Beginner's Guide to Georgia

Days Three and Four

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After a restful day two, hopefully you’ll have plenty of energy for day three, because it’s full. Start out by heading to the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site on Auburn Avenue. The National Park museum has exhibits displaying the history of the civil rights movement and King’s role in it, while the King Center highlights some of his philosophical influences and ideas. The highlight of the morning, however, might very well be sitting in a pew at Ebenezer Baptist Church and listening to recordings of speeches and sermons by the great orator. Just down the street, you’ll find King’s boyhood home, which is also open to the public.

Before you leave the area, have some traditional southern food on Auburn Avenue. Don’t drink too much, though, because after lunch you’re heading to the World of Coca-Cola. The World of Coca-Cola has historical exhibits, a working old-fashioned soda fountain, and a tasting room. Assuming you get out of the World of Coca-Cola by 4:30 or so, stay in the area (note: the World of Coca-Cola will move downtown in 2006) and visit Underground Atlanta. This is a quaint underground mall where you can find any Atlanta souvenirs you might want. Around 6:30, catch the shuttle bus to Turner Field, just in time for the 7:05 first pitch of the Braves game. Get a hot dog at the game and cheer for Chipper Jones, John Smoltz, and crew.

Before you go to sleep on this third night, make your plans for day four because it’s a special interest day. If you’re a big Gone with the Wind fan, go tour Margaret Mitchell’s home and see her grave at Oakland Cemetery. If you’re an American history fan, however, you won’t want to miss the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum. Finally, if you need another day of rejuvenation, check out the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Depending on your energy level, you could probably get to two of these three activities in one day, so simply decide what your priority is.

As an alternative to all of these, head to Buckhead. Buckhead has the biggest shopping mall in the south in Lenox Square Mall, as well as some of Atlanta’s five-star restaurants.

Days Five and Six

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Days five and six will be kid-friendly days. Even if you don’t have kids, some of these activities will likely appeal to you, but if they don’t, use days five and six to catch up on the activities that you didn’t get to earlier in the week.

You’ll stay in the city for day five. Make your priority Zoo Atlanta , particularly if your kids are interested in animals. Even if your kids didn’t enjoy the aquarium earlier in the week, they might enjoy the pandas at the zoo. Spend as much time there as your kids want, and if you have leftover time, head over to the Imagine It! Children’s Museum.

Make your day six plans based on your kids’ interests, but in any case, think about heading outside of town for the day. Stone Mountain Park is one option. The mountain is impressive, and so is the weekly laser light show and the tram ride (or hike) to the top of the mountain. A lot of kids, however, might prefer Six Flags or Six Flags White Water, twin amusement parks just twenty miles away from the city. Finally, if your kids still haven’t had enough animals, head to Tanglewood Farms, which is an impressive petting zoo.

Day Seven

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Well, you’re finally here: your last day in Atlanta. Take a quick stock of where you are and finish up any remaining activities. In addition, keep in mind that much of your seventh day could be taken up with packing and/or traveling to the airport.

If you have a rental car, you might want to spend another day outside of Atlanta. Nearby Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area or Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield can provide a nice diversion.

You may also want an Atlanta souvenir to take home, and you can find some great ones at Underground Atlanta or at Little Five Points. If you are going to visit Little Five Points, make sure you go in time to get breakfast at the famous Flying Biscuit Café. Finally, if it’s just good deals you want, head to Dawsonville, Georgia, and the North Georgia Premium Outlets.

Sources:

http://www.olcg.com
http://www.fodors.com
http://www.cityguide.travel-guides.com
http://www.usatourist.com
http://travel.yahoo.com
http://www.frommers.com
http://about.com

Atlanta Neighborhoods

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The city of Atlanta has nearly a half million residents, and metro Atlanta has more than ten times that amount. The city is less than one hundred sixty years old, but it has truly become the “Capital of the New South.” The millions of Atlantans cluster into neighborhoods and suburbs, many of which retain a distinct character. If you’ve ever visited Atlanta, some of the areas listed below will likely be familiar to you, but several will be new.

· Downtown: Downtown Atlanta is the commercial center of Atlanta, and until recently it had few housing options. Over the past ten years, however, a number of apartments, condos, and lofts, have appeared in this high-rent, commercial area. If you expand downtown, however, the area includes small residential communities such as Sweet Auburn on Auburn Avenue.

· Buckhead: Buckhead has the most luxurious apartments and condominiums in the city. In addition, however, there remains a significant amount of old Atlanta luxury in the neighborhood.

· Midtown: Just north of downtown, Midtown is centered around Piedmont Park and is the cultural center of Atlanta. This area has a wide range of housing—from Victorian-style mansions to the opposite end of the spectrum. In the middle of this spectrum is the area’s sizable chunk of urban apartments.

