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Our first stop of the day was Fat Matt’s rib shack and after going to the wrong venue I had a bonding moment with the menu.

Fair Play

The prices were about the same as I’d expect to pay at local rib joints but with the benefit that here it was fast food-style and one didn’t need to consider gratuity.  Quality ribs to me are about scale and how to get a consistent result when going through large quantities as there’s at least a 4-hour lag between preparation and presentation.  Southern baby back ribs tend to be fattier and use a spicier and sharper sauce compared to Northern ribs that generally have a sweeter sauce with earthier flavors to them.  The fat provides a superior mouth feel when combined with a thinner sauce that creates a flavor that coats the mouth.  The pork was well prepared but I think my preferences lie north of the Mason-Dixon line.

Ribs

Atlanta Botanical Garden

My passes to the New York Botanical Gardens have paid for themselves in legion ways thanks to their reciprocal membership program through the American Horticultural Society.  Atlanta’s gardens offered free admission and discount parking bringing my total savings with my passes to about $200 for $100 in initial outlay.  The gardens themselves were varied but small, only clocking in at 30 acres but this made the entire place viewable in one day.  Reuben didn’t have a camera so he found other ways to amuse himself.

Streetfighter Hair

This was one of my first trips where I tried using my 100mm macro lens as a walk around lens and I was happy with the results.
Water Pr0n

They had an array of indoor greenhouses and the Flickr album best shows these. After going through the green houses, Suzie made commune with what looked like an anole.

Pretty Much Boned

More Pictures

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GJ

Grant lives not too far from Atlanta and I wanted to go ice skating so we went to his place only to find that he was busy doing lawn maintenance. I wouldn’t have minded this for a casual trip but he had literally a month’s notice and we had driven 800 miles to be there. Suzie and Reuben yelled from the car while I swept the driveway and Grant took a 5 minute shower lasting 20 minutes. We had missed skating and went to dinner. My fusion tacos were unremarkable but Suzie received a bowl of pho large enough to swim in and I’ve shopped it to this effect.

From 2012-03-22 Atlanta Botanical Gardens

After mediocre Asian food, we continue to get frozen yogurt from Menchie’s which had closed moments before we arrived. Undeterred, I stood by the door holding my thumb and forefinger in a heart pattern until one of the attendants came to the door.

Attendant: We’re closed.
Me: I understand, but we have literally driven 800 miles to be here and after shit-talking all other froyo places arrived here to see it closed. If you don’t let us in, you’ll be putting us in the position of having to call your ex-girlfriend for a handy on a Sunday night after you shit talked her to your new girlfriend that just abandoned you. Don’t put us in that situation.
Attendant: Do you just want frozen yogurt?
Me: Yes.
Attendant: Ok, here are some free waffle cones.

I did not have frozen yogurt so much as the sweet frozen rewards that come with an ability to bullshit.

We dropped off Grant and headed back to Reuben’s playing the stereo far too loudly going through a progression of songs we all turned out to know the words too across My Chemical Romance, Green Day, The Killers and P!nk.  So for 45 minutes we sang loudly while silently judging each other.

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Suzie, Reuben, Chris and I stayed up late prattling like school girls and Mike opted to be the responsible one and sleep a reasonable amount.  Thank you, Mike.

We rose at the crack of 10:30 and I picked off the last of the fruit salad after Reuben’s dad showed us the glories of a man and his quest to make a bear suit and after learning that, while awesome, the Atlanta Aquarium cost $40 a head, we opted for the vastly freer Fernbank Science Center.  Along the way, we picked up Grant at the University of Atlanta where in the distance of three blocks I was reminded of all the things I hated about college including loud bad music, people with the sartorial splendor of sock puppets, and liberal arts majors yelling about things.  On the way out, we passed a vagrant asking for money to whom I yelled “quijon, unt brocojantore!” my stock response to panhandlers.  It’s a line I picked up from an MCI commercial for international calling from at least a dozen years ago and it seems to silence them.

The science center was about as good as free science center can reasonably get but at least had clever signs:
Tiny Lungs

Inside, they had displays on bees and space.  I can’t really think of what else you’d need in a science museum after that with a display of a monkey in a capsule and a depiction of the lunar surface reminiscent of a failed under-chocolated brownie but we pressed on and explored their nature trail.  The mark of an urban nature trail is that it is paved and terminates at an artificial duck pond, this one had both and our group registered its approval by placing a TI sticker on the sign-in log.

We stopped for lunch at “The Varsity”, a classic-style of eatery where cashiers shout for the next person and you’re passed if you don’t make up your mind quickly.  The food tasted of grease, orange, and repressed racial strife which seemed appropriate considering the comparatively small portions and after crushing our frosted oranges, we headed again south.

Driving to Tampa was uneventful and it was good to see Bob again.  His is a face I’ve never seen marred by sadness nor a wit dulled by cynicism.  We ate at Steak ‘n’ Shake and my triumph of the evening was leaving with no food on my shirt.  Bob had brought the housemates that seemed to compose his ersatz but happy family.  Also attending were <tk lord slapnut> and his adorable daughter Zoey.  She received TI stickers with great jubilation and proceeded to slap all the ones she could get her hands on (10 or so) to her car seat.

Bob and I went on a question “for that guy that was on our team whose head was kind of misshapen.”  It was Surprised Face.

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