The High Museum of Art in Atlanta is known as the best and most visited in Southeastern United States. It's website reveals a great collection of all sorts of art ranging from abstract and folk art to modern day, contemporary art. On my visit, I noticed a huge concentration of older, classical American and European art pieces, especially sculptures. Although I'm very fond of French designs, this museum wasn't exactly my cup of tea. I have a higher preference for contemporary art and was bummed to find only one floor dedicated to my taste. The museums I've gone to back West better quench my thirst in terms of art. Regardless, they do half off admissions every Thursday evening ($9), so it was a good chance to get out of the house.
Being in Atlanta, I took on the opportunity of touring the "world's largest tank" at the Georgia Aquarium. I've attached a youtube of the breathtaking view below as this youtube exactly depicts all of the aquatic life that I was able to gawk at with my own eyes...
The Georgia Aquarium boasts an extreme variety of sea life and is noted for its young whale sharks, beluga whales, and manta rays. Being able to pet some was definitely a thrill. With a tank holding over 8 million gallons of marine and fresh water, you can literally stare, stare, stare and get lost in the deep blue trance of the sea for hours...maybe days. Ok just kidding but hours would seriously do you justice and get your money's worth. In terms of the other exhibits aside the Ocean Voyager, however, I felt as though the Long Beach Aquarium back home has a greater variety of activities that actually engage the curious lingerers.
Nevertheless, the Georgia Aquarium does seal the deal with its humongous tank. It's a real trip when you're standing up close by the tank's 2 feet thick glass, and a mammal 100000000000000x(times) your size swims up SO close to you that you naturally jump back by instinct, forgetting the glass wall of separation. No lie. This is definitely one of those places where "you've got to see it to believe it."
Little Five Points, located in Midtown Atlanta, is definitely a sweet soul spot. This restoration boasts a handful of trade and sell shops/boutiques, which is a favorite for finding unique and thrifty goodies. The only familiar places this district contains that can also be found at home in Los Angeles include Urban Outfitters, American Apparel, and Rag O Rama. Every other store was a completely unheard of new joint to me. What adds even more flavor to this area is the euphoria of street art. There were several cops strolling around but the street artists here (as captured above) coolly do their thing without legal disturbance. Dope! I was loving the aura, no doubt.
Random outdoor and indoor eateries are also pleasantly scattered along this part of Georgia. To my luck, I stumbled upon The Vortex Grill & Bar off of yelp and discovered that this sick dining was featured on Man vs Food! So I had to try it, and this restaurant definitely has the BEST burgers in town. Hands down. From the decor to the menu, everything about this place deserved to be on television. Despite how awesome this area was, the humidity of peak hour over here (5:00 p.m.) eventually made it too overwhelming to survive any more strolls for adventure... Regardless, I was pretty satisfied with my findings.
Georgia has been just peachy. I've been constantly on the hunt for neat attractions that aren't on the typical "tourist" known bucket lists, but that's been pretty hard considering how humble these lands are in terms of extraordinary activities. This town is full of natural life and serene landscapes.. I mean, this neighborhood I'm currently staying at has a creek! I don't know of any villages around home that have a creek as movie-like as this. The houses and buildings are mostly all gorgeously historic or colonial looking, which is a total contrast to the modern day, urban Los Angeles city life. I've never seen so many brick buildings still standing in my life, and the roads seem neverending, lined up with evergreen everything.
No exaggeration.
I can't help but ramble on about how green everything is here because it really amazes me! That last photo up there seriously reminded me of a video opportunity for some exotic car commercial. I won't sugarcoat reality though, not everything out here is picture perfect. Some parts of town are rather eerie... but I love it all.
Anyway, I did happen to stumble upon a really neat artsy town bombarded with street/graffiti art that I shall update photos from another time. All I've got left to say is...
Finding this little area definitely hit the spot.
More pictures coming soon....
PS. I scored this sheer black maxi skirt for just twenty bucks at Papaya, believe it or not. I generally don't like this store much... However, Continental & United Airlines lost my luggage for the first week that I was here, so I had to do a little shopping for clothes to avoid wearing what I arrived in for days straight ... Thus, I quickly rummaged through Papaya and came up with this steal deal. Woo.
I've been unable to update my blog because I've been constantly on the go.. Literally, I've been traveling ever since my summer class finals a few weeks ago. Right now, I'm on the East Coast for my very first time ever, and boy do I have much to share!
On the first landing of my trip, I was glued to the passenger window like any browser endlessly clicking through tumblrs/blogs. I couldn't hold back from admiring the details of the east coast cities emerge as the sunrise seeped through past the thin mist of fluffy clouds... A moment much like a liberating sigh of, "Hallelujahhh"... It was so serene, so natural, so unreal... When landing in Los Angeles, you're granted with the beautiful twinkles and winks of the city lights welcoming you home through the night. Here, I was welcomed with neverending vast green landscapes as if Mother Nature has always been way too appreciated to distort with building blocks of city life. Says a lot about the lifestyle here in the east compared to home ... Refreshing. Refreshing until the humidity overwhelmed my Californian weather loving body. It was definitely an extreme contrast to what I consider norm. Nevertheless, this is all definitely a lifetime experience. In these past few days, I've crossed paths with mainly Florida, alongside Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. With that being said, I've got much catching up on sleep to do so there will be more photo adventures coming soon....
Several people questioned where I got my outfit today while shopping at the Great Mall of Georgia, but I had to tell them I was from California. Regardless, I spotted this salmon color slanted top down Melrose in La. The laced white skirt is from Fashion Young, and the taupe ankle boots are my ancient Jeffrey Campbells from years ago. Oh, and the earrings were from the quarterly flea markets held on my campus at UCI.
"What a country chooses to save is what a country chooses to say about itself." —Mollie Beattie, Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1993-1996
