buy a copy off ebay or something. and in an official paper! to ease the search: What year was it do you remember?
LOL, this behavior of this writer reminds me of something friends and I used to do few years back: pick out the most expensive&formal places (car dealers, returants, hotels…etc) then dress very, very cheap (like thrift-store-or-less cheap. or if a LandRover + dealer, we would drive in the yard in a $500 car) and tape the staff’s reaction to our apperance, then wait a week or 2, change the way we look/drive completly and observe the staff’s reaction. I find the blank column thing similar in the way people are often <em>forced</em> to stay within a funny norm.</p>
<p>Jym, how long did your H stop and when before continuing? That’s something I would never have the luxury of doing in a marathon. a stop to me is final. it may be just in my head though.</p>
<p>and stone mountain, what a place!! There actually are people living right next to it not even a 100 yrd from the fence? I would love to live near a place like that. binx youre lucky :)</p>
<p>the laser show was too…hmmm…(American?) playng mostly ‘truckers’ music, and it was cool except:</p>
<p>1) Addvertisment: they actually had ads at the begining of the show? that was annoying, and im surprised i didnt read it anywhere on reviews about the show…etc</p>
<p>2) Security/FBI: not the first, 2nd, or last time I have an awkward encounter with them. If you see how I look you would know why (it’s very interesting how they take the same approach everytime to ‘check me out’. Indicates consistent training nation-wide), though they just wnat to make sure everybody is safe. This time the guy comes up to me introduces himself, sits down then leaves after less than 2 minutes of silence, which was very rude. they normally, after the initial introduction, ask what’s in the bag and if they can take a look at it…etc</p>
<p>the aquarium was quite educating.</p>
<p>also, is the city poplulated with mostly gay african american men? or am I stereotyping more than I should? I have no way of judging but by their distinctive cloths/gear, the way they talk and interact</p>
<p>McCormick&Shmick’s sounds interesting. I havn’t been to one before. (menu changes twice a day?!) is it worth a stop? </p>
<p>Here is what I wrote in post #8 that I like places that “get really ‘exotic’ and creative with vegetables and/or seafood, especially vegetables”</p>
<p>and tomorrow is another cramed day.</p>
<p>I did a Google on the game score, (35-18) and came up with Dec 2 1984 as the probable date of the column. By the way, Grizzard is pronounced with the accent on the second syllable (as opposed to rhyming with Lizard.)</p>
<p>I’m glad you’re enjoying Atlanta. I admit when we first moved here from PA, my first thoughts were, “Wow. Why doesn’t everybody live here?” My stereotypes of the south didn’t include so much urban-ness, and I was surprised at how green Atlanta was then. (It has a lot more concrete now!)</p>
<p>I haven’t been to the laser show since 2003 - right before we moved to Germany. But yes, it has always veered a bit toward the red-neck. I think the ads have probably been introduced by Silver Dollar City management. There has always been a Coke ad at the beginning, but that’s about it. We all absolutely enjoy the Braves games. We took a German friend there last fall – she had first visited a friend in Chicago, and attended a baseball game there, too. She said Atlanta was so much more fun because the fans get into it. She did the wave, the tomahawk chop, had hot dogs and peanuts, took her picture by all the statues, etc.</p>
<p>My German friend was here for a week in October. We did the Braves game on Saturday, Stone Mountain on Tuesday (Ducks, cable car, plantation, museum…), CNN, World of Coke on Wednesday, Atlanta Symphony on Thursday, and a ton of shopping in between. Not IKEA, though, since they have those in Germany.</p>
<p>Another thing to do at Stone Mountain, which is free except for park admission, is to climb it. We try to do that every once in awhile, too. The weather has been so lovely, it would be worth doing. Views are terrific. Take water with you! (Last time I climbed up, took the cable car down. Should have done it the other way, but I was afraid of the descent with my bad knee.)</p>
<p>Areas of inner city Atlanta are still very segregated, with a large African American community around the stadium area. There have been some attempts at urban renewal, but I don’t know how much impact it has had. Since we’re outside Atlanta proper, I don’t pay a lot of attention to the politics and such in the city.</p>
<p>Hi jym626 - My H and I both like pretty basic American or Italian fare. On our most recent visit, we went to several Decatur restaurants: Wahoo! and Feast. I really enjoyed my meal at Feast and would go back there again. Wahoo! was good, but I’m not sure I would revisit. On a previous trip, we went to Dominick’s in Norcross (excellent) and went to a great restaurant in the Highlands (?) section, something with Murphy’s in the name. That was also really good, but I can’t remember the whole name. I would love to find another really good Italian place to go. My H and I loved the breakfast places we found; one notable one being Crescent Moon (also in Decatur). Georgians sure love breakfast:) Thanks in advance for any additional tips.</p>
<p>Dogwood-
Dont know the restaurants in teh Decatur area,I am afraid. As for Italian, my alltime favorite was unfortunately sold to someone else and was absolutely dreadful when we went for Valentines day. The original owner doesw own another restaurant, but I forget the name off hand, I’ll have to ask my h. He is out of town. I’ll check with him.</p>
<p>Mel—</p>
<p>you might want to try a tapas restaurant for somemore unusual takes on vegetables or seafood. Atlanta has a few good ones. there’s Tu Tu Tapas in Buckheadgood people watching on the patio) and I’ve also been to good tapas places in Virginia Highlands and also an excellent place in a sort of out of the way place that also had good music (I’LL have to ask my son for the names of the other two places ).</p>
<p>The other 2 tapas places (not in Va-Highland) are owned by the same co. One is called “Twist” and the other is “Shout”.</p>