The next morning, we got up around 10am, if you can believe that, Mel & her boyfriend Rich, took us to Little Five Points and had breakfast at the Flying Biscuit Cafe. It was quite good. Inside the Flying Biscuit Café, there were murals of sunflowers, bees, a hillside with a castle, lizards, etc.  The ceiling even had a space painting with flying biscuits – too cute !  The area of town was also very cool.  It reminded us of Clifton back at home – which was quite ironic since the restaurant was on the corner of Clifton St.

After breakfast, we walked the eclectic area of Little Five Points. The area is full of interesting shops, cafes and bars. We browsed a few stores and made some purchases, but mostly for other people. One store called Junkman's Daughter. It is a funky store with merchandise from t-shirts to kinky clothes, weird toys, costumes, cigars, odd gifts, music...all kinds of quirky stuff. We didn't buy anything there.

After shopping, we stopped at a bar called the Yacht Club and had a Shiner Bock beer. What’s so special about Shiner Bock ?  Well, probably not that much – it a good dark beer but it’s only available in certain states, and ours isn't one of them. So we're happy to drink it when we are somewhere that has it.

We went downtown to Centennial Olympic Park. Rich was kind enough to drop us off while he found a parking place. The park has lots of monuments, fountains, sculptures and gardens.  There are 4 Quilts that all have meanings and engravings, and a Fountain of Rings where water shot up around the 5 rings.  There were a ton of kids around who were delighting in running around getting wet and cooling off. It was a hot day, after all. One of the memorials was for the two people killed in the 1996 bombing. There is also a tribute to the 1996 Olympians on a granite stone with each of the medal winners name etched in it. We drove past the Fox Theater, a very elegant building where all kinds of events take place. Everything from a Broadway musical to movies to concerts.

Mel & Carol at Centennial Olympic Park

Next stop was the Margaret Mitchell house, you know, the woman who wrote Gone With The Wind. We didn't take a tour, but we did take pictures of the outside of the house. We moseyed over to the Federal Reserve and took some pictures too.

The Margaret Mitchell House

After our tour of downtown was over, Rich wanted to show us a home that was built to look just like the White House, but not as big of course. As you can see in the picture, it does look like the White House.

The White House of Atlanta

For dinner, Mel & Rich took us to this absolutely wonderful Italian restaurant called Ippolito’s. The bread was probably one of the best I've tasted and the food was divine. I'll eat there again next time I go back.

Atlanta has several IHOP's (International House of Pancakes) so of course we had to eat there. If you've read our other travels to cities that have an IHOP, you know we can't leave without eating breakfast there.

Stone Mountain Park was our first stop of the day.  Here, there is a huge carving of Stonewall Jackson / Robert E Lee / Jefferson Davis riding horses on the side of a huge bolder or “stone mountain”.  This was 4th of July and the park was going to have a fireworks show that night, so you can imagine how many people were in the park. It was crazy, but we survived. After taking a gander at the mountain, we walked through some gift shops and then headed over to the Antebellum Plantation.

Rich and Mel opted to sit on the porch and wait for us while we walked the Antebellum Plantation, which is comprised of original buildings built between 1790 and 1845.  All along the way, there were huge magnolia trees, one which Sarah had to climb. A farmyard was also kept that had sheep, goats and pigs.  There was also a Gazebo in a courtyard with a garden all around.  While we were walking through here, a couple asked if Sarah could take their picture.  Unbeknownst to them, the guy got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend in the gazebo.  It was very sweet – she said yes right away and Sarah took several pictures for the couple.

The gazebo in the plantation gardens

We found Mel & Rich relaxing in rocking chairs when we finished our tour of the plantation. We then walked to the Marina. The weather was turning bad and the park closed down the ferry boat because lightning was in the area. We headed back to the car and got there just in time because the skies opened up and it poured rain.

Mel was in the mood for cheesecake, so we stopped at the Cheesecake Factory to eat. It was our first time there and it was pretty good. Later, we went back to her house, watched a couple movies and called it a night. The next morning we packed and headed back home. Oh, and how was the new truck on a long drive? It drives like a dream and I love being higher than most everybody else.

The 2004 F-150 SuperCrew 4x4

The Flying Biscuit Cafe

The Junkman's Daughter store

A sculpture in Olympic Park

Rich and Mel

Stone Mountain

The Antebellum Plantation house

Sarah in the magnolia tree

Carol, Sarah & Mel at Stone Mountain