Welcome to Atlanta where da' playas' play

May 19th
Well, it has been fun, guys. My mini-road trip is coming to an end, and my mother is flying back to da' D F Dub from Hotlanta. I am starting to make bank in Pickens, South Carolina as a camp counselor. Yes, I am using slang because I am only in da' ATL once. Ok; sorry, that will stop now. Do not fear about my travels ending. I can assure you that this post will be SUPER exciting. To whet your appetite, this finale features enormous poultry, Will Ferrell-graced lands, and even... possible identity theft! Who knows, maybe I will be back for an encore blog while at camp. Not likely, as I will most likely not even have running water in the boondocks.

Oh, and yes, my clothing choice for my travels is still pretty much the same. I do change the necessities, though. If you do not know what that means, then shoot me an email: solomon.wang89@gmail.com

I headed out to Mountain Brook to get some breakfast early, and this area was so awesome. It was mountainous, brookous, and rich, and houses were awesome. I want to live in Alabama at some point in my life. It is green out here, and I do not mean chockful of marijuana or hippie and environmentally friendly, though those 3 aspects may indeed be present here. I just meant that I want to live among the foliage. Not to self: I will never use that word foliage again.

I swung back to pick up my mother at the great EconoLodge. We started our trip at 8AM, technically 9AM Atlanta time, so not to lose time on our day. As I was driving to my planned 1st stop, Anniston, AL (details to come), I saw something that caught my eye... TALLADEGA! The International Motor Sports Hall of Fame and Talladega race track are found here.

Now, I really did not enjoy Ricky Bobby, but I figured, why not be a true Southern boy and head out to the race track? I apologize that I did not take a really cool picture with me in my car giving a death stare to the camera; however, if you have seen my car, you know that it is a little girl car and would look a whole lot like a hot wheels car.

Next: Anniston, AL. As promised, I have now been to the World's Tallest Office Chair. Boom. See atop.

We got into Atlanta, and boy, is it big. We drove all around and were still in the city limits. We had lunch at Local 3. I got my pimento cheese fix here. Then, we drove to see the World's Tallest Chicken!!!!! Yes, I know you are jealous. While at this KFC of epic proportions, I noticed that my wallet was nowhere to be found. Cool and calm, I dialed Local 3, the only location where my wallet could have been misplaced. The conversation is as follows:

Me: "Hi, did I..."
Rafeek (nice African-American hostess): "Is this Mr. Solomon?"
Me: "Why, yes! My wallet is there, yes?"
Rafeek: Yes! Please come retrieve your monetary storage device.
Me: "Right away."

Praise the Lord!



We returned to rescue my lost wallet and proceeded to our hotel. Crazy awesome day, huh?

We took a long rest at the all-star lodge, Baymont Inns, and then headed into the Peachtree district to have dinner at Holeman & Finch, which is a really famous gastropub. Look it up! We walked around the area for a little while, and I am also sure that I want to live in Georgia at some point. There are so many trees around so many awesome eateries, with really hospitable people to boot. To the right, you will see that sometimes their signs are not as polite as the people. This "Wrong Way" sign simply just said NO. Well, at least they are upfront about your safety. We came back and watched the Mavs game. Oh, fiddlesticks. Then, rest. We had an early wake-up call for my mother's 8:30AM flight.

May 20th (doomsday--work begins)
I dropped my mother off at the airport and went to get some breakfast at West Egg Cafe. Pretty awesome breakfast. I met some girl that is getting her Ph. D at Georgia Tech, and she got her undergrad at UT! She is from the Memorial Area of Houston. Hook 'em. I walked around the modern Georgia Tech campus and then proceeded back to my hotel. Oh, I saw the Institute of Paper Science and Technology. Totally did not know that this sort of thing existed. I would totally want a job like that: researching what people write on. Talk about an impact. Countries are signed over on their products!



