Thankfully, I have somehow recovered from the exhaustion of the past few 50/50 trips. Perhaps it’s the arrival of Memorial Day, heralding the summer season, or maybe it’s the copious amount of coffee and chocolate I’ve consumed in recent days. Whatever the cause, my enthusiasm and energy have returned.

And it’s a darn good thing, too, because while I have regained my traveling mojo, the rest of the family has lost theirs. Our plan was to fly to Atlanta for a Memorial Day weekend exploration of the south. But severe storms grounded all air traffic, including our flight to Atlanta. Looks like our luck has finally run out.

Our flight was originally scheduled to depart at 6:30pm, depositing us gently in Atlanta two hours later, just at bedtime. So much for that idea. We sat in the increasingly deserted airport terminal and watched our departure time creep from 6:30 to 8:30, to 10:00, and finally, to 10:30. Well past bedtime. One by one, each of the other members of this party approached me to beg, argue, scream, or cry. They all thought we should give it up, go home, and figure out another way to head south. I held firm, true to my role as The No-Nonsense-50/50-At-All-Cost-Enforcer. But hey, our days are definitely numbered here. There really was no good reason for us to give up on this flight — losing a little sleep never hurt anyone. This just proved once again that under the right circumstances, there can be distinct advantages to being driven, neurotic, obsessive-compulsive and bull-headedly stubborn. Could someone please tell Bill that? Meanwhile, onward to Georgia.

Atlanta International Airport was an amazing sight to behold. It’s the busiest airport in the world (really – no exaggeration) and at 1:00am on this early Friday morning, it was buzzing like Times Square. Hundreds, if not thousands of people were everywhere, waiting for flights to depart and arrive. We were shocked by all of the activity and the sheer size of the airport. All of the sights help keep our minds off the fact that we wanted to be asleep. One of us actually seemed to be asleep — he strolled absent-mindedly ahead of his devoted parents and managed to zig while the rest of us zagged. Thank goodness for text messages.

Atlanta Airport is another one of those magnificently gigantic things that every American should see, in order to grasp the enormity of this huge country. Some of our big things are bigger than some small countries: The Grand Canyon, Times Square, The Mall of America, Lake Superior, Mammoth Caves, and certainly, Atlanta Airport, just to name a few.

We walked for what seemed like miles to reach the train that would whisk us to the rental car facility — itself the size of a small city and located a few miles away. Alas, there would be no whisking. About 2 million other people had the same objective. We waited patiently behind hoards of people boarding trains until we finally moved to the front of the crowd. I was reminded of the clips I’ve seen of Japan’s bullet train, where workers politely shove passengers into the train’s compartments, just like sardines. We were definitely crammed like sardines, and even worse, nearly every passenger was lugging two or three wheeled suitcases behind them. Occasionally, a suitcase would flop sideways or smack into some unwitting passenger, but surprisingly, no passengers flopped to the floor in all the turmoil.

I’ve chronicled our pleasant encounters with rental car agents, but it was all we could do to keep from greeting the poor fellow in Atlanta with: GIVE US THE CAR. NOW. By 2:00am, we were finally snug in our beds.

* * * * *

Luckily, we had no early morning obligations in Atlanta, so we were able to sleep-in before hitting the sights. Once we finally opened our eyes, we headed to Centennial Olympic Park, centerpiece of the 1996 Olympics.

Not exactly sure what this is, but it was very torch-like

Not exactly sure who this is, but he was very Olympic-like

Close to the park were the headquarters of two very familiar Atlanta-based American icons: Coca Cola and CNN. These companies got their starts in Atlanta and have left an indelible mark on the country and the world.

Although we were moderately interested in the histories of Coke and CNN, the admission prices to the museums left us reeling. We opted to spend our money on lunch instead. Mary Mac’s Tea Room. Boy, was this a wise choice. As they say, OMG.

This place even has its own Wikipedia entry, which will tell you that the restaurant was opened in 1945 and serves classic Southern cuisine. What it doesn’t tell you is that you will never want to eat anywhere else again. Actually, you may never want to eat again, after gorging yourself here. OMG.

The waitress started us off with samples of pot likker, which is the soup made from the seasoned liquid left behind after boiling greens. Sounds appetizing, I know. Not half bad. As we waited for our meal, we watched an older waitress circulate among the tables, giving customers back rubs! Now that’s Southern hospitality. Here’s what we ate:

Pot likker
Cornbread with cracklins
Fried green tomatoes with horseradish
Tomato pie
Potato cakes
Hoppin’ john
Chicken fried steak
Creamed corn
Fried chicken
Macaroni and cheese
Mashed potatoes
Spiced apples
Chicken and dumplings
Pecan pie
Peach cobbler
Bread pudding
Strawberry shortcake

Tell me we weren’t honorary Southerners after that meal. Wow. We rolled out of the restaurant, and after passing a few other Atlanta landmarks, including the Capitol, we rolled out of the city, traveling along I-75 and I-85.

We passed a few farm stands as we drove through Georgia, but were just a little too early for peaches. We did see some Vidalia onions, pecans, and RAW peanuts for sale — which tasted to me like raw peas. We even passed through Dalton, a town famous for ….. floor coverings. Hey, they gotta grow all that carpeting somewhere.

Our last stop in Georgia felt very much like Tennessee. We were just inches from Chattanooga, but we were, technically, still in Georgia. Looming large over the landscape is Lookout Mountain, parts of which belong to Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama.

We traveled to the top of the mountain so we could SEE ROCK CITY. Surely you know all about Rock City?! It’s a place arguably more famous for its advertising than its attractions. The place itself is a moderately interesting collection of rock formations, sweeping vistas, and garden gnomes. But if you’ve traveled throughout the midwest, you might have seen advertisements for Rock City painted on barns. From the 1930s to the 1950s, over 900 barn roofs in 19 states from Michigan to Texas were painted. Here’s an example of a barn we could see from atop the mountain:

Some of the more interesting rock formations at Rock City include fat man’s squeeze, balancing rock, and lover’s leap.

The place had a wide variety of strategically placed garden gnomes, for some inexplicable reason.

My personal favorite attraction at Rock City was the commanding view from Lover’s Leap, which granted us glimpses into SEVEN different states! If only we could spend the night in this spot, we could knock all those states off the 50/50 list!

Now, a certain know-it-all high school student who happened to be traveling with us tried to convince me that seeing seven states was physically impossible, thanks to the curvature of the earth, or some such thing. What does he know? The sign says See Seven States. It’s written right there. I’m certain I saw all of them: Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. I think I could even see the Empire State building. It was quite a view. Well worth a long wait in a deserted airport.

35. Georgia
Peaches