Eating On Our GA Vacation

(photo credit: www.nycfoodiegirl.com)

Now that we’ve talked about our travel excitement and activities on our GA vacation, it’s time to talk about the food! We had a lot of very nice meals this time around. I’ll only go into detail about the meals we had in restaurants, but the food we ate at my sister’s house was phenomenal also. A few of the things we at there included steaks, salmon with black rice, turkey burgers with Caesar salad, and hot dogs with water melon. Very tasty indeed!

Let’s start with lunches in Callaway. Our first lunch was at the Aspen’s Mountain Grill restaurant. Here’s their Yelp review, and their menu. Since we had perfect weather, we ate outside. I had the Grilled Chicken Sandwich with French fries. It was really good. Very juicy and very filling. I thought about a bacon cheeseburger, but chicken sounded more appetizing. A few people in our party ordered the bacon cheeseburger, and it looked really good.

Side note for a snack. After our lunch at Aspen’s, we walked over to an ice cream shop called Lubelle’s Ice Cream. They don’t have a website, but here’s a site for their address and directions. If you’re in the area, go here. They had two of my favorite ice cream flavors in one! Mint chocolate and cookie dough! Does it get any better that that? I think not. It was fabulous. I’d definitely go there again.

Our second lunch was at the Callaway Gardens Club House (overlooking the golf course). I didn’t write down what I had (don’t ask me why), but I believe I had a ham and cheese sandwich on white with chips...I think. Again, since it was such nice weather, we ate outside.

Lunch on Sunday was a quick (well, not so quick it turns out) hot dog and fries at Robin Lake Beach. I’m not sure what the problem was, but it took about 45 minutes for our order to come up. My guess is that the summer staff was still learning the ropes, but it just took way longer than it should have. The hot dog was good though. Pretty much what you’d expect from a little beach restaurant.

On our last day in Callaway, we had a pool-side lunch at the Marriott Hotel. There I had Grilled Chicken Salad Sandwich with fruit. I figured I had enough chips with my meals, I’d go for the fruit.

Ok, on to dinners at Callaway. Our first night of eating was spent in the Marriott’s Ironwood Lounge. For dinner, I had the Fish and Chips for dinner. They were OK, nothing spectacular, but this was a bar restaurant. I had a really nice drink to go along with it. A Blackberry Mojito. I would order that drink again, it was really good. And for dessert, I had the Strawberry Sorbet. Yum! I love a good sorbet. Here’s their menu for you to check out.

The second night we went to the Country Kitchen. This is always a tradition that we do when we go to Callaway. They had really good fried chicken.  had the Chicken and Waffles with Green Bean and Glazed Apples for dinner. Really good! The chicken was juicy and had a great crust on it. I didn’t need the waffle, but I figured I probably should experience the “chicken and waffles” combo once. I don’t think I’ve done that before. You can check out the Country Kitchen’s menu here. We couldn’t leave the restaurant without buying some fudge from their in-house store. I got some mint chocolate fudge, and my husband got plain chocolate. Very good, and we snacked on it over several days.

Our last night in Callaway we went to the Garden House. Very nice restaurant with a lot of options. Unfortunately they were out of mint, so I couldn’t have a mojito. I went with my standard rum and Coke instead. For dinner I had the Halibut. I love fish! I order it whenever I get the opportunity. For dessert, my husband and I split the Lava Cake. Ooey, gooey, goodness. You can look at their menu here.

That wraps up the meals from Callaway. We still have the Atlanta side to go. You still with me? Our first lunch out was at the Tellus Science Museum, in their little cafe.  I had a Tuna Sandwich for lunch with yogurt. I also split a brownie with my husband for dessert. You’d find these types of options at any museum or other public place I’m sure.

Our second lunch out was at Fox Brothers BBQ. I had the Smoked Chicken Salad Sandwich with Fries. I bet you’re thinking “She had chicken salad at a barbecue place?”...Well let me explain. Normally, barbecue sauce gives me massive heartburn. So, yes, I erred on the side of health caution, and opted for something a little less fiery. It was a really good chicken salad sandwich. Probably one of the best I’ve ever had. I highly recommend it, if you too have a problem with BBQ sauce. Oh yeah, we also had fried pickles for an appetizer. Very good!

My husband told me there wasn’t too much BBQ sauce on his meal. Very understated. So, if we go there again, I might be more daring and try something else. You can see their.

Our last lunch of our trip was eaten at one of our favorite places. This is a must stop every time we go to Atlanta. Ted’s Montana Grill. This time, I did go for the Bacon Cheeseburger with fries. I chose bison instead of ground beef. This is why we love Ted’s. They serve bison. I can’t think of a place around where we live that serves bison, that’s why Ted’s is a must. You’d think since the name is Ted’s Montana Grill, they’d have locations out west. Nope. They need to expand, they’d do really well out here. Look at their menu and see for yourself.

