Atlanta, day two

[snugglekitty]

Yesterday morning I slept in, for me at least. I seem to be recovered from being sick, except for being a bit tired in the mornings. I just managed to shower in time to make the hotel breakfast buffet before it closed. I've already mentioned the orange juice - let me mention it again. NOT from concentrate. YUM. The menu also included bacon, itsy bitsy buttermilk biscuits, yogurt, and really delicious fruit. I felt sophisticated and pleased signing the slip to have it charged to the room. I like hotels.

I headed back up to our suite and spent some time doing Honey things. Setting up wireless access in the hotel, knitting and checking email while sitting in a toasty pool of sunshine helped me to finish waking up. Then I decided that I wanted to go outside and walk around. It was a surprisingly warm sixty degrees - I was soon regretting my sneakers and long-sleeve shirt. But I had a nice time poking around, just seeing what there was to see. My favorite sight: two toy dogs in a very chi-chi boutique. The best part? They were the owners'. Hey, if I were a purse dog I would LOVE to live in a boutique.

I had plans to meet f_butterfly for lunch. The place I had in mind was Max Lager, which mrpet and I had passed on our way to the hotel the previous evening. This gave me a wrongful idea of how close it was to the hotel. I also started walking later than I should have. Luckily, f_butterfly called me a little while later saying she was running late too. I called the restaurant after 15 minutes of walking, to try to get better directions. Unfortunately, they sent me the wrong way. Whoops. Finally, f_butterfly was successful - first, she found the restaurant, and then she found me, and then she took me to the restaurant. At least by then I was going in the right direction, you know? The logistical hassles made the first few moments of our reunion a little weird, but it started to feel more natural while we were both eating the duck salad. Yum.

We had nice talkings. It's hard to catch up on ten years in a few hours, but we did our best. It helped that we had been emailing back and forth for a few days. After lunch, we went to the Spirit Bear Labyrinth. She had never walked a labyrinth before, and found it to be a worthwhile experience. It was a lawn labyrinth and very pretty. My favorite part was the center - a little open-air pagoda with windchimes. The winchimes are huge, and from inside the pagoda you can feel them resonating in your body. Very powerful.

After that, we headed back to the hotel for a little downtime. mrpet joined us an hour or so later. The three of us headed out to Atlanta Fish Market for dinner. Everyone enjoyed their meals. I had the stuffed flounder (with crabmeat, shrimp, and itty bitty tender scallop babies) and a tasty glass of Riesling, as well as a share of the juicy lobster and crabmeat dip that Jim had ordered. After this, we hung out in the hotel room for a bit, then f_butterfly went home to get ready for her trip to the mountains, starting this morning. I did invite her to visit us in Boston, though, and hope she will do so soon.

Yesterday, I also heard back from the High Museum of Art. They are unable to accomodate me in the Works on Paper room because of the short notice. Le sigh. I was hoping to take advantage of the collection. I also heard back from Dave, another Atlanta friend. It turns out that now he lives in California. However, through an intense piece of synchronicity, he is in Atlanta for the weekend, and wants to have dinner with myself and mrpet. Since we don't have any more timebound plans until we leave on Sunday, we're going to try to make that happen.



Plan for today - I want to make it to the Lenox Square Mall to indulge in a laser fitting via Intellifit. I may also do some shopping at that time. I need a belt! And some sunglasses - I didn't bring any, although using the term "forgot" would imply that at some point, it occurred to me that Atlanta would be bright, which simply isn't true.