· Virginia-Highland: The Highlands is a small high-rent artsy area that runs from Ponce de Leon Avenue to University Drive. A lot of university students try to live here, but the rent can be exorbitant for aspiring artists.

· Vinings: Vinings is somewhat of a secondary Buckhead. It is away from the main strips of town, but it offers luxurious living near shopping and dining establishments.

· East Atlanta: East Atlanta has had somewhat of a sketchy past, but Fannie Mae recently named it one of the two ten emerging city neighborhoods in the country. For the most part, it is a blue-collar crowd that lives and works here and is rebuilding the community.

· CandlerPark: Candler Park was one of the first integrated neighborhoods in the country and it remains culturally diverse today.

· InmanPark: Two miles east of downtown, Inman Park (like Candler Park) is on the edge of Little Five Points, a quirky shopping and dining area. A century ago, Inman was the place to live in Atlanta and after withstanding some rough years, it is making a comeback.

These neighborhood distinctions are very fluid. Some, for example, would make a distinction of Sweet Auburn or would include Inman Park in another neighborhood. In addition, there are scores of other neighborhoods that offer housing, including East Lake, Kirkwood, and Druid Hills. The above listings, however, are eight of the more prominent Atlanta neighborhoods, and when you move to Atlanta you can decide if you want to stay in one of these spots or search for a more hidden area.

Metro Atlanta Neighborhoods

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Atlanta is located in Fulton County, but the metro Atlanta includes, by any account, portions of Cherokee, Cobb, Dekalb, and Douglas counties as well. Most of the larger suburbs are on the north side of the city, north of the beltway but within thirty miles of downtown Atlanta. Below are a few of the most familiar suburbs:

· Alpharetta: Alpharetta is a town of about thirty-five thousand people that sits twenty-five miles north of Atlanta. It is less of a suburb than it is its own town, but if you do consider it a suburb, it is one of the nicer, but pricier, ones.

· Marietta: Marietta is a growing suburb located about fifteen miles northwest of Atlanta. The town has a very nice town square and tries to cultivate a small-town feel.

· Smyrna: Smyrna is another sizable suburb (more than thirty thousand residents), and it is only ten miles northwest of the city.

· Kennesaw: Kennesaw is northwest of Marietta and Smyrna, so it is a fairly lengthy drive from the city. On the other hand, it is a beautiful and historic area.

· Decatur: Decatur is only five miles east of downtown Atlanta and is actually still inside the beltway, along with North Decatur. It is a diverse city and offers the shortest commute of the suburbs discussed here.

· Forest Park: Just ten miles south of the city, Forest Park is close enough for a short commute. In addition, Forest Park has a diverse population of approximately forty percent white, thirty-five percent black, and twenty-five percent other ethnicities.

In these suburbs, you may be able to combine the small-town feel with the advantages of having a nearby big city. Like Atlanta proper, these suburbs have apartments for rent, but they also have houses with yards for sale. You will, however, spend much more time in your car, driving to and from work.

The Atlanta Real Estate Market

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Compared with other American metropolises such as New York, Los Angeles, and Boston, Atlanta has a more manageable cost of living. Perhaps that figure is part of the reason that Atlanta has undergone a housing boom over the last decade. As part of the city’s preparation for the 1996 Summer Olympics, the city underwent a massive renovation, and the building fanaticism hasn’t slowed since. It is difficult to take a walk around town without noticing all the emerging condominiums.

The average monthly rent in Atlanta is slightly below the national average, and you will get more amenities for your rent than you would elsewhere. Inside the city, you will pay approximately eight hundred dollars for a one bedroom/one bathroom apartment and one thousand to thirteen hundred dollars for a two bedroom/two bathroom. If you move out to the suburbs, however, you can likely save two hundred dollars or more, per month, off those prices.

When you start to search for a place to rent, look for an apartment near public transportation or near your workplace. The commute from Buckhead to downtown ten miles away can take nearly an hour on the busiest days. Many high-rise apartments, however, are located near major office buildings. If you want to rent a house rather than an apartment, you will need to look outside of downtown and Buckhead and into some of the more residential neighborhoods.

If you’re looking to buy a condominium or a house, buying prices are also lower than are those in other major U.S. cities. Even with the tremendous increase in prices over the past decade (the increase is slowing), the average home price in 2004 remained at $193,000. In some areas of town, you can find Victorian-style mansions for sale, but if you’re looking for a starter home, check out the south side of town.

Moving to Atlanta

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 20:55:54 +0000

Moving to any new place can be an exciting endeavor, and moving to Atlanta is no different. If you’re originally from outside the south, the weather (very humid and rarely below freezing), the food (fried), and the accent (“How ya’ll doin’?) will all take some getting used to. If you’re from a small town, the fast pace and traffic of city life will be an adjustment.

