Category Archives: Photos and Travel

Decatur Restaurants and Driving Back to SC

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Decatur is a short drive from Stone Mountain.

December 4, 2011 – Decatur, GA, has some really good restaurants. As in, the kind that make you wonder if you can find a way to move to be closer to them (sadly, that’s not looking like a possibility).

First up is the Brick Store Pub. We parked a few blocks away and walked over, since the lot by the store is so small (no biggie, plus parking is free on Sundays!). The ambience is great even before you walk in. A thick wooden door, along with an artistic stained glass image of a beer stein, let you know what you’re in for. Except then the interior surprises you. It’s not large, but the ceilings are high, there’s exposed brick on the walls, lots of light coming through the windows, and a few plants further brighten the space. We snagged a high top table, checked the menus (which are also pretty neat) and decided on a few draft beers to start the meal. Tony picked a great one – Scaldis Noel; it started off caramal-y and eventually turned sweeter, like pear. Louisa played it a bit safer with an American brew (Founder’s Favorite) that tasted a bit like Guinness. This one started out tasting like coffee, and after a few seconds reminded you of chocolate Devil’s Food cake. Lunch was a sampling of dishes – fish and chips, the pierogi appetizer, and a cup of curry. The fish and chips were good, but not overwhelmingly amazing. The pierogies were very good – lightly fried, buttery, served on a bed of buttery sauteed onions and nuts with a hint of fresh basil. The curry, though, was the star of the show. It was a thick sweet potato and chick pea mix, served over rice and with a side of (house made) pita chips. It’s better than curry we’ve gotten from our favorite Indian restaurants.

We took a stroll around the block after lunch, and agreed that we were much too stuffed to consider dessert. Then we wandered by this coffee shop called Java Monkey. Well, we only walked by it because Louisa had Tony look it up on his phone, and this was the best reviewed coffee shop. And it’s good. We had a iced mocha and an espresso con panna… and a slice of chocolate pb mousse cake. The coffee was very good. And that cake was fabulous – chocolate cake, topped with pb mousse, topped with ganache, with chocolate cookie crumbs pressed along the outside of the cake.

We had an uneventful drive back, except for finding a Five Guy’s for dinner in Columbia. This was probably the best Five Guy’s we’ve been to – perfectly done, highly seasoned Cajun fries, and really juicy burgers.  If you’ve never been to a Five Guys, be sure to check out the free peanuts and their massive list of toppings (especially the sauteed onions and mushrooms).

Reviews:

Brick Store Pub on Urbanspoon Java Monkey on Urbanspoon Five Guys Famous Burgers on Urbanspoon

Chattahoochee River and Stone Mountain

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We started our day with a trip to Morgan Falls.

December 4, 2011 – Sunday dawned grey and windy, but nothing that a sweatshirt couldn’t fix.  Our first stop was a little park by a power plant for a quick walk through the woods by the Chattahoochee River.  We liked getting up into the hills, with the trees and singing birds. :)

Sweatshirts were a necessary part of the morning.

Afterward we continued on to Stone Mountain.  There is an aerial tram ride to the top, but we wanted to walk it.  It’s a pretty trail, and fairly easy - although there is one ridiculously steep section near the top (I think the slope was about 30 degrees for a bit).  Other than that, though, it’s a quick hike.  Plus there’s some pretty graffitti from the 1800s…. you know, back when rock carvings were well done (and people took pride in their work – but I digress).  Social commentary aside, there’s also a nice breeze, good views (even if it’s a bit cloudy/hazy), and a restroom awaiting you at the summit.

There's always something impressive about trees growing out of granite rock.

Once the hike down was over we drove around the mountain (note: it’s a one way road, folks, and no, the fact that you’re only going one way doesn’t mean you get to choose the direction!) to check out the Civil War memorial carving.  The carving is well done, though it’s dwarfed by the size of the giant granite rock (i.e. Stone Mountain) itself.  Compared to Mt. Rushmore, it’s definitely nice, but a bit underwhelming.

Movie Time!

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There's nothing like a movie after battlefields and BBQ.

December 3, 2011 – Saturday night after dinner sounded like the perfect time for a movie date. We were pleasantly surprised to find that in Cumming, GA, a few miles from our hotel, was a great, fairly new AMC theatre with stadium seating. And an 8:20 showing of Puss in Boots. We had fun at the movie, and noticed that there are a lot of other little shops in the same plaza.

Olympic Rings, Battlefield walk and Coffee

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The Olympic Park is very close to the aquarium.

December 3, 2011 – Once we finished lunch we continued past the Aquarium and a few blocks to Centennial Park, home of the Olympic fountain, which is shaped like the Olympic rings. This area is a pretty park in the middle of downtown Atlanta, complete with (Christmas) trees, elevated fire pits leftover from the 1996 Olympic games, the CNN studios… and hundreds of LSU and UGA fans going to the Georgia Dome for the SEC championship game. We bypassed most of the craziness and headed towards Martin Luther King Jr’s boyhood haunts. Once we were within a few blocks we decided that was close enough, and it was time to get out of the city.

The battlefield is a great place to walk... or relax.

Past Marietta is Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, which is complete with a variety of nice walking trails, rolling hills, trees, and chickadees and blue birds. This was just what we needed to counteract the craziness of the football crowds.

Yep, definitely a good place to relax.

It wasn’t quite time for dinner, so we spent a few minutes at a Daily Grind coffee shop, enjoying a blended mocha that tasted like an amazing chocolate milkshake, and a caramochanut latte (hot, thank you). Their scones looked great – we chose the white chocolate raspberry scone. It was quite good, particularly if you have them warm it up. This is a great coffee shop. And their frozen/blended drinks are perfectly smooth, a real rarity. Oh, and there’s a back room you can rent… I think there were about 6 women playing bridge, it looked like an intense game. ;-)

Reviews:

Daily Grind Coffee House & Cafe on Urbanspoon