A98 in the ATL Week of 6/7-12/04

[Andre98]

Yup, I'm jumping the gun and taking in the ATL with my big old hawaiian shirt and panama hat! I might try to make the Braves - Phillies game Sunday afternoon, but damn, Imma be there all week, I aint got that kind of dough on the first day!

Taking any and all suggestions as to what to see that's insider info...of course I'm going to the MLK Jr what not... I drink Pepsi so World of Coke is out... but most of the time i'll be stuck in a conference downtown. I guess I should get my hotel then.... Damn, the choices! Checking out MARTA, cause its good and cheap on the outskirts but then again, I'd rather not commute in with Atlanta's daily rush. Anybody work for Marriott? Who's going to be downtown for lunch? Where's the Atlanta Popeyes? Yahoo IM and email is Andre1998. Somebody call the Mayor!

[ramrodque]

Dre, there is a Jazz Festival on June 9. Dave Koz, Al J, Jonathan Butler and W. Tisdale. I'm trying to find a link for you.

[Pamalicious]

Good places to look at what's happening and get all kinds of directions etc. www.accessatlanta.com

As well as www.ajc.com, and www.wsbtv.com They are all good Atlanta sites.

I tried to go out as far as your visiting dates but it only goes out 30 days I believe. But you can learn alot and see all kinds of stuff going on by checking out accessatlanta.

[Andre98]

Since the business event is at the Georgia World Congress Center, I looked for hotels that were close to that. Holy Accomodations, Batman! Many of them want nearly 2 bills a night! I searched and found much more reasonable rates in midtown, but the best were up in Buckhead or as far out as Symrna. Now, unless they are right next to Marta stations, I want to avoid complicated logistics since I won't have a car.

Update: I did get one of the last reservations at the Super 8 ($89) and thats good considering its damn close! I looked up some reviews and folks are hot and cold about that location, some saying the area is "creepy" at night. Only other comparable rate was at something called the Georgia Tech Hotel but it's hard to tell when I've never been. ATL folks, is the Cone Street area a pit?

[ramrodque]

Where the HECK is that?!?!?!?! Not sure Dre, let me find out and I will PM you.

[Andre98]

Too late to be getting cold feet about the the hotel I have now. There is nothing else even close in price in the downtown section with availability. I'm going to take a chance that the isolated thunderstorms stay isolated and don't soak Turner Field for the Sunday afternoon game against the Phillies. I'm tempted to get a car, but since I don't have a freaking idea of where I'd go, and I don't want to face traffic and parking nightmares, I guess I'll pass. If it was free parking at the hotel ( which it ain't) it might seem worth it.

Any ATL folks that want to meet for a drink, lunch, let me know....I'm basically open 'til Wednesday. Note to self: Get an Atlanta street map from Barnes and Noble

[Andre98]

*crickets*

Decided to scope out other hotels. My sister invited herself into my business and swears the Super 8 at 111 Cone St. downtown is in a stank part of town. Her ATL contact says the whole Georgia Dome complex is in the hood. I don't expect yall ATL folks to be my travel agents, but I thought yall might know what hotel is nice but affordable and located near MARTA if not right in Atlanta proper. The internet is spotty on the insider details. I have to err on the side of safety. I just hate letting the badgering sister win, she's such an O.C.D. poster child! Sorry to make this such a public display. This is the last yall will hear of this from me.

[Pamalicious]

*crickets*

Decided to scope out other hotels. My sister invited herself into my business and swears the Super 8 at 111 Cone St. downtown is in a stank part of town. Her ATL contact says the whole Georgia Dome complex is in the hood. I don't expect yall ATL folks to be my travel agents, but I thought yall might know what hotel is nice but affordable and located near MARTA if not right in Atlanta proper. The internet is spotty on the insider details. I have to err on the side of safety. I just hate letting the badgering sister win, she's such an O.C.D. poster child! Sorry to make this such a public display. This is the last yall will hear of this from me.

Dre the Dome is about 15 minutes from the AU center i.e. Clark, Spelman, Morehouse and Morris Brown. It's always been in the hood, but that don't mean you gotta watch your luggage, lol The sheer name SUPER 8 comes with it's reputation - regardless of the commercials. Find you a Hampton Inn or something like that. I'm sorry - I don't stay downtown that often, so I don't know the dirt cheap but clean, safe hotels. How you coming to a convention and they didn' give you some hotel choices? Shit I ain't never even heard of no Cone Street. They got good ass FRIED FISH in that area though!

