One BIG Atlanta Post

Atlanta was pretty great. This was my first time visiting, but I was certain I would love it, and I did. Most of Atlanta reminded me of Massachusetts with the older houses, and some dirty parts of the city, smaller unique restaurants…. and even the gloomy weather. We stayed with Erics sister’s family in her awesome historical neighborhood of Cabbagetown. The houses and the graffiti were very neat. I really love towns and cities with a lot of character… and Atlanta definitely had it. We decided to drive up there instead of fly because neither Eric or I love flying and we would be able to bring as much of Marlowe’s things as we thought we might need. It was a long drive (8 hours… 9 with our lunch break), but the weather was beautiful and Marlowe slept happily in the back. The ride back however took much much longer because we were stuck in an awful storm and we didn’t make it back until almost 2 in the morning. Sara and her family are amazing. It was great staying with them (and their many kitties). Sara even babysat Marlowe on New Years Eve so Eric and I could slip out for a few hours.Considering we were traveling with a 3 month old we really got to see and do a lot. I can’t wait to make it back there.

The first night there was very low key. Both Eric and I seemed pretty delirious from exhaustion. Jason (Sara’s husband) treated us to dinner at Fritti. They had a pizza similar to the one I order at Pizzeria and the best fried mushrooms. Afterwards Sara watched Marlowe while Eric and I walked to the bar down the street for about an hour. The next morning Sara, Cassie, Eric, Marlowe, and I went for a stroll to Stone Soup Kitchen  for some brunch before heading off to the aquarium. I loved how every place we went had at least one vegan option.

The Aquarium was kind of a let down. I was beyond excited for weeks and months about the aquarium but pretty much as soon as we got there we wanted to leave. It would have been amazing if it wasn’t disgustingly crowded. We should have expected it to be this way since it is winter vacation and everything, but we didn’t and we definitely were not prepared for the crowds. If it weren’t for the huge number of people it would have been incredible and one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. Oh well, we still got to see amazing fish.

After our lunch/early dinner we headed back to Sara’s to relax a bit. We had planned to head out to Eric’s favorite Atlanta bar (possibly all-time favorite bar?) but Marlowe was feeling very tired and a bit under the weather so we stayed in and ordered a vegan pizza from the neighborhood pizza joint, Village Pizza.

The next morning we had breakfast with Sara at the Flying Biscuit Cafe, but not before stopping at the market across the street to pick up Eric’s favorite ginger ale. We then spent the day at a huge international market picking out lots of random goodies to bring back.

That night was New Years Eve. We had originally planned on going to Atlanta much much earlier in the week, but after Eric found out a band he really enjoys was playing New Year’s night at The Earl we changed our plans a bit to go later in the week. I had never seen Gentleman Jesse and His Men before, but they were quite enjoyable. It was a nice low(ish) key New Years and one of the first New Years where I didn’t really dress up.

We ended our trip the next day by stopping at Holy Taco for some very delicious food and one of the better tacos I have experienced.