Southern Comfort

A 10-day trip to the genteel south of the USA, an intriguing time to visit considering the current politacl climate. We’d been invited to a wedding in Brookhaven, Atlanta so bolted a few days in Midtown Atlanta plus a roadtrip to Nashville and Chatanooga. All aboard.

A late evening arrival and check-in at The Georgian Hotel in midtown, a historic, if somewhat faded grand old hotel. The next morning we strolled through the quiet streets towards Larakin a pleasant spot by Piedmont Park for a cofee and breakfast sandwich. Piedmont Park is a green oasis in the city centre with excellent sports facilities including a well-kept, affordable open-air swimming pool. A couple of enjoyable hour spent here before heading for lunch in Colony Square. There was an impressive selection of eateries here, we opted for brown bag seafood and were rewarded with some very fine fish tacos.

We’d planned to visit High, the modern art museum but time eluded us, we needed to head up to Buckhead for the wedding celebrations, just. time for a quick drink at Publik draft house. Off then to the Marrit AC Buckhead, a functional, modern hotel in the north of Atlanta. That night we headed to out of town for the wedding reharsal dinner at Rays on the River, a smart spot with great food followed by hotel drinks with the wedding party. Ther next morning there was just time for a stroll down to the Garden Hills Pools, anothere stunning swimming facility prceded by a full American brekfast at the busy, excellent Corner Cafe. The wedding, and the reception that followed, was excpetional in every sense - the venue, food, sericce and particularly the band - a tight, eight-piece unit that played for neary 3 hours. Truly memorable.

After a return to the Capital City Club for the post-wedding brunch it was back down to Midtown Atlanta and the start of our road-trip. We checked-in at the smart, cool, mid-century inspired ‘motor hotel’ The Clermont Hotel. This area of Atlanta is close by the belt-line, an urban greenway that loops around the city centre and on a hot Sunday afternon it was full of walkers, cyclist, runners - not something you expect in most US cities and a tribute to Atlanta’s successful urban regeneration policies. We walked for half an hour over to The Botanical Gardens, a worthwhile excursion to this impressive collection. It was hot work and feeling a little weary after the previous nights activitis we jumped on some uber bikes back to the hotel via a cheap $3 beer here. Early evening was spent resting on the roof at The Clermont, a restful space to chill before heading back out for dinner. We headed south on the beltline, still full with the great and good of Atlanta, to Ladybird, a reccommeded spot in the old fourth ward but it was shut for a private party. A little wearily we headed back but were fortunate to find an excellent italian restuarant, Fritti, just off the beltline. The rooftop at the hotel was still nicely busy and perfect for a late evening digestif.

The next morning found us back in Piedmont Park Pool for a swim to work off the weekend’s excess. A thunderstorm halted us for a while but were rewarded by discovering Woody’s, an original Philly Cheeseteak sandwich shack close to the park. Suitably restored, we headed over to the North Highland district. In truth there wasn’t much to see there apart from this interesting art-deco diner. Closer by the hotel is Ponce City Market, the old Seers-Roebuck catalogue building now stunningly restored as a mixed-use retail and food destination. Another impressive regenration project Alanta seems to specialise in. We took a late afternoon rest on the roof before heading back up the road to Fonda Latina, a busy restaurant with great value $17 margarita pitchers and a decent, if not spectacular, latino food offering.

A new day dawned and time to leave Atlanta but not before navigating our way to the airport, the busiest in the world by some measure to pick up the hire car. Hire fees are higher in the US than Europe, and I was in for a suprise when asked to apy and extra $200 for CDW and other insurances not covered by my original rental. Atlanta’s traffic is notoriously bad and it wasn’t long before we were stuck in tailbacks as we headed north towrds Nashvllle. A few hours in, somewhere in North Georgia I found (is there a better. more useful app than google maps, i can’t think of one) an old-school diner which looked a more appealing prospect than the strip mall offerings. Wes-man’s diner didn’t dissappoint, like something out of ‘Dukes of Hazard’ and unchanged since that program aired. These quirly outposts of vintage Americana are one of the great joys of any US road trip.

We rolled in to Nashville by late afternoon, we were staying a couple of miles out of town at the Sonder Village 21 Apartments, a good-value oprion with large, modern rooms and decent on-site facilities and pool. The area was neat and prosperous, close to Vanderbilt University. Nashville, like New Orleans, tends to funnel toursits along a single street for it’s main music and partying activities but for our first night i’d found a low-key venue 20 minutes walk away on Music Row. Bobby’s idle Hour is something of a legendary live music dive bar, with musicains rotating through short sets. The quality was variable but the atmosphere perfect, the highlight being the sublime blugrass playing of Luke Levenson. Oh, and my first (but not last) taste of Pickle beer - yes, beer and pickle juice.

