A Sunday Walk

The whole family went for a walk around Atlantic Station this morning. This is the area where our corporate housing is for the next month. It's nice. Summer likes to sit in her own big girl chair now. And drink her flavored milk. This one was vanilla, but she calls all flavored milk "cocoa."

Summer spins

Summer liked the spinning desk chairs at the hotel in Midtown Atlanta.
She giggled when daddy twirled her! Big fun.

New Wheels!

Well, the Jeep doesn't have air conditioning, so we finally bought a new car.
Here it is full of happy people. We've had our eye on this model for months, so mission accomplished. A million more missions to go!
(P.S.: Heck yes, we're keeping the Jeep!)

In Search of the Farmers' Market

Today we went on a little adventure looking for the organic farmers' market. Ron knew of a market in Piedmont Park called The Green Market. It was very cute with lots of artisan cheeses, granola and olive oil and a little bit of organic produce. I did buy some little white and green cucumbers from a very nice farmer. Summer and I have been eating them up!
BTW, I haven't had a good Georgia peach yet. I guess the season starts next month, but the cantelope and honey dew here are some of the best I've had.

Anyhoo, We found out where the larger organic market was, but when we got there they were closing up so we just explored the neighborhood surrounding it called Virginia Highlands. We noshed on some delicious breakfast snacks from an old fashioned general store turned gourmet market / cafe called Belly General Store. Ron had a potato empananda, I had a house made tortilla with eggs, avocado and mole, and Summer had a housemade peanut butter w/ housemade jelly sandwich. Buster ate her crust. We all shared a chocolate banana muffin (except for Buster.) It was yummy. Here's a pic of Summer at the store pointing out the letters on the wall ad:


-Julia

A trip to Marietta

We went to Marietta, GA today to see what it was about. I doubt we'll live there, but it was fairly charming. We ended up at a playground by a large church.

The family is back together!

We're at a Mariott in an area called Mid-Town in Atlanta. Everyone is comfy and happy.

Atlanta or Bust! Part 3: Memphis, TN to Atlanta, GA

The last leg of our journey was the best. Buster and I made a beeline for Atlanta with few stops. One of those few was the house Elvis Presley was born in, in Tupelo, Miss. Here are some pics:

Here's the house. His father built it by hand.


Here's another shot.


A plaque.


The family car.

Atlanta or Bust! Part 3: Elk City, OK to Memphis, TN

Shawnee, OK city hall, with the drive-thru for style points.


Shawnee boxing club. It looked closed so I passed on sparring with the locals.


Shawnee historical Sante Fe train stop.


Old Sante Fe train guts.


The train stop.

Atlanta or Bust! Part 3: Elk City, OK to Memphis, TN

Before leaving New Mexico, Buster and I stopped off in a little town called Santa Rosa for a potty break. I can only imagine what the "lounge package" got you. Kinda like the full Fresno, I presume. A bottle of Asti Spumante and some silk flowers in a duffle bag _ or something.

Texas was pretty uneventful. I blazed across it in one afternoon. Here's a shot of the biggest cross in the Western Hemisphere, according to Texas.


Elk City, Oklahoma boasts a big official Route 66 museum...


And some questionable hotel neighbors. I thought maybe these guys were transferring a high-value prisoner, but I met one of the officers in the morning and he said they were just passing through Elk City.


On to Clinton, OK. This hot is for my bro-in-law Tom. This is Pepsi country.

More from Gallup, N.M.

A muddy river bed in Gallup, N.M.



Buster explores the train trestle.



Night falls on Gallup, N.M., a city inhabited almost solely by members of the Navajo nation.



Buster saw and smelled horse hoof prints in the river bed, and pulled hard to find the horse. Here he is in a blur of action.



More river bed. It was neat.

Atlanta or Bust! Part 2: Barstow, Calif. to Gallup, N.M.

Buster in Flagstaff, Ariz.


General Tsao's Chicken and cucumber salad at Monsoon in Flagstaff, Ariz.


I also succumbed to the power of roadside jerky.


Buster checks out the tee-pees at the Painted Desert Indian Center in Holbrook, Ariz.


The train roars through Gallup, N.M., where we lay our heads for the night.

Atlanta or Bust! Part 1

Ron hit the road with Buster on Monday, bound for Atlanta. They said their goodbyes and see-ya-soons and cranked up the rental Kia. One Peets large coffee and a pumpkin bread later and they landed in Barstow, Calif., the first sleepover.

Barstow is about 2 hours outside of Las Vegas. It is _ in a nutshell _ the home of bad restaurants, pay-day loan operations and establishments hosting something dubiously dubbed "nightclub dancing." Yeah... right.

Here are Ron's last visions of California: