South By Southeast: Atlanta Recap

Holla for Hotlanta!

I want to start out this entry by saying that I truly believe I deserve a commemorative t-shirt for surviving Atlanta traffic, both night AND day, and NOT getting in an accident. If anyone from the Georgia Board of Tourism is reading this, please email me and we'll work out the details.

But seriously, everything you've heard about Atlanta traffic is true. Holy cow! I admit, it was kind of thrilling at first. The challenge gave me a great adrenaline rush. The novelty wore off a little later on, though.

Still, Atlanta is huge and I know I only saw >1% of the city. That >1% was pretty cool, though. I arrived at my hosts' house fairly late in the evening, so I didn't do any sight-seeing that night. I did stop at a Kroger, though, because I'd never been a Kroger before and I was dorkily curious. I was underwhelmed by their Health Market section, but still appreciative that it was there.

I had a wonderful evening with my hosts, though, and we chatted all evening.

The next morning, I headed to a coffee shop recommended by one of my hosts: Dr. Barnaby's Underwater Tea Party (GREAT name!). I think this was near the Little Five Points area.


It was adorably decorated. I liked the vintage bird cages hanging from the ceiling.
They "offer" vegan options, but when I asked about them out of curiosity, I was told they didn't actually have anything vegan that day. Vegan fail!

I got my usual iced soy chai, which ended up being the weakest, most watery soy chai I've ever had. Double fail! Oh well. I was just there for the free wi-fi (which also kicked me off line three times).

As I headed back toward my car, I popped into a really cool store almost next door to Dr. Barnaby's that only sells products made by Atlanta artists.

There was so much cool stuff in this store. If I didn't already have a fully-packed car (and a limited budget), I would have picked up some gifts for friends.








I especially liked the fused glass items.

From there, I mosied on over to the Broadway Cafe for lunch with my new friend. This seemed like the best place for both of us: vegan options for me, and soup options for her (she had a tonsillectomy a few weeks ago).


What attracted me the most to this place was all the greasy, veganized comfort food items, all in the appetizer section (vegan blooming onion? vegan beignets? Vegan zucchini twists? I don't even know what that is, but it sounds good!). Still, thinking about a belly full of greasy food while on the road for a few more hours didn't sound so great. I went with the Mediterranean platter because falafel sounded really good at the moment.

I know, nothing exotic, but this was still really good. I only wished that there was either more falafel, or bigger falafel.

From here, I battled more Atlanta traffic, which was bad enough at 2pm on a Thursday to push me over an hour behind schedule. Luckily, I was not involved in any accidents, though there were a few close calls. Atlanta traffic: only the strong survive.

Coming up: Gainesville, Florida!

PS. Only one full day left to enter the Larabar giveaway. Check it out!