Ivan and I went on vacation to Georgia last week, partly because I really, really wanted to go to the Georgia Aquarium ever since I saw a piece about it on TV years ago, but mostly because we needed a vacation. So we headed south, to the land of Ray Charles, peaches, and Spanish Moss. A photo album of our adventures is on the side bar over there.
We arrived in Atlanta a little after noon on Thursday and had a little celebrity sighting at the baggage claim (Hilary Duff and her posse). Sorry, no photographic evidence because Ivan wouldn't let me. Nuts. Anyway, we picked up our rental car and headed straight to the Aquarium. The Georgia Aquarium is AMAZING. It's giant, first of all. Five exhibition branches, a football field-size tank with three (!!!) whale sharks, a hammerhead, a saw shark, and thousands of other fish, and another giant tank with four (five?) Beluga Whales!, not to mention, a freshwater river exhibit (with tanks on the ceiling!), and a tropical exhibit with all the bells and whistles (nemos, jellyfish, and other exotic gems). The only bummer was that the penguin exhibit was down but damn, it had everything and the kitchen sink. Check out the pics because words cannot do it justice.
Dinner was a little bit on the wild side. I found this place called Daddy Dz's online that professes to have the best BBQ in Atlanta so, of course we had to go. Unfortunately, for us, it was harder to get to than we thought. We took a couple of wrong turns and wound up in the middle of what seemed to be a drug sting (I kid you not). The police had us pull over and you know, the standard license and reg, etc. When it became clear that we were clearly clueless tourists, they actually wound up giving us directions to Daddy Dz's and it was all good. Now, we didn't bring our camera with us to dinner and I really regret it because it's the kind of place that needs to be seen to be believed. I mean, their motto is, "We Ain't Pretty, But We're Good." There was a giant black metal cut-out of a pig in the front and the menus were in a shopping cart. The eclectic decor soon faded into the background as we devoured some damn good ribs and fried okra. We ate until we fell into a coma.
The next morning, we took the 3+ hour drive to Savannah and did a trolley tour of the quaint historic district. The city is laid out in squares and is everything I imagined Savannah to be, dainty, fancy houses with beautiful gardens, Spanish moss draped live oaks, a step back in time, truly. Dinner on River Street (a little like New Orleans, I imagine, with restaurants and fun stores lining a cobblestone road overlooking the river) where we ate raw oysters to our heart's content (they were so cheap!), and then on to a spooky ghost tour. Savannah is supposed to be pretty damn haunted and we were really looking forward to some ghost spotting, but alas, nothing jumped out at us from behind any gravestones or drifted by in a dark window. We did hear some gruesome stories about hanged murderers and lecherous pirates. And all about the Yellow Fever that claimed many lives in Savannah. Apparently, because the second stage of Yellow Fever is a coma so deep, you seem to be dead, they often buried people alive and sometimes, they would wake up, and if they're lucky enough, be found wandering confused through the cemetery. Imagine what happened to the unlucky ones. They tried to keep this from happening by tying little strings to the plague victim's little toe and attaching it to a bell above-ground, just in case they woke up. If the grounds keepers heard a bell ringing, they would attempt a rescue but how creepy would that be, to hear that on your watch. I think I'd run away.
The next day, we drove out to Tybee Island, just east of Savannah for some seafood and beach. Lunch was at the Crab Shack, an awesome seafood heaven by the water. Ivan and I once again ate ourselves into a coma before hauling our widening asses over to the beach for some sun. The beach was hoppin' owing to the fact it was a gorgeous sunny day. We sipped a pina colada on the pier and watched some fishermen test their luck. Then, we climbed a nice lighthouse. As the sun began to set, we reluctantly left Tybee, waved a tearful goodbye to Savannah and headed back to Atlanta.
The drive back to Atlanta made us plenty hungry so we picked a place in a random guide from the hotel. Dinner at the Atlanta Fish Market was a little bit of a surprise. I expected it to be a real fish market with some divey restaurant next to it, but no, it was this poshy, upscale place with valet parking and fancy everything. But because we were exhausted and hungry, we decided to go for it. I think I'm the only person who can be disappointed by a place being too nice but I had my heart set on some really down and dirty open-air joint with buckets of fish on ice and salty fishmongers hollering at one another.
We left Georgia the next morning at an ungodly hour (6:30 AM!!!!) and made it home before noon. Georgia was beautiful and fun and we would totally go there again. I love going on vacation with Ivan, and I'm already thinking about where we should go next. Wherever it is though, I hope there's a big stinky fish market there.
I'm just saying, if you're spending the day in Cambridge and want to walk the expanse of Mass Ave between Central Square and Porter Square, you can hit both stores along the way. Now that I think about it, my next post is going to be "My perfect Cambridge day."