Bob has been presented with an opportunity to attend the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia and he is ecstatic! He'll fly into Atlanta, spend a day in business meetings before the group heads to Augusta. Since I have family in the suburbs of Atlanta, I have decided to tag along and then split off. We get to the airport and discover our flights are a mess. We are scheduled to travel from Atlanta to Boston today, except we are in Boston looking to get to Atlanta. Disclaimer: I was NOT in charge of travel arrangements! We frantically sort things out and get to the gate with minutes until boarding. Travel is never dull.

The flight is about 2.5 hours, so airtime is not significant. There are no checked bags so getting out of Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport and onto the hotel shuttle is a breeze. The business meetings will be conducted at the Renaissance Gateway Hotel, about 5 minutes away. It is comfortable and conveient. We put our bags in the room and as usual, work beckons for Bob, so I go for a quick walk. The weather is sunny and 65 and the native Atlantans are freezing, but to me it feels great! I then amuse myself until my favorite time of day: dinnertime!

We drive past the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library to the Virginia-Highland neighborhood (nickname is ValHi), filled with beautiful homes, shops and restaurants. Our destination is the Highland Tap Steak House, which offers a selection of burgers, salads, grilled meats and a few fish items as well. It leans more towards bar fare, but there is a 32 oz. Tomahawk steak and Prime Rib, which is featured prominently on the menu and one of the gentlemen raves about it! I have not ordered Prime Rib in a restaurant in years (though I do usually make one around the holidays), so I decide I'm going there! Why not, I say? I order Oysters Rockefeller for my starter and the 10 oz. Prime Rib with scalloped potatoes and some sauteed spinach. I am going old-school! The meal is good enough, even though I eat 1/3 of the meat. 10 oz. could easily feed two to three people, IMHO. Time to go back to the hotel and plan my day for tomorrow. http://www.nightcapfoodandspirits.com/highlandtapmain.html.

The Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta is where the beautiful people go, so naturally I am going there. The Whitley Hotel (previosuly the Ritz Carlton) is well appointed with an old world flair -- the lobby features wood paneling, crystal chandeliers, lovely artwork and floral arrangements, a coffee bar, lounge and their flagship restaurant, Traderoot. I check in, scope everything in the room out, then head down for lunch. I am hungry. The menu has a middle-eastern slant with a bit of Georgia thrown in for good measure. I decide on the lamb sliders with a side of tabbouleh. But first, a basket of pita and naan bread with some olive oil/balsamic, and an olive tapendade. Delicious and an "A" for presentation! The lamb sliders come and I bite into them. My first taste is definitively cardamom -- slightly sweet. And then the tiniest bit of heat at the end. They are good. I get through half of them and a few bites of the tabbouleh. http://www.starwoodhotels.com/luxury/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=4857&SWAQ=958P

Now what? I have not done my research for this leg of my trip. I am tempted to hang out at the hotel, go for a swim and get a spa treatmet, but the Atlanta History Center is calling my name. I think I will get myself there. This turns out to be a good decision.

The Atlanta History Center is a cultural museum which tells many different stories of life in and around Atlanta. When you first walk in, there is a video narrated from the spectrum of Atlanta citizens -- authors, historians, politicians, neighborhood dwellers and children -- all talking about what they love about the city. Super informative. Next there are galleries that all address different aspects of Atlanta and southern history. The most poignant gallery was "Turning Point: The American Civil War". It presented the topic in an educational and thoughtful way. The artifacts collected were spectacular. I leave you with this photo montage.

Other galleries included Southern Folk Art, Native Americans in Georgia, Stories of Atlanta, and the Bobby Jones Story, a golf pioneer from the early 1900's. Just an amazing collection. But wait, there's more. Out the back door you go to some gardens (some under construction), and then two living history museums. First up: The Smith Farm.

The farmhouse was moved to this location, as well as other outbuildings gathered from other places of the same period to re-create a typical southern 1800's farm. Main house, slave house (farm workers), forgery, barns for livestock, chicken coop, sheep pen and gardens everywhere. You are invited to walk into each and every building and there are people there to educate you if you wish. I could not stop sticking my nose in every corner. So compelling! Again, click on the right of the images to toggle through.

After you see everything you think you can see here, you meander up the hill to the Swan House. Now, someone told me to go to the Swan House and I thought that it was a little building where they keep the swans. Because I am an idiot that way. But no, this is where an affluent cotton merchant named Swan from the early 1900's built a mansion, and it is the same formula. Walk through, people in period garb tell you about anything you want to know - from the butler's pantry to the dining room with hand-painted wallpaper. I just love this stuff! The beds in the bedrooms are unmade and the kids' room is a mess. It feels like... a house that people lived in, instead of a museum. The gardens don't suck either. PS, apparently, scenes from the Hunger Games series were filmed here. Not sure which. Probably the ones with Donald Sutherland being all creepy. http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com.

After several hours, I call the hotel for the free car to come get me and ask the guy to take me to the Botanical Gardens. They can't go that far. Tomorrow I will Uber there, and then Uber to my nieces' house in Roswell. No idea where that is, but it is something like 25 minutes away and I think it is east. We'll find out. Tonight I think it is room service and watching the Masters. And writing about my day.