On the morning we flew back to CA, we had brunch at a place called First Watch. I had the Breakfast Scramble with fruit. I gave my fruit to my niece because she was fruit hungry that morning. Hehehe. The scramble was really good, and I would get it again. It was a scramble of eggs, ham, spinach, melted Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheese. It was all on top of multi-grain toast. There was hollandaise sauce drizzled over it. I don’t think I would have put the toast under the scramble. I’m not a big fan of soggy toast, but this was pretty good. You can look at their menu here.

We did have one dinner out while we were in Atlanta, and it was a goodie. The restaurant is called Canoe and it’s in a very lovely area. The outside atmosphere is wonderful for parties and large gatherings. I could easily see wedding receptions being held outside. To start off with, I had the Walnut Salad for my appetizer. It was a great start, it tasted fantastic! Next I had the Halibut for the main course. Again, fabulous. Cooked very well, and I savored every bite. For dessert, I had the Key Lime Cheesecake. Yes, key lime cheesecake. Great combination. I also had a very nice drink called Las Verdona. I can’t remember now what was in it, and I can’t find a drink menu from Canoe. But it was a really nice drink. Here’s their main menu and their dessert menu.

And that is the end of the food portion of the recap. I procrastinated doing this write-up because there is a lot to recap. But, I got it done. I would recommend every place we ate at, and all of the food I ate. It was all fabulous.

Stay tuned for the final part of the recap which will talk about my walking and the accessibility of the places we went to.

Activities On Our GA Vacation

Our first day in Atlanta was pretty laid back and relaxed. It was our niece’s and nephew’s last day of school, and they were both a part of the end of year talent show. Our nephew had a really cool act showing off his Tae Kwon Do abilities. And our niece was one of the talent show’s stage hands. Everyone put on a great performance!

After the talent show, my parents, husband, and youngest nephew all headed over to Party City and bought a bunch of Silly String. When the kids got off the bus, all of us sprayed them with the string. It was a good time and everyone had a lot of fun. Lots of silly string to be picked up off the yards, but well worth it.

Friday through Monday we spent at Callaway Gardens. Friday was spent packing up and driving, but we still got there early enough to do things. We decided that would be a good day for the Butterfly Center. There were a ton of butterflies, moths, and other critters. This guy was my favorite. I love the color of his tail.

Saturday we had a nice time outside. We headed over to the Birds of Prey show at the Discovery Amphitheater. We’ve seen this show before, and it seems as though they added in a new element. The birds, including the Harris Hawk below, swooped over the audience several times. I don’t remember them flying over the audience in past shows. They always flew from one perch to another So that was exciting. I had to duck several times, because I thought I’d get hit in the head.

Sunday was a fun-filled day for most of our gathering. First we headed over to Robin Lake Beach, where the kids swam in the lake and had a lot of fun. I just enjoyed the bench swing and the amazingly cool weather. My husband and I also took a short walk up and down the beach on the sidewalk. I didn’t know how long we would be there, so it was a short walk.

Later that day, my sister, brother in-law, my husband, and our niece all did the Treetop Adventure. This adventure is a series of zip lines, and in between these zip lines are what I describe as aerial obstacles. I really wanted to try it, but there was no way. I might have been able to do the zip lines by themselves. Maybe. But the other obstacles, no way. Lots of balance and coordination was required, and I lack in both. So I planted myself in a good spot, and I took a lot of photos. I should have switched the camera over to movie-mode (or used my iPod, duh) to take a video of everyone going along on the course. Everyone in the group did amazingly well, and I was told, that yes it was very hard. Everyone was really sore for the next few days.

Monday, we went back over to Robin Lake Beach for a little while, and then started the drive back to Atlanta. I once again enjoyed the nice weather and cool breeze sitting on the bench swing. Our time at Callaway was a lot of fun, with interesting activities.

The rest of our trip was spent in Atlanta. Tuesday we went somewhere brand new (well at least for the out-of-towners). We went to The Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville, GA. The Science in Motion exhibit takes you on a journey through time, from the Wright Brothers to the moon. You’ll see a lot of classic cars, a quadricycle from 1896, and a Benz Patent Motorwagon from 1886. In the space portion of the Science in Motion exhibit, you’ll see a replica of Sputnik, as well as replicas of a Mercury capsule and Apollo I capsule. Pretty cool stuff.

There is also a fossil gallery and a mineral gallery at the Tellus Science Museum. You’ll get to see a ton of minerals on display as well as gold and other gems. The display signs tell you where in the world you can find these minerals. In the fossil exhibit there’s replicas of a saber-tooth cat, a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and a whole lot more. This is what we saw when we first entered the museum.

There is a lot for kids to do at the Tellus Science Museum. They can pan for gems and dig for fossils in the Fossil Dig and Gem Panning exhibit area, and there’s also a large area called My Big Back Yard where there there are a lot of hands-on science activities to do.

I could go on and on about this science center, it was really an interesting and fun place to visit. There’s also the Solar House exhibit which we didn’t see. We’ll have to check that out sometime in the future.

That’s about everything we did other than a few trips to the book store and seeing the movie Epic. We had a really fun time this year in Atlanta and Callaway. I’m sure we’ll be back very soon to do more fun stuff with family.