Before I left my hotel, I did what I do as tradition before I depart from a one-night stay. I made the bed fussy. That way, I know that I utilized my fees in cleaning, though I did not actually make a messy bed. I sleep fairly neatly, I think. The picture is as follows. Of course I do not actually roll up my blankets at home. Note the precise messiness.

On my way to camp, I made a (big) detour to Dillard, Georgia to eat some historical country ham lunch. :) Look up the Dillard House to get a picture of how random this trip was. Till then...

Walkin' in Memphis

Hey hey,

Sorry that I did not follow through with my desire to consistently post about my travels, but Tuesday and Wednesday were not very eventful. I did not want to make you read a pointless rambling of my thoughts, so I saved all of the goodies for today. I was also too tired, as I have been going to bed at the hour of 11PM. I mean, when in the back country, rise with the sun, right? Let me just give you a sneak peek of what you are about to experience: kisses! Talk about heated plots. Stay tuned to find out all about Solomon's life.

As a disclaimer, I know that many of you will ask, "Why are you wearing the exact same jeans and vest in all your pictures?" I will reply to you, "I am in God's great low country, and I am not trying to earn anyone's approval. I am merely trying to enjoy all that He has made for us." If you still find reason to argue with my clothing choice, then fight me. My jeans are indestructible.

May 17th

The 2nd day started with a little breakfast at Boulevard Bakery in downtown Little Rock, and I'll tell you, there is not much to do out in Little Rock, Arkansas. It just screams "retire here." We made our way over to Memphis, and as soon as we crossed that border (AR-->TN), we knew we were no longer in Arkansas, whose motto is "Regnat Populus." That means the People Rule. Arkansas is chock-full of Southern democrats... in fact, many streets were called Democrat Ln., St., Rd. That was way more political fiber than you wanted. Anyway, Memphis was pretty modern when you crossed that beautiful Mississippi River bridge.



I will say that there is one pretty pyramid when you come into Memphis. That is all I will say about the skyline. Above to the left: pyramid. There.

My mother and I had lunch at Alcenia's, which is a recently-popularized little soul food joint in the run-down district of Memphis. The owner gives everyone a kiss on the head. Nice; my mother and I felt loved. The food was pretty dang salty, but hey a little sodium never hurt anyone.. who did not show signs of heart complications. After lunch, we got an oil change for my automobile. Then, we checked into our ghetto hotel. They had 2 plugs for the entire room, no blow-dryer (my mom blow-drys her hair), and no facial tissue. That's whack.

We headed over to the Memphis Botanical Garden, and there were some cool flowers and trees and such. There is my mom inside one of the houses in the "Big Backyard" portion of the Gardens. Apparently, the MBG is a pretty cool venue; the Goo Goo Dolls, ZZ Topp, and many other artists are going to perform there.

Then, we walked around the downtown area and down Beale Street for a little while. Beale Street is a lot like 6th street, but a tad smaller, and I am sure that it is more music-oriented at night. There was this guy doing back flips. Also, music was blaring from 10 different bars at like 5PM. Oh, and there was this little public park with a band covering "Stand By Me." See to the right. That was awesome. We had a nice dinner at Restaurant Iris, this little house restaurant. Then back to to hotel to watch the Mavericks stomp the Thunder. Nice.

May 18th
Breakfast was had this morning at Brother Juniper's, sort of a local institution. We spent the mid-morning at the National Civil Rights Museum and learned about civil acts and what not. We saw the Lorraine Motel, where MLK was shot (see left). Martin Luther King Jr. did some historical things. After that, we walked down the street to Gus's Fried Chicken, which is apparently world famous. We had an hour long wait. Someone eating had a driver that left the car on the entire time to keep the inside cool. Talk about royal treatment with great American fried chicken and A/C.

After we waited, we dug into a slice of warm sweet potato pie. It was awesome. Then... the most delicious fried chicken ever. Perfect crust. Read my Yelp if you really want details. I am not using this blog to write about fodder. I even forgot to take a picture before I dug in because it was so good. Note the already-bitten wing.