Next morning we headed into downtown Nashville. A fast-growing mid-size city, Nashviile is more than country music and partying. We strolled by the riverside and headed up the hill to Crema for an excellent coffee and breakfast before looking in on Pinewood where we’d planned to spend the afternoon. Similar to Atanta, this urban regeneration complex of reclaimed warehouses house a vast restaurant, plunge pools, outdoor gamse area and a 1950’s bowling alley, all done with impeccable taste. A brisk 15 minute walk takes you to riverside end of Broadway, a wide, handsome boulevard lined with music bars, venues and all things country. The bands get going mid-morning, often playing to empty rooms and cpntinue to the early hours. We took a quick look at the Grand Old Oprry, a suprisingly quaint old music hall then headed for the Johhny Cash Museum. Altough not from Tennessee (he was born in Alabama) he’s inextricably linked with Nahville and folk / country music. An incredible life and musical output, it was a joy to spend an hour or so in his virtual presence.

By mid-afternon it was pretty hot so we retired to the pool at Pinewood where we were joined by friends for drinks and an early dinner. Suitably restored we headed back to Broadway and Roberts Western World, ‘Honky-Tonk Heaven’ it proudly proclaims. It’s usual to bar-hop along Broadway but we had good seats, attentive waiting staff and the general vibe was just perfect. the house band were playing, Kelley’s Heroes and they were putting on a rocking good show, 3 hours of fast-paced country rock driven by some virtuoso guitar playing - superb. I’d love to say we hit some more bars and venues along Broadway but it would be hard to beat the show we’d seen, we dropped into a local bar for a nightcap and called it a day.

A little dusty from the previou snight we once agaon headed to Crema for breakfast with friends before heading out of town towards Priest Lake Park, some 30 minutes drive away. It was a pleasant spot to while away a couple of hours, swimming, reading and generally lazing about. There is a series of large, foretsted lakes stretching from Georgia into Tennessee and beyond, the whole area very reminisicent of Ozarks (the place, and the TV Show), a feeling only reinforced when we headed to the Shipwreck Cove for lunch, a saloon-like bar situated on a lakeside jetty.

We headed back to the apartment, we had some shopping to do and planned to visit the 12 South neighburhood, 10 minutes drive away. It felt a world away from the mayhem of broadway - a genteel, pleasant locale with high-end and local boutiques, restaurants and bars. We headed stright for Imogen & Willie, a legendary denim shop favoured by many artists and musicians locared in a converted gas station. It was denim heaven and a few purchaes were made, a perfect legacy souvenir from our time in Nashville. We’d planned to visit ‘The Blue Room’. Jack White’s bar and venue, part of his third man records empire. The website was a little vague about whet to expect, it was labelled chess night, maybe a tribute to the famous blues music record label. Nope, it was as adverised - a chess club, albeit one with a decent soundtrack. We hung around for an hour or so, played a couple of matches and headed out. The area around here was a little sketchy, we returned back to the apartment but not before we had a couple of drinks at the excellent, old school dive bar opposite, The Villager Tavern.

It was time to start making our way back to Atlanta. I’d planned an overnight stop in Chatanooga, home of the eponymous Choo Choo and exact;y half-way between the two cities. What a pleasant spot it tunred out to be, a small city or large town if you prefer situated in a bend on the river beneath Lookout Mountain. I’d arranged to hire a couple of kayaks and we padelled out to Macellan Island, a nature reserve near rhe Notth Shore, a pleasant spot soehwat marred by the motorway bridges thundering overhead. Onwards then to our last overnight stop, the rather lovely Chalet Hotel near the old restored railway station. We headed to the Chatanooga Whisky Experimental distillery for a short, informative tour before tucking into a selection of eight(!) different whiskies. Suitably refreshed we headed for some very good Mexican food at Taqueria Jalisco and a nightcap at Gate 11. Chatanooga had revealed itself as a friendly and charming spot, we could have stayed longer.

Our last day but with a late evening flight there was stil time for an action-packed agenda. We met a friendly local the previous evening who reccommended a chicken and biscuit spot for breakfast, better than it sounds. It was the morning of the “No Kings’ protest and Chatanooga proudly turned out in force, bravo! Our patrom also directed us to a hiking spot near lookout mountain with great views, impressive waterfalls and a lung-bursting 600-step ascent back to the car. We started to head back south, I’d found another lake and beach set-up a little north of Atlanta, we had a few hours to kill so headed here late afternoon for one final swim - there were no boats allowed so I coule ejoy a longer dip around the shorleine. A thunderstorm came through late afternoon driving us back to Atlanta and with news of a delayed take-off we had chance to pop into Ponce City Market for one last shopping trip before home. Our trip to the southern states showed us an America somewhat removed fron the current view of the country, one that was that was friendly, lively, prosperous and energetic. I’ll be back.