golfkat Travel Blog

The capitol of the south is Atlanta, or Hotlanta as I call it.  I have had the fortune or misfortune to have visited many times.  The best parts of my visits are with the things that we do with our friends.  Over the years, Jerry Shuster, KenBob Lewis, and Dr. Eugene “Tex” Washington, were my personal tour guides.  Despite everything you hear about the South, Atlanta is a great place to visit.  And I would love to go back to the area and meet President Jimmy Carter.
 
Like most of my trips, this was either business or monkey business.  I either had meetings there, or I stopped on my way to or from North Carolina or Florida.  Jerry Shuster was a great friend, as we both shared a passion for tennis, jogging, and partying.  We would play tennis here, Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, LA, whenever we were in the same town together.  We are playing one time in the winter, and I am beating him soundly.  When we first started playing, I was the boss, then he caught up.  It had been a while since I won.
 
So, here I am, serving for the match.  I chase down a ball and pull a muscle in my leg.  This has never happened to me before or since.  But I fell to the ground, my muscle immediately swelled, and I was in constant pain.  The worst part was not being to continue the match.  I was also headed for a business meeting at Disney World and Epcot for the next week.  When I got to the Orlando airport, I ran across some guys I work with.  They got me a wheelchair, and the rest of the week was done through the eyes of a disabled person.  My group got to go to the front of every line, no waiting.  We got the best seats in every venue.  We got seated immediately in the busy restaurants.  Though I was treated well, it was not an enjoyable week, since crutches and wheelchairs are not fun.  And I was in considerable pain.
 
My visits there to Dr. Tex were much different.  He is the son of a Baptist minister in Texas, hence the name Tex.  He went to medical school at UCSF, and we became friends in grad school in Berkeley.  Tex was a real southern gentleman, drove around town in a Mercedes 450SL, and got treated like the important physician that he would become.  He showed me all of his favorite places, but I cannot remember their names.  But we had some great times and great meals during my visits there.
 
Now, KenBob was another story.  We were friends from the “get-go” as they say.  We met in Chicago on a business trip, and hung out on Rush Street in Chicago for a week.  That ought to either cement or kill any friendship in the making. We went to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field and shopped at Marshall Fields.  So, my visits to Atlanta with him as my guide were very memorable.  The first thing he does when he picks me up at the airport, takes me to his car, and opens a beer cooler in the trunk.  What a great friend.  When I asked about open containers, he said, “listen, boy, this is the South”.
 
After a morning of meetings, he decided to take me to lunch at Merry Mac’s Tea Room.  It is a typical southern cafeteria and tea room.  After being seated, we take a thin paper menu and pencil from the holder on the table.  We circled each item that we want, and hand it to the waitress.  The tea is, of course, sweetened, and in a very tall glass.  The food comes out in about 20 seconds, or so it seemed.  Now, it was not a gourmet meal, but it sure was fun.  I got my first taste of southern cooking, and it wasn’t bad.  The greens were overcooked, the chicken salty, and the mashed potatoes and gravy heavenly.  I got to try fried catfish and deep fried okra. But the best part was the peach cobbler and ice cream for dessert.  I think our lunch bill totaled less than $10.
 
That night, we ended up in a typical southern barbeque place, that shall remain nameless (Sonny’s BBQ, I think).  The food was good, but the place was full of rednecks.  We were lucky to get out alive.  I know they had never seen a Japanese person before.  But KenBob is one of them, you would think.  We got out of there, and back to the friendly confines of Buckhead, the Atlanta hotspot for yuppies and fun seekers.
 
The next day was the big treat.  We got to have lunch at the Varsity, which has been featured on the Travel Channel.  It is truly a monument to fast food and the south, and the world’s largest drive in restaurant.  The story is that it was started by a Frank Gordy in 1928 with $2000.  It can accommodate 600 cars, and 800 people inside.  On Georgia Tech football home games, they serve 30,000 people.  Their slogan is “what’ll ya have, what’ll ya have”.  I had a burger and fries, greasy but good.  We washed it down with one of their famous milkshakes.  What an experience.
 
That night, we got to attend a special performance at the famous and fully restored Fox Theatre.  The meeting we were attending hired the Grand Ole Opry from Nashville to entertain us.  We saw Roy Acuff, Loretta Lynn, little Jimmie Dickens, Minnie Pearl, and the Opry regulars.  It turned out to be a great show.  I almost went out and bought me some boots.  Not really.
 
We made the obligatory stop for some beer at a nearby Hooter’s.  They were having some sort of party, so we joined in.  It was the manager’s birthday it turns out.  And she was too drunk to enjoy her own party.  But, in the South, never turn down free, cold and plentiful beer.  After that, the rest of our stops in Buckhead were rather tame.
 
Now you are probably asking why we did not go to Pitty Pat’s Porch, Ray’s or Gladys Knight’s Chicken and Waffles.  Me too.  But we had to attend a few meetings, and eat some rubber chicken at the dinner meetings.  We went out dancing one night in Buckhead with some of KenBob’s co-workers, but we almost got run over by all the 18 wheeler sized couples on the dance floor.  We did go to the Carter Library, the CNN Tower, and the Coca Cola Building.  I was looking for Ted and Jane.  Instead I found Bubba and KatySueBobbiMae.
 
But despite all of this, we always had a good time.  Atlanta is a fun city.  It is pretty clean and seemed very safe.  The downtown area has been revitalized, more than say San Francisco, or Los Angeles.  It lives up to its name as the Gateway to the South.  I did not have to whistle Dixie to feel at home.
 
I think I need to go back, to experience more of the true south.  We saw many great southern mansions outside of town.  We rode the new Atlanta Metro, which was in place well before they hosted the Olympics.  The only thing we did not do was go to a Braves baseball game, since it was the middle of winter.  Give me another cold one, KenBob!!!