Day 4: Back to Atlanta and departure

We awoke fairly early in Athens on the last day of our Trip of Northern Aggression, still sleepy but anxious to get back on the road to Atlanta, where we would spend the afternoon before heading to the airport and back home. After some coffee and truly enormous muffins, we left our gracious hosts (who, rather than attempting to steal our bed, like certain people at the beach house, were nice enough to offer their own) and got back on the well-maintained highway back to the city. About two hours after that, we arrived downtown, where GP swapped me for his friend (the guy whose apartment we stayed in the first two nights), and they headed off to Six Flags Over Georgia (card-carrying coaster enthusiasts that they are) while I was left with the friend's girlfriend. She had constructed a list of possible activities for us (so thoughtful! we definitely had a great time), from the High Museum to the Mitchell House, but of course I opted for walking around and shopping in Decatur.

Being the Californian that I am, I was definitely thrown off by the temperature/rain combination during this thunderstormy day-- people, it is supposed to be cold when it's raining! That's how it works. Anyway, we wandered in and out of a lot of cool, eclectic shops, sometimes because we were actually interested, and others just to get out of a downpour. While we were waiting for a table to open up at the diner where we had lunch, we went into this store where I know I've seen portions of Good Eats filmed. I kept hoping to run into Alton Brown, so I could talk to him about whisks and probe thermometers, because I am fun and he is crazy smart. Lunch was delicious-- I had what amounted to eggs Benedict, except the entire thing sat atop a slice of challah (holla!) and was covered in a parmesan-y sauce, rather than hollandaise. Stuffed to the brim, we headed over to Atlantic Station for a bit more shopping, and then back to the apartment to meet up with the boys and get me ready to go.

The trip ends with GP and I bidding our Atlanta hosts and the South in general a sad goodbye, hopping on MARTA back to the airport, and boarding a Delta flight back to SFO, during which I was the trivia master. Took a few days to get used to not being on EDT, but finally this morning I managed to "sleep in" until 7am. Niiiice.

Just think...there are less than two months until we go to Paris!