Atlanta

Greetings from Atlanta!

This is our second day in Atlanta. I can't say as I have had a relaxing time here. Siri needs to get her directions figured out because she's sure led us on some interesting adventures here. I can see how people get lost on logging roads in the mountains!

Today we did manage to find the Atlanta History Center up in Buckhead. The museum has several different galleries including the Centennial Olympic Games, the Civil War and folk art. All three were interesting. I was very impressed with the Civil War section and have to say I learned quite a bit. It was comprehensive and they have a wonderful collection of artifacts. While we were in that gallery, quietly reading and taking on the exhibits, a loud group of teenagers literally stormed through. They were from the Y and there was one adult with about 50 rowdy kids. The teacher part of me immediately bristled and I told Ken that they obviously weren't MY class. I gave several of them my most withering teacher glare and I'm proud to say it worked. Mercifully the "cloud of grasshoppers" moved quickly on to the cafe...more on that in a bit.

There is a 1920's era mansion on the grounds called the Swan House. It was used in the Hunger Games movie. We had planned to walk out to see it but it started to pour rain. No problem, we'll just eat lunch in the Chick-fil-a Coke cafe until the storm passes over. Well, the cloud of grasshoppers got there before us and all that was left was one wrap and a salad. The very nice young man running the place gave us our drinks for free because he felt so bad. Unfortunately it didn't stop raining so we didn't get to see the Swan House.

The Margaret Mitchell house was next on our itinerary. It is several miles south of the Center in the midtown area. The house itself was built in the early 1900s and later converted to apartments. The Center acquired the house in 1994 and despite two arson fires opened the house and museum in 1997. The significance of the house is that Mitchell wrote her lone novel Gone with the Wind in apartment one. Mitchell was an interesting woman. Only 4' 11" ( like LIW!), Mitchell was quite the rebel in Atlanta society. Her first husband was a bootlegger, a fact she didn't know until after she married him. They divorced six months later and she married John Marsh. In 1931 Mitchell was in a car accident and was laid up for several months. After bringing her every book in the library, John brought her a sheaf of newsprint and told her to write her own book. So " in a weak moment " she wrote a book.  And the rest is history. She was an odd person. Whenever she' d finish a chapter she'd put it in a manilla envelope and hide it in her apartment. Once she was finished, she gathered up the envelopes, put them in order and sent them to her publisher. The original manuscript was over 80 chapters long. The final product was 60 chapters. In 1948, Mitchell was hit by a taxi cab in Atlanta and was killed. Her husband destroyed all of her unpublished writing following her death. She did not want her life to be on display after her death so unfortunately there are few artifacts from her actual life.

The movie display is also very sparse. They do have the actual door from Tara which was used in the movie and the portrait of Scarlett from Rhett's bedroom.

We were both tired so we abandoned our plan to go to the World of Coke and after getting lost in downtown Atlanta we headed back to our hotel. Tomorrow we will head to Nashville and the Johnny Cash Museum. I hear The Old Spaghetti Factory calling my name...