If possible, avoid moving to Atlanta at the busy times of year; try to move during the middle of the week and in the middle of the month. Make sure you get an accurate quote from the movers and that you know exactly what they will do for you.

Once you get settled in, you’ll have a hundred little details that you won’t realize you forgot until you arrive. Here is a head start, largely pulled from suggestions on http://atlanta.about.com:

· Auto Information: The Georgia Department of Motor Vehicles is your source for changing your license and your car’s registration. In addition, the Georgia Department of Transportation can provide you with traffic and road construction information.

· Schools: In addition to its many universities, Atlanta has a wide array of both public and private schools from pre-K to high school. Check out the Atlanta public schools at: http://www.atlanta.k12.ga.us/

· Address: Changing your address is free at the post office, and you can have your mail forwarded from your old address for several months. You’ll also want to change your address for all your bills and to have your utilities turned on at your Atlanta home.

· Voter Registration: Go to the Georgia Secretary of State’s web site at http://www.sos.state.ga.us to print the voter registration form.

Once you get to town, get to know your immediate area and then start to explore the rest of the city. The longer you live in Atlanta, the more you will discover.

Sources:

http://www.olcg.com

http://www.fodors.com

http://www.cityguide.travel-guides.com

http://www.usatourist.com

http://travel.yahoo.com

http://www.frommers.com

http://about.com

Restaurants

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 20:56:56 +0000

While great cuisine may not come to mind when you hear of Atlanta, the city does have an ample selection of great food, including traditional Southern fare. Whether it’s barbeque, Chick-Fil-A (which was founded near Atlanta) fried chicken, grits, soul food, or even non-Southern cuisine that you want, you can find it in Atlanta.

Without a doubt, the most famous Atlanta restaurant is the Varsity. The Varsity, which is near the Georgia Tech campus in Midtown, advertises itself as the world’s largest drive-in restaurant, and the interior contains nearly twenty cash registers and scores of tables and booths. The cooks throw out chili dogs, hamburgers, frosted oranges, and ice cream scoops by the hundreds as the cashiers bark “What’ll Ya Have?!” It’s cheap and a Georgia tradition.

For traditional Southern food, the best known options are Mary Mac’s Tea Room, The Colonnade, and Thelma’s Kitchen, which specializes in soul food. If it’s slightly more ethnic food you want, try Pasta da Pulcinella for affordable Italian or Mama Nina’s for Tex-Mex fare. Other highly recommended affordable meals include the breakfast at the Flying Biscuit Café in Little Five Points and the steaks and barbeque at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack in Midtown.

If you are willing to pay a little extra for more gourmet fare and classy ambiance, Atlanta has several options in that department as well. Bacchanalia in Westside Atlanta is routinely described as the hardest table to get. If it’s seafood you want, the Atlantic Fish Market in Buckhead and Canoe, which is on the Chattahoochee River in Vinings, have among the freshest and best fares. If you’d prefer steak, Bone’s is great for both lunch and dinner.

Atlanta Activities: History and Culture

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Even though the city of Atlanta is less than one hundred and sixty years old, it has experienced quite an impressive history in those years. Your visit to Atlanta is a great opportunity to learn about southern history and to experience some great high culture.

The Atlanta History Center can be a great starting point for learning about the city’s history. From there, head to the top Atlanta historical site: the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site. King’s boyhood home on Auburn Avenue is preserved, along with the active Ebenezer Baptist Church, which King and his father pastored. In addition, check out the King Center and the National Historic Site’s museum, which trace King’s influences and work and house his grave.

There’s more history than just Martin Luther King, however. The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum recounts the former Georgia governor’s four years in the Oval Office. If you’re a Gone with the Wind fan, you’ll probably want to see Margaret Mitchell’s house, and her grave in Oakland Cemetery. Finally, just outside the city is Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield, which was the site of a major battle in the Civil War.

Atlanta has some great cultural history as well, highlighted by the Fox Theater. The theater was built in the 1920s as a mosque, and the Moorish architecture continues to make it a popular spot for plays and events. The Woodruff Arts Center is a second great spot for the arts, and you may be in town in time for one of Atlanta’s great musical events, such as the Atlanta Ballet, Opera, or Symphony, which occasionally play there.

If you’d rather check out the visual arts, head over to the High Museum of Art. On the other hand, if you don’t think the art will entertain your kids check out the Imagine It! Children’s Museum. Whatever your interests are, chances are you can find it in Atlanta.

Atlanta Activities: CNN, Coke, and Shopping

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Aside for Martin Luther King, Jr., history and sports events, the two big tourist draws in Atlanta are the CNN Center and the World of Coca-Cola. CNN and Coke are two of America’s most popular exports, and both are centered in Atlanta.

The CNN Center is a large complex located downtown next to the Phillips Arena. The building, which has an enormous atrium, is home to offices, hotel rooms, and the world headquarters for Turner Broadcasting. If you’re interested, purchase a ticket (approximately ten dollars) for the hour-long guided tour. The tour takes you behind the scenes of a broadcast, shows you the history of Turner Broadcasting (which includes CNN, TBS, TNT, Headline News, and the Cartoon Network), and lets you look in on the news desk as the network records live.

For another eight to ten dollars, you can spend a few hours at the World of Coca-Cola. Exhibits describe the history of the world’s most popular drink and videos show Coke commercials and Coke’s impact around the world. The closing highlight, however, is the tasting room, where visitors can sample Coke beverages from around the world. A new World of Coca-Cola is set to open downtown in 2006, with an expansion of this popular attraction.

While you probably aren’t traveling to Atlanta strictly to shop, there is great shopping available. Underground Atlanta, near the current location of the World of Coca-Cola, is an historic underground mall with small shops, souvenir stands, and a few restaurants. Atlanta’s main modern malls are Lenox Square (one of the largest in the south) and Phipps Plaza, both of which are in Buckhead. Other malls include Little Five Points and Perimeter Mall, and thirty miles south of Atlanta are the Tanger Factory Outlet Stores in Forest Grove. Finally, if you’re looking for non-traditional shopping, check out the DeKalb Farmers’ Market in Decatur or the Lakewood Antiques Market. Both have lots for sale and lots of character.

Atlanta Outdoor Activities

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Atlanta’s climate is warm enough that most of the year you can participate in outdoor activities, which is a good thing because Atlanta has a bounty of great outdoor events. Whether it’s high-energy sports and amusement parks, or rejuvenating stints in the city’s parks or area preservations that you seek, you can find it in Atlanta.

Atlanta is one of the centers of southern sports. The Atlanta Braves are popular around the country (largely because of their exposure on TBS) and play at Turner Field. At Phillips Arena downtown, the Atlanta Hawks play basketball and the Atlanta Thrashers play hockey. Also downtown is the Georgia Dome, which is home to the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, and also regularly plays hosts to national events such as the NCAA Final Four. In addition to these four major sports, the Atlanta Motor Speedway outside of town hosts NASCAR events, and the Peachtree Road Race brings thousands to the streets each year.

If you’d like to take part in some activity, check out Six Flags over Georgia, and its accompanying water park, which are just west of town. If animals are up your kids’ alley, you might want to check out Tanglewood Farms, one of the world’s greatest petting zoos. Atlanta also has a great traditional zoo, and within the last year, the Georgia Aquarium, the world’s largest, has opened downtown.

If you have an animal of your own, consider taking it for a walk in one of Atlanta’s many parks. Piedmont Park is Atlanta’s version of Central Park; it is enormous and regularly hosts events, such as concerts and movie screenings, both of which are open to the public. If you’re downtown, however, you’ll most likely walk through Centennial Olympic Park, which combines greenspace, event areas, and the ever-popular shooting water fountains. A third park is Grant Park, which is smaller than Piedmont Park but still very pleasant.

A short drive from Atlanta is Stone Mountain Park, one of Georgia’s most popular attractions. The namesake of the park features a huge rock carving of three Confederate leaders: Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, and Robert E. Lee. You can take the tram (or hike) to the top of the mountain or spend your day hiking and picnicking in the park. As an alternative, head twenty-five miles northeast of Atlanta to the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, which has the beauty of the outdoors without the crowds or the rock carvings of Stone Mountain.

Sources:

http://www.olcg.com
http://www.fodors.com
http://www.cityguide.travel-guides.com
http://www.usatourist.com
http://travel.yahoo.com
http://www.frommers.com
http://about.com

Savannah, Georgia

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Atlanta Lodging and Accommodations

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 16:38:23 +0000

Atlanta Vacations: One Week

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 16:41:45 +0000

Atlanta: Restaurants and Activities

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Beginner's Guide to Georgia

Days Three and Four

Days Five and Six

Day Seven

Atlanta Neighborhoods

Metro Atlanta Neighborhoods

The Atlanta Real Estate Market

Moving to Atlanta

Restaurants

Atlanta Activities: History and Culture

Atlanta Activities: CNN, Coke, and Shopping

Atlanta Outdoor Activities

Savannah, Georgia

Savannah, Georgia Overview

Savannah's History

Traveling to Savannah

Where to Stay in Savannah

Atlanta Lodging and Accommodations

Atlanta Lodging and Accommodations Overview

Budget Accommodations

Mid-Priced Accommodations

Five-Star Accommodations

Atlanta Vacations: One Week

What to Know Before You Go

Days One and Two

Days Three and Four

Days Five and Six

Atlanta: Restaurants and Activities

Restaurants

Atlanta Activities: History and Culture

Atlanta Activities: CNN, Coke, and Shopping

Atlanta Outdoor Activities