It should not be surprising that we slept late Sunday morning. After all we didn't get in until 2 a.m. and didn't really settle down to sleep until closer to 3. I went out for a morning Starbucks run and found another beautiful spring day, and after our internal fog lifted a bit we decided a quiet drive out of the city was about all we could muster for the day. First up was a search for a place to have breakfast, but by the time we got out and started looking for places it turned into a very late brunch. After deciding against one place because of the long line waiting outside in the sun we happened upon another unusual eating experience at Cafe Jonah and the Magical Attic, located not from our condo in Buckhead. It turns out that in addition to being a tony residential area (as I described it in the post for Day 24) Buckhead has become an important center for business and shopping area, sort of what Bellevue is to Seattle without the lake of course, complete with gleaming office towers and a shopping center that includes both a Nordstrom and a Saks. Cafe Jonah is located in an old house one block off Peachtree Road, but in many ways the distance is much further--in fact it reminded me of something you might see in west Olympia operated by former Evergreen students. First, there is no hostess to show you to a table; rather the system, if one dares call it that, is to take the food you want from among the variety of dishes presented on the table in what probably was the dining room in a former life and then find an empty table among the eclectic tables and chairs scattered throughout the other rooms of the house, on the back deck or out front. The food looked (and was in fact) quite tasty, and we were assured by hand-written signs posted about that all ingredients were organically grown by local farmers using sustainable practices in their free range gardens. The problem was that when we arrived there were no empty tables, and the laid back attitude of the staff was reflected in the customers, many of whom had obviously finished eaten but were continuing to occupy tables. We finally found an empty table in front of the house on what would have been the front yard had it not been paved over (there was no indication whether the paving process included sustainable practices). That brought us to the second problem: there were also no plates; however we were assured they were being washed and would be available soon, and in due course they were. The food consisted of a variety of salads--kale slaw, quinoa, and the like--as well as bagels and lox, a chicken salad, a wonderful fresh fruit salad, a frittata, a cheese quiche and beautiful juicy beefsteak tomatoes, and it was all delicious. The Olympiaesque touch was strengthened when we noticed that the coffee being served was from Batdorf & Bronson, which we had forgotten has a presence in the Atlanta area, including two Dancing Goats espresso bars. We did not explore the "magical attic" part, which, according to posters prominently displayed at the foot of the stairs, by practitioners of such mystical arts as psychic readings, seances and tarot cards. The crowning Evergreenesque touch came when I went to settle up the bill and was told that customers just paid what they thought the meal was worth, and that the proceeds of every Sunday's business were donated to local charities. After lunch we headed out of the city to Stone Mountain Park located an easy fifteen mile drive east of Atlanta. The park is named after the egg-shaped granite outcropping that rises about 600 feet above the surrounding terrain, includes a number of options, including hiking and biking trails, picnic areas, a stone quarrying exhibit and a 100 year old grist mill. We passed up the doable but challenging 1.3 mile hike up the west side of the mountain, opting instead to take the short cable car ride to the top. The view was spectacular, and included the outline of the skylines of both downtown Atlanta and Buckhead, which can barely be seen if you enlarge the photo above. After the return trip down the mountain I took a short walk to get a picture the Confederate Memorial Carving, which is billed as the largest high relief sculpture in the world, with likenesses of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. ("Stonewall") Jackson. (Some of you may know that my middle name is Lee, and my aunt who shared the same middle name once told me that our lineage was connected to the general's is some manner, but I have not pursued it.) At the foot of the mountain is a large park that includes plaques with information about all of the states that seceded, as well as Kentucky which did not secede but many of whose residents were sympathetic to and supportive of the Confederate cause. We chose not to stay for the evening laser show but before departing we took the lovely drive around the mountain, and then headed back to Buckhead for dinner, and were home in time to catch the season premiere episode of Mad Men. Then we headed to bed so we would be fully rested for Monday's big game.