We headed on over to Birmingham afterwards. Sadly, I never got to properly use "Roll Tide" while in 'Bama, but I figured it was not terribly appropriate, as we were not in Tuscaloosa? We checked in a little later, around 6PM. We rested up and then headed out to the 5 points neighborhood. This reminded me a lot of Berkeley, California and Highland Park in Dallas. The neighborhood surrounded a medical school/complex, and there was definitely some uppity shopping centers around. We had dinner at Chez FonFon where everyone was super fratty. Just picture Alabama, and you can probably get a good idea of the culture. Nice and Southern. To the left is us in Birmingham, Alabama. We walked around the area for a bit, then headed back for the night.

3 states, 2 individuals, 1 tiny car

As many of you know, my mother and I (2 individuals) are traveling to Atlanta, Georgia in my Mazda Miata (tiny car), and we have driven through Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas (3 states). The first day of traveling has consisted of 500+ miles of traveling, and I am beat. I am writing this blog to sort of document this faux-road trip, but I cannot promise that it will continue once I reach my personal destination: Pickens, South Carolina. My mother will be flying home on Thursday, the 19th from da' dirty ATL. Below is a picture of my trunk. Road trips are not meant for Miatas.

We started the day by swiftly getting a rotate and balance on my automobile. Then, my tires were finally rotated and balanced to my specifications: good. We got on I-20 East. Next, Hwy 175S. Then, I almost killed someone.

Yes; I almost killed someone.

No; I am not kidding. This hobo was in the middle of the highway. My guess is he was driving in this green pick up truck that was just up the road, and his orange blanket flew out. Then, I suppose he was willing to literally risk his life to save his blanket. Now that I have sort of set the scene, I will let you in on it from my perspective:

I was driving, and I saw this guy in this orange attire with a hat and some long shaggy white hair. I thought to myself, "surely this is not real... or at least he will jump out of the way." Well, he looked to his left (at me) and got this deer in the headlights look, and I veered to the left around him. He was smack dab in the middle of my I-am-going-to-drive-80-mph lane. Praise God that I was not thumbing through my Justin Bieber albums.


Anyway, we had lunch at Sue's Roost, in Eustace, Texas. It is exactly what the name denotes: small town, homestyle grub. 2 for lunch: Fried chicken, chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, biscuits, green beans, iced tea. The damage? $12 pat. That is how they keep the locals coming back day after day, expanding their waists inch after inch. Heck, I would return everyday if I lived in that 500 person town.



Next, in commemoration of this guy's life who Jesus saved, I stopped by Tool, TX. When I go on road trips, everything has a meaning. I purposely made a 20 minute detour to take a picture next to a TOOL, TX sign. Yes, I took a picture next to this sign because if you know me, I like to call people tools... but this guy was indeed a tool.

Off to Louisiana we went. We breezed through to cut north up to Magnolia, AR. Do you know why I went to Magnolia? You guessed it. To see the world's largest charcoal grill. I love to see really random things on road trips. Deal with it. Actually, I was slightly disappointed, but also amazed. Apparently, this coming weekend, the great city of Magnolia is having some celebration where the National Guard comes in and sets the grill up in town square. Thus, the picture that I took was the disassembled grill. Nonetheless, be amazed at the greatness.

Next, my mom found Waldo. He belongs in a small town called Waldo. There, he is living among 1500+ other Waldos.

We finally made our way around to Miniature Geographic Sediment, AR (Little Rock). The hotel was checked into, and dinner was had at The House, which was a little gastropub. For those non-foodies, it is basically a restaurant that likes to serve alcohol in excess. I will say that I am sorry for all those who I told that I would see the largest sundial. In fact, many years ago, Arizona one-upped the one in Little Rock, so Little Rock gave up and destroyed their own. Here is an article for your own reference. http://aristotle.net/~russjohn/sundial.html

So as my mother asked before bed, "What are we doing tomorrow?", I responded, "Same thing we do everyday, mother, try to take over the world... or Memphis, TN." If you guys did not understand that Pinky and The Brain reference, you did not live in the 90's.