6-10-17 Atlanta with the Hickes:

I'm so glad we get along with our kids' inlaws so well.  They really married into some great families!   Josh's folks were still in town and we all decided to go into the city for lunch and to a really nice old historical cemetary there (very botanical!).
It was after noon by the time we got downtown, so we decided to eat first.  Josh, his folks and Ken had never been to Mary Mac's, so we decided that's where we should go for some really great Southern food!  Unfortunately we weren't the only ones with that idea.  Our wait was over 30 minutes.  This was just a fraction of the people waiting.

 Don't know why it's called a Tea Room---they have a full menu, complete with fried chicken, turkey, pork chops, sausage, chicken and dumplings, even stuff like cube steaks!  You write your own order---pick an entree (I got fried chicken and it was really good!), then you choose 2 sides (I got black eyed peas in rice and home made applesauce---loved them, too). 

 Josh's folks---Darryl and Carol.

 Angie and Josh

 Ken and me

 After lunch, we headed on our way to the cemetary.  Don't know what these kids were protesting, but at least they followed the laws and waited for the crossing light and walked on the sidewalk.

 A wall mural of Martin Luther King

 Rush hour(s)!  Love the graffiti on the walls

 more graffiti 

 interesting walls on a grocery store.

 a future graffiti wall?

 some of it is pretty bizaar, but still interesting.

 When we got to the Oakland cemetery. This garden cemetery was founded in 1850 and is the final resting place of many of Atlanta’s settlers, builders, and most noted citizens like Bobby Jones, Margaret Mitchell, and Maynard Jackson. It is also a showplace of sculpture and architecture, and a botanical preserve with ancient oaks and magnolias.  We also found out that it's used as a place to have events!  Such as Tunes from the Tombs!!!!  We arrived to a full parking lot and police directing traffic!  We stopped and asked what was going on, that's when we found out about the concert in the cemetery for a mere $20/person!!!  As Angie said, "HELL NO!!!"  So we decided to go drive around down town.  That's when we first saw a sign for the event in the cemetery.

 Downtown we came across the school of police studies.

 a statue.

 The State Bar of Georgia building.

 Cute bike sculpture.

 a theatre.

 the CNN Center.

 college football hall of fame

 Love this painting of Atlanta on the side of an arbitrary building.

 The aquarium Angie worked on when she worked for PGAV architecture firm in St. Louis.

 looking towards the Coke museum.

What Chicago needs---guns that just shoot bubbles.

 another look towards the Coke museum

 interesting sculpture by the Children's Museum.

 just an interestingly painted building.

 and another.

 this looked like an interesting place to eat.

 apparently it's some elite club member only restaurant.

 some more interesting sculptures.

 neat sculpture in front of a school.

 a brewery

concert schedule at the brewery

So this wasn't the day we had planned, but it was still a fun one.  I was a little disappointed we didn't get to go to the cemetery.  I had been there about 5 years ago when they lived here before S. Florida and was really impressed with the place.
But I really enjoyed driving around through the city, too.  It really is a neat city---just so hard to get to and from by road!  We didn't park and walk around, but still got to see a lot of neat stuff.