Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta's big. A big, beautiful, rough, hip and cosmopolitan beast. Adam has already been here once before for work and he texted me the whole time about all the fun he was having, so you can imagine he was excited to come back.

First stop, an Atlanta Braves game! Dan Uggla was still on his hitting streak and he blasted two home runs out before the fifth inning. Thanks to a promotion at the game, one of his homers netted every ticket holder a free, huge burrito at Moe's the next day, so the fans went even more crazy than usual when the ball went over the fence. Braves fans might be legendarily devoted; I don't really know. But they definitely love to do the 'tomahawk chop,' a simultaneously satisfying and offensive cheer (done while pretending to 'chop' using your hand as a tomahawk).

We took a cab home and had to tip some scam artist who was 'hailing' cabs off the street for people. People have been trying to scam us since we got here and you always end up having to give them a dollar for absolutely no good reason.

Saturday morning, Adam tracked down a sweet farmer's market in nearby Piedmont Park. The park itself was incredible, rolling hills with shade trees, tons of water fountains, dogs, joggers, yogis, sculptures, clean restrooms and even a breathtakingly beautiful public running track. The market was a boon: cold peach tea; iced Blue Donkey Coffee; soft chicken mole tamales; a big apple ginger muffin; and a big cup of hot boiled peanuts.

Fully sated, we strolled to the High Museum of Art for a show by Radcliffe Bailey on what's often called (euphemistically, in my opinion) 'transatlantic passage' of over half a million Africans to the US for slavery. Enslavement is what is condemned and discussed, but the idea that one is not only enslaved, but taken from home absolutely breaks me. Bailey's work is done on a large-scale and he uses sounds of the sea, collage, old photographs and objects of colonialism to respond to this cruel and confusing past.

Other than art and parks, we've gotten to eat more delicious Southern food: lemon peach pie (second-based lemon pie in the world--best is my mama's) at Bakehouse in Midtown; dinner in Atlanta's happening gay neighborhood at The Flying Biscuit; and then a down home brunch in gritty Reynoldstown.

But the rest of our day was spent doing chores. Laundry and rejigging our itinerary a bit. We're tired of moving every two days, so we canceled our campsite in the Smokies and, instead, we'll head to Asheville two days early. Fingers crossed we like it!