Atlanta, Georgia

We pulled in to Atlanta about 6:45 and were greeted by Rachel Kachur (with arms raised as in victory), LVL’s friend from grad school at Emory. Can’t imagine a better welcome to the city than a BBQ at Rachel K. and Simmy’s. On the guest list were several friends from Emory and from LVL’s time in Atlanta, including:

• Rachel Woodruff, Fred, and their young son, Spencer
• Rachel K’s sister, Sarah
• Laura Zauderer Baldwin
• Susan
• Simmy’s friend, Craig
• LVL’s old hair stylist, Amy

Two Rachels, two Lauras, and a great spread of food and drink. Grilled chicken, BBQ pork,** several different types of salad, a “special” grapefruit and basil vodka drink, various New Belgiums, Sweetwater 420s, and at least one gluten free beer. We all shoveled it in, either in the dining room or on the porch outside. Hot and a little buggy, but great fun. Topics of convo include Turtle Bay and tons of other stories about visits to Hawaii, Gen-Con and comic book movies, our trip, and – of course – the heat.

After dinner, we all set up in front of Rachel and Simmy’s garage, where they have rigged up a movie screen and a projector. Naturally, “Wedding Crashers” was the selection. Actually, we chose it over J.Lo in “The Wedding Planner” and “Father of the Bride.” Easy choice, and the perfect one, especially on that screen. Video and audio both really clear, which is unlike any other outdoor movie experience I’ve ever had. If/when we have any sort of outdoor space to call our own, I’m going to splurge on a set-up just like that one. Pretty sweet.

LVL has great friends from every station in her life, and her group from Emory is no exception at all. Friendly, funny, and totally welcoming.

Ended the night with Craig, Rachel, and Simmy, sitting on their screened-in porch with talking about Hawaii, the roadtrip, and other stuff. R/S visited Hawaii in October and brought back a plumeria cutting. Amazingly, it has survived the last nine months and is even flowering right now. Pretty amazing. Hope they have a planned for the winter.

** The BBQ pork was a showstopper. Better than almost all of the BBQ I’ve had thus far (except maybe the ribs at Leonard’s, our Memphis joint), and totally homemade. I guess Laura Z’s neighbor is an avid BBQer who makes a lot and tends to give generously. Very glad we were able to reap what he sewed.

Late to bed, late-ish to rise, though we both could have probably used a bit more sleep. Hung out and drank coffee until about 1, when we hopped in Rachel and Simmy’s SUV, headed toward the Bagel Palace, the “only Jewish deli in Atlanta,” according to Rachel.

Per usual, unbearably hot outside. A bit cloudy though, which helped a little.

Set back from the street in a huge strip mall, BP looks pretty nondescript from the outside. Just as unassuming inside, with an understated but funny dining room surrounded by display cases and even a book shelf. The deserts in the case looked amazing. We were there for breakfast/brunch, however, and stuck to eggs and bagels. For me, bacon and cheese with an everything bagel and chive cream cheese. So good, esp the cream cheese. LVL went with her old stand-by, a spinach/feta omelet with bagel, etc. Similar orders for both Rachel and Simmy. Hit the spot. Our cheerful waitress was also pretty memorable.

Spent an hour back at R/S’s place before heading out in the Subaru for a little sightseeing in the ATL. Both exhausted and lethargic from the heat, we didn’t last much longer than an hour and saw little more than the Varsity burger joint (which Simmy and Rachel talked about on our drive back from the BP), Decatur (including LVL’s old house, shared with Kari), Emory and the public health school, the place where Rachel and LVL took banjo lessons, and some other random things. Sad to have missed both the King and Carter Centers, but time was too short.

I’m not really able to get a fix on Atlanta. Though I’m very comfortable making snap judgments about other cities (Memphis = bad; Little Rock = good), it's harder with Atlanta. It’s not the most aesthetic city in the world, though the tall trees that line many of the streets are great and give off a very homey, comfortable vibe. Many of the buildings and storefronts are sorta run down, and there does seem to be spots of poverty sprinkled across many of the commercial areas. Granted, I haven’t seen the downtown area and can’t really comment on much beyond the one or two places we’ve spent time. The residential neighborhoods I’ve seen have a suburban feel: leafy and quiet, lined with big houses and tall trees.

