My original intention was to visit Graceland in the morning and then skip town. This, as mentioned previously, did not happen. So, once again, we found ourselves leaving for a drive of several hours right before nightfall. We stopped just across the Mississippi border at Casa Mexicana, a decent Mexican restaurant.

The rest of the drive was mind-numbingly boring. We had about enough of the American south at night, and just wanted to sleep. We found our hotel without incident (once again around 3 AM) and checked in. It was downtown near the Fox Theater. Not the best neighborhood, and not the prettiest place. Our view wasn't much to speak of, either.



It was, however, a place to sleep. And the staff were amazingly nice. While they were serving breakfast, the kitchen staff were baking cookies to leave at the front desk. Seriously. They actually gave us cookies when we checked out. After our experience in Los Angeles, this was most welcome.

We spent our day in Atlanta with one of my librarian friends, Pam. We spent the afternoon wandering around the Five Points neighborhood and then we watched the Little Five Points Halloween parade. The parade was crazy. The most organized group was the high school marching band at the end. The best bit besides the Ramones impersonator was the freak show, which included "Man eating chicken," a man eating chicken wings. I didn't get any pictures as I left my camera in the car thinking we would get back to it before the parade. No such luck.

Lunch was at the Flying Biscuit Cafe. I had the shrimp and grits which was amazing. Creamy grits with large sauteed shrimp in a red pepper sauce. Brilliant. There is also quite a bit of vegan and vegetarian food on the menu.

Dinner was at Varsity, the "world's largest drive-in restaurant." The Varsity is an Atlanta institution. The place is an enormous fast food place that actually serves a quality burger at a decent price. I'm sure this is due to the huge numbers of people who come through the doors, particularly on game days. I also had the "Varsity orange" which, I gather, is their in-house orange soda. It is quite good if one likes orange soda. The whole experience is singular, and interesting.