Guys, this is IT! Our last stop on WVT until we return to Richmond, VA. We’re staying in Sandy Springs, GA, outside of Atlanta, with my uncle Terry and aunt Valerie.

And we cannot forget their hilarious Malti-poo Jingles!

 

Today, we started with a big Southern breakfast, including grits! And then Terry and Valerie took us on a driving tour of Sandy Springs (which, until yesterday, I had no idea existed). We saw some very large and impressive houses before we arrived on Atlanta’s famous Peach Tree Road. We also saw the white oak that Valerie had planted in honor of Sandy Springs’ mayor!

Valerie and Terry were great tour guides, and they were eager to show us the distinct Atlanta sights. Valerie got us tickets to the VIP tour at the CNN World Headquarters! It is in a former indoor amusement park facility with the longest free-standing elevator in the world.

We even found Anderson and Wolf!

The CNN tour is really interesting! It sounds silly, but we didn’t realize how much man-power went into making the news. The building was full of screens and monitors and people with headsets, giving and taking instructions.

How do you think we look as anchors? I think we’d be a good co-anchor pair. We put on our serious faces. I guess we’re reading hard-hitting and breaking news. (One entry-level position is manually scrolling through the teleprompt script for each anchor. Yes?? No….)

After lunch, we took a picture of our last state capitol on this trip. (Thanks to Terry for taking this one. It’s rare that we get one together.)

Then we learned thangs at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum. I didn’t get any pictures inside, but it’s a really well-done look at his life and presidency. This brings our total number of visits to presidential libraries to a whopping two! We should go to more. I apparently didn’t pay attention in US History class, so I have to relearn all these things now.

Near the museum is the Virginia Highland neighborhood, which Valerie describes as the closest thing Atlanta has to a bohemian district. We walked around and visited a few cute little shops. This is particularly impressive because it’s early August in Atlanta and walking outside was totally do-able. The humidity was way down today, and there was a clear blue sky and manageable temperatures. Terry and Valerie assure us that this is not normal.

If you’re in the Sandy Springs or Atlanta area, you should visit Heirloom Market barbecue restaurant. Terry and Valerie’s foodie neighbors say that this is the best barbecue in the city, and it was started by a Korean so it has little touches like spicy pepper sauce or kimchi coleslaw. The “Hotlanta” sauce is seriously HOT.

This was a great last visit! It was so nice to see both friends and family on this trip. I haven’t seen Terry and Valerie in almost ten years, and they showed us so many neat only-in-Atlanta things. And I’m glad Harrison could meet so many of my family members, who are now his family members, too!

I think Jingles has found her new soul-mate. Look, she is just beside herself with grief that he is leaving tomorrow!

And so tomorrow, we hit the road and drive from Sandy Springs back to Richmond! Stay tuned, we have a puzzle competition and some “awards” to name!