A couple of months ago, I was toying with two potential group tours. One was a Death Valley photo trip that was pricey but very small. The other was a trip with Intrepid Travel thru the Southeastern US, with a focus on Black history. I ended up choosing the Intrepid tour for cost reasons - I'd get more days out of it. Turned out to be a lucky choice because the unexpected appearance of Hurricane Hilary in late August created a lot of devastation in the Death Valley area and the park is closed for the time being.
Today I started my trip by flying into Atlanta, the joining point of the tour. I spent an extra night at the hotel and had a couple of hours to kill. We are quite close to Centennial Olympic Park so that seemed like a good place to get a few steps in after a long flight.
The park has quite a bit of open space but a whole area off to one side consists of several water features dedicated to various Olympic themes or people.
I caught a squirrel playing chicken with a red-tailed hawk in one of the trees in the park.
So apparently Georgia squirrels are as brazen as the ones at home.
I had initially intended to grab a bite at the hotel cafe however the only people in there were some business men at the bar, no servers in sight. This had a distinctly unappealing air so I checked out Google Maps for some ideas. One that seemed promising and was close was By George.
Turned out to be a great choice. The service was fantastic from the start. I was greeted by the manager who stopped at my table to say hi. The server was wonderfully informed. The room is gorgeous. The restaurant is in the Candler Hotel (part of the Hilton chain) in a turn of the last century building funded by Coca-Cola founder Asa Candler, and was the first steel skyscraper in Atlanta. The dining room is high ceilinged with marble columns (of local Georgia stone) and beautiful chandeliers.
The manager told me the building was a bank at one point and offered to show me the basement vault after my meal.
With the help of my server, I chose the tomato & burrata salad, shrimp & grits, and peach bread pudding. The salad was delicious with excellent quality grape tomatoes and nice burrata.
The shrimp was outstanding. At the server's suggestion I asked for them to tone down the heat. While it pushed my tolerance for 'piquante', the flavours were incredible. The bread pudding was quite good but not peachy enough. The price of the meal was very reasonable compared to what a similar might cost in LA.
After settling up, I was led downstairs past the kitchen to the small vault and safe deposit room. The detail on the inside of the safe doors was amazing and I loved the touch of whimsy with the 'gold' bars and Coke bottles.
The front room of the space was laid out with a table and place settings and I was told that they are planning to do up the room as a chef's table for the holidays.
On my way out, the manager showed me the chandelier hanging in the ornate marble stairwell. He had quite a story about how it was found in a storage crate completely intact in perfect working order!
All in all, what a wonderful introduction to Atlanta and southern hospitality.
Tomorrow morning I meet the group and my roommate for the week. Hoping it's a fun group.
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