But wait, there's more!

After spending 3 days in Atlanta, 3 days in New Orleans and a whole week in Florida, it would be assumed that we would be getting ready to go home now. But wait, there's more!

The icing on the cake this trip is returning to Roxanne and Adarsh's house to be spoiled and fussed over.  It was such a fantastic 3 days with them, and of course, Russell.  We must have been completely different people to them too, we were not stressed due to not having cases and we were all tanned and relaxed from our week in Florida! 

Thanks to my new found aversion to the satnav, we meandered north, stopping at Samson and Eufaula on the way.  It was a nice journey and we didn't get to Roxanne's house too late. (I don't mean to exclude Adarsh, but to say both of them every time will just get too wordy!) 

Flower on Kennesaw Mountain

Having lived in the Atlanta area (Marietta) for 8 years, I thought I knew the city fairly well, but I was also very aware that it had grown up quite a bit - even though I have visited a few times since moving to Scotland.  So I asked Roxanne, as the local expert, to plan an itinerary for us based on a huge list of things I wanted to see and do in 3 days.  She took up the challenge and did extremely well.

There was a bit of a sacrifice though:  to be a tourist in Atlanta for 3 days, I could not also factor in visiting any other friends or family. The schedule was too tight and I needed to be selfish about this. So if anyone wanted to see me, they had to fit into the itinerary!  So I had to decline an invitation to hang out at my friend Dana's pool for a BBQ, and also missed seeing other friends from Alabama, including an old "boyfriend" who was coming to see us with his wife.  I think that would have been a blast because David has such a good sense of humour and so does my husband, but it didn't work out as planned.  There is always next time though, possibly a sidetrip to Alabama to also see my best friend from high school, Hjordis.  What is it about northern Alabama that has attracted two of my closest high school friends to live so near to each other when we all went to school in Florida!

Saturday was Marietta day!  I lived in Marietta for 8 years and never looked at it like I did today.  The funny thing was that I lived on the Atlanta side and spent virtually all of my time, working and socializing, in Atlanta never looking over my shoulder to such a nice town.  The only thing I actually did in Marietta was get married! And that was a fluke, Alan was visiting from Scotland and I gave him the car keys while I went to work, his job that day was to find a church to get married in, and he was successful!  After driving all over, he discovered St James Episcopal Church in, of all places, Marietta!  The funny thing was that while we were eating lunch at Hemingway's with Roxanne, Jim and Jennifer, Alan and I started talking about where that church would be.  And for the first time in our married life, he remembered incorrectly!  (I didn't!)

St James Episcopal Church

We also discovered the place where we had our reception was right around the corner from where we were eating lunch. So this was a totally unexpected trip down memory lane!  Although it is called Kennesaw House and is a museum now, "back then" it was called The Brickworks.  And we were told one reason it was not destroyed during the Civil War was because it was General Sherman's headquarters.

Kennesaw House

Before lunch, we all walked up Kennesaw Mountain.  It is now part of the National Park system and has a bus service going up.  But, thankfully, the bus was not on time so we decided to walk.  It was a very pleasant walk.  Roxanne had also never done this so it was fantastic introducing her to something new in the area.  Russell was not with us, he was with his Daddy - who was very kindly staying at home and making us an amazing dinner, but more of that later!

I was told the Confederate soldiers had to leave the mountain so quickly they abandoned the cannons that are still there.  I believed that until this trip, then it seems like I read these were replicas....so who knows what is the truth?

there are lots more of these cannons higher up the mountain

A visit to Marietta is not complete without a trip to "The Big Chicken"!  I don't know the history of this landmark, but another story I vaguely remember is that, prior to my moving to the area in mid-1980's, the powers that be or someone wanted to tear it down and there was such an outcry that this never happened.  It is still there and still part of KFC!

After a wonderful day in Marietta, we went back to The Ginsu House for tapas! What a wonderful way to complete a perfect day.  Adarsh and Roxanne are the most amazing hosts, with the icing on the cake being their son, Russell.  He is precious and was good company while we were enjoying our dinner! 

Adarsh's Tapas Feast!

Russell

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. ~Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, Pavarotti, My Own Story