It should not be surprising that we slept late Sunday morning. After all we didn't get in until 2 a.m. and didn't really settle down to sleep until closer to 3. I went out for a morning Starbucks run and found another beautiful spring day, and after our internal fog lifted a bit we decided a quiet drive out of the city was about all we could muster for the day. First up was a search for a place to have breakfast, but by the time we got out and started looking for places it turned into a very late brunch. After deciding against one place because of the long line waiting outside in the sun we happened upon another unusual eating experience at Cafe Jonah and the Magical Attic, located not from our condo in Buckhead. It turns out that in addition to being a tony residential area (as I described it in the post for Day 24) Buckhead has become an important center for business and shopping area, sort of what Bellevue is to Seattle without the lake of course, complete with gleaming office towers and a shopping center that includes both a Nordstrom and a Saks. Cafe Jonah is located in an old house one block off Peachtree Road, but in many ways the distance is much further--in fact it reminded me of something you might see in west Olympia operated by former Evergreen students. First, there is no hostess to show you to a table; rather the system, if one dares call it that, is to take the food you want from among the variety of dishes presented on the table in what probably was the dining room in a former life and then find an empty table among the eclectic tables and chairs scattered throughout the other rooms of the house, on the back deck or out front. The food looked (and was in fact) quite tasty, and we were assured by hand-written signs posted about that all ingredients were organically grown by local farmers using sustainable practices in their free range gardens. The problem was that when we arrived there were no empty tables, and the laid back attitude of the staff was reflected in the customers, many of whom had obviously finished eaten but were continuing to occupy tables. We finally found an empty table in front of the house on what would have been the front yard had it not been paved over (there was no indication whether the paving process included sustainable practices). That brought us to the second problem: there were also no plates; however we were assured they were being washed and would be available soon, and in due course they were. The food consisted of a variety of salads--kale slaw, quinoa, and the like--as well as bagels and lox, a chicken salad, a wonderful fresh fruit salad, a frittata, a cheese quiche and beautiful juicy beefsteak tomatoes, and it was all delicious. The Olympiaesque touch was strengthened when we noticed that the coffee being served was from Batdorf & Bronson, which we had forgotten has a presence in the Atlanta area, including two Dancing Goats espresso bars. We did not explore the "magical attic" part, which, according to posters prominently displayed at the foot of the stairs, by practitioners of such mystical arts as psychic readings, seances and tarot cards. The crowning Evergreenesque touch came when I went to settle up the bill and was told that customers just paid what they thought the meal was worth, and that the proceeds of every Sunday's business were donated to local charities. After lunch we headed out of the city to Stone Mountain Park located an easy fifteen mile drive east of Atlanta. The park is named after the egg-shaped granite outcropping that rises about 600 feet above the surrounding terrain, includes a number of options, including hiking and biking trails, picnic areas, a stone quarrying exhibit and a 100 year old grist mill. We passed up the doable but challenging 1.3 mile hike up the west side of the mountain, opting instead to take the short cable car ride to the top. The view was spectacular, and included the outline of the skylines of both downtown Atlanta and Buckhead, which can barely be seen if you enlarge the photo above. After the return trip down the mountain I took a short walk to get a picture the Confederate Memorial Carving, which is billed as the largest high relief sculpture in the world, with likenesses of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. ("Stonewall") Jackson. (Some of you may know that my middle name is Lee, and my aunt who shared the same middle name once told me that our lineage was connected to the general's is some manner, but I have not pursued it.) At the foot of the mountain is a large park that includes plaques with information about all of the states that seceded, as well as Kentucky which did not secede but many of whose residents were sympathetic to and supportive of the Confederate cause. We chose not to stay for the evening laser show but before departing we took the lovely drive around the mountain, and then headed back to Buckhead for dinner, and were home in time to catch the season premiere episode of Mad Men. Then we headed to bed so we would be fully rested for Monday's big game.
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