I am sitting on a couch in room 708 at the Windy Hill Hyatt as the setting sun glitters sherbert pink upon the Atlanta skyline; the flash of it reminds of a dress worn by Carrie in the "Sex and the City" movie. Sitting northeast of the city tonight, I have a close to picture-perfect view of Downtown Hotlanta, from the highest floor of the hotel and perched behind a dip in the leafy hills. Just Thursday, I was down in the midst of Downtown, dining on the 72nd floor of the Westin and traversing the Georgia Aquarium. Now, a weekend spent enjoying this southern city is a memory...a darn good one, at that.
I am amazed at the breadth of things Atlanta has to offer its guests. Picnic havens, Civil War-era squares, cocktails and views, museums and sports. John and I spent our second-ever weekend in Atlanta digging past the surface of the first two pages of the travel book, where we found some local delights. The Atlanta Botanical Garden, Harry's Farmer's Market and Martinis & iMax were among the off-the-beaten path highlights (although all sit in fabulous, not so off-the-beaten-path locales inside Atlanta). Nonetheless, the most traditional of Atlanta tourist spots is still one of my favorites: the Aquarium. The beluga whales and the Great Barrier Reef tank get me to come back every time. We also found ourselves enjoying what is outside of Atlanta's great perimeter: Chattanooga, Tennessee. North of Georgia, underneath the 90-degree sun, we tour the battlefields that saw the fight for Chattanooga between the North and the South and enjoy lunch at an ivy-dripped cafe on the bluffs of the Tennessee River.
Flag Day was just a few days ago - and we are reminded of the event in the town square of Marietta, Georgia . There, the preserved antebellum gathering spot is covered with waving American flags. It is patriotic, small town and simple - the sign, at the end of our weekend, that seals the deal: some summer days are best spent in the South.