We chilled for a while, enjoying the white wine Laura Z gave LVL. The bottle was from Chateau Elan Winery, the sight of LZ and LVL’s first Atlanta outing together. Such a thoughtful gift. Dinner with Simmy and Rachel consisted of leftovers from yesterday’s BBQ and Rachel’s spaghetti/roasted tomato/basil dish, made fresh. Great food, and so nice to have a home-cooked meal and to get a bit of time to chat with R/S.

After dinner, Rachel, LVL, and I drove fifteen minutes or so to Stone Mountain, a private theme park just outside of the city. The name of the park derives from a huge granite dome that sits at the center of the grounds, and is, according to Wiki, canvas to “the largest bas-relief in the world.” The “relief” is 90’ x 190’ and could easily be considered the Confederacy’s Mount Rushmore: Stonewall Jackson, Jefferson Davis, and Robert E. Lee are shown sitting atop their favorite horses.* Though we didn’t get close enough to really check it out, its sheer size is quite impressive.

Also impressive/surreal/appalling/sad is the unabashed and seemingly unflagging dedication to preserving the memory and 18th and 19th century southern “history.” In addition to the rock, Stone Mountain is also a theme park built around the antebellum south, complete with replicas of plantation houses, slave quarters, lessons on how to churn butter, and so on.** The kids will love it!!! Maybe I’m missing the point or being overly touchy-feely/PC, but that such an embarrassment exists in 2010 is way beyond me.

We tried to ignore these facts as we set up our folding chairs in time for the nightly fireworks/laser show to begin. The huge field facing the rock was covered with people of all ages, though it seemed to be mostly families with young kids, teenagers escaping parents, and couples. About half black, half white.

About 9:45, shortly after a man’s voice comes over the PA and welcomes everyone, the show started, with a medley of jock jams like “Who Let the Dogs Out,” “Pump up the Jam,” “Whoomp (There It Is!),” and “Y’all Ready for This.” As the music blasted, laser light cartoon figures played out sports scenes, mascots for Georgia Tech and UGA got some love, and the crowd went wild.

After the “sports” themed medley, we were treated to an homage to “heroes,” complete with laser scenes of firemen, teachers, soldiers, etc. and a mix of still images of real life heroes. The cheesy goodness of the laser/photo show and Mariah Carey’s “Heroes” made this easily the highlight of the show.

A good candidate for low point was the extended tribute to the South. As Elvis’s “Dixieland” played, a young laser light confederate soldier (R.E. Lee?) led the crowd through scenes from the Civil War from a southern perspective. At one point, both Rachel and I thought he was going to cry. The word offensive comes to mind. Tasteless is another. How are parents explaining this stuff to their kids?

Despite the bizarre content of the show and the strangeness of paying to spend time in a theme park dedicated to perpetuating the memories of the pre-Civil War south, we all had quite a good time. The weather was good (a bit muggy, but no rain until the very end of the night) and the spectacle of it all kept us highly entertained. We did manage to forget both of our cameras, but thankfully were able to get a disposable one before the show started. Fingers crossed that it worked.

* Interestingly, Gutzon Borglum, the artist who sculpted Mt. Rushmore, spent some time working on Stone Mountain in the 1920s.

** While doing a bit of research online we found out that the second ever KKK chapter was formed at Stone Mountain and several Klan meetings were held there. MLK also mentioned SM in his “I Have a Dream Speech.”

We got up pretty late, with both Rachel and Simmy long gone for work. Chilled for a bit and then packed up and hit the road, bound for another of LVL’s favorite brunch spots. She claims that Atlanta is home to one of (if not the) country’s best breakfast/brunch scenes. Ria’s Bluebird certainly fit the bill. Despite the heat, we sat outside on a covered patio next to a fountain and several cool old metal signs. My biscuits and gravy was pretty good (a little dry) but not as good as either LVL’s juevos or the banana-pecan pancakes we shared.

On the road to Wilmington, NC about 1 pm. The driving became much easier as we broke out of the Atlanta metro area. Lots of traffic, trees, a few towns, and not much noteworthy sightseeing. After an hour or so on a nondescript stretch of I-20, we crossed the border into South Carolina.

More straight, flat, mostly nondescript driving almost all the way across SC. We did pass through Columbia (though if not for the signs you couldn’t really tell) and a few other mid-sized towns before switching on to I-95. More of the same there, with the exception of the quirky and unavoidable signs for something called “South of the Border” that appeared seemingly every half mile for about an hour.

Finally, just before the North Carolina border, our questions were answered. South of the Border is a Mexican-themed amusement park, hotel, and restaurant oasis in the middle of farmland and not much more. On the model of Wall Drug, the marketing seems to work.