[Andre98]

Of course the convention offered hotel choices, all the Hyatts and Ted Turner's hotel... 250-300 bills a night is what I wanted to avoid. And most of the ones right close were booked solid for months. I should have known that something was up for that joint to even have openings so late.

No worries though, I found a nice one that is in Druid Hills, called Homestead Suites. It was cheaper, so with the difference, I'm getting a car so I can explore at will. I don't hold a lot of stock in whether the name of the hotel automatically means its a dive. I've stayed in Super 8s in Indiana and Virginia that were just fine.

[Andre98]

Hmmm... fried Lobster tails,... LOL

[Andre98]

I left the INFOCOMM event a little early because I wanted to squeeze in time at the MLK Jr. site. I thought sure I would not get caught up in any emotional upheaval, but there's no denying that it's powerful to walk through the various elements of the King Center and know this is where it all started, and in the midst of honoring a president's passing, it felt more honorable to me to be at the good Doctor's gravesite paying my respects.

I know it's right here in you ATLers backyard all the time, but it's like a trip to a contemporary American Mecca for me, and I'm glad I saw it at least once. The temperature topped 100 according to the Pacifica's reading, so it felt like a trip to the real Mecca out in the desert of Africa with the walk they make you do from the parking lot. I saw the film in the Park Service's installation...they need a projection technology update and some work done on the caption display. Checked out his tomb, Ebeneezer Baptist Church, his boyhood home, but did not take the tour. Met a lady that snapped a pic of me on his porch. She is currently living in one of the Auburn Avenue homes. Wifey was here several years ago and checked it all out...it should be a priority for all Black folks to pass through at least once. It's right up there with Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon for me.

Went looking for "The Varsity" because I heard it was an old favorite in Atlanta...but of course I left my map so I am wandering through the streets, and I ended up deciding to just follow random streets and see what I can see. i ended up going past a park called "Freedom Park" on a sign missing letters, and continued east on Ponce De Leon, but didn't bear right, so I ended up just following the car in front of me on some unknown street until, as I had hoped, I came out on the beltway of I-285, to circle back around to I-85 and back to my hotel. Boy, yall sure love your gated communities in these parts, don't you? There should be a ban on calling anything else Peachtree too!

It's Friday now, and I got one more evening left before jetting out at the break of dawn to the North and FREEDOM! :wave:







;) Heh Heh! To "Freedom"...get it? Because this is the deep south and I'm going north and I'm Black and... oh boy, it's only gets worse when you have to explain it... :rolleyes:

[Andre98]

A98 Not in the ATL any longer.
Spent late afternoon Fri. once again in the car without my trusty map, try to wander down into the neighborhood south west of the Georgia Dome seeing if I can remember how to get to Spelman, Morehouse, Clark Atlanta and Morris Brown to look around. I missed Spelman by maybe one block by u-turning and heading farther soth. I ended up coming west across Ralph Abernathy seeing signs calling this the "West End". At a shopping center, sitting at the light, here comes some black folks with buckets, half heartly talking about feeding the homeless. I don't know if they have been beat down by the 97 degrees, or by the monotomy of it all, but sista wasn't half trying to be believeable, she just wanted to know it the change was coming or not. Some Black Muslims were in force as well, but the one nearest me stayed on the curb, chatting with a man that looked like he had his life's possessions in some plastic supermarket bags. People sure enough make the world go 'round.

Continuing down Abernathy, past the intersection with Joseph Lowery, they used all the civil rights hall of famers throughout Atlanta didn't they?... I end up getting on I- 285 East for my trip around the beltway to the Northeast. I impulsively took Jonesboro Rd (I think) and again impulsively, pulled into a Church's Chicken in what must have began Forest Park Georgia. A 3 piece was in order, and I ate in, though it looked like I was a bit of a curiousity. How can you be a stared at Black person among black people? Maybe it was the spanking Chrysler Pacifica, but as folks came in mostly walking from amongside the road, the car and me got doubletakes. Back on 285, Lavista Road and home to the hotel. I saw signs pointing to Snellville, home of Diana DiGarmo(sp), the second runner up Idol. I wonder if that town is actually drawing tourists over that? It wasn't until way late that night that I checked email and saw that I missed a hookup with another Hush honey! Dang it! I thought you said you had my number? All that driving I was doing, I could have easily come out! Sounded like I would have been in the company of a few ladies! Just my luck!

Oh well, back to the airport as the sun rose to leave Ray's Georgia .... of course the gate is the farthest away! Does anybody leave from the gate closest to the concourse? How many 6:20am flights are there? :blah:

[Joi :)]

sorry i missed u man, but there WILL be other times :D glad u enjoyed atl.