It has been a hot minute since I've kept up with my posts! In the mean time I had a fabulous July, full of working, traveling to Buffalo for a family reunion, moving into my new apartment in SF, and of course spending lots of time with my friends at home. I am truly grateful for what a fabulous summer it has been! As it draws to a close, I have one more fun trip to review!

Soleil and I were joking around this past January about how to beat our travel bugs. We wanted to try somewhere we hadn't been before without breaking the bank. I mentioned my older sister lives in Atlanta, and we could go visit her. So here we are on August 2nd, headed to the South to visit my sister!

Tuesday: We met at the Oakland airport, and proceeded to spend every minute of the 4.5 hour plane flight catching up, gossiping, and generally analyzing our lives the way we love to do. After an easy flight we were picked up by Sara's boyfriend Eric, and with a little Chick fil A we were on our way to their apartment in John's Creek. It was so good to reunite with my big sister and to hangout with Eric and their sweet pup Levi.

Wednesday: Soleil and I dropped Sara off at work, and braved the Atlanta traffic to head downtown to the Aquarium. Now I am not exactly a fish enthusiast, but I was happily surprised with how much I liked the ATL Aquarium! It was crawling with kiddos, but the sealife was really quite cool. Soleil and I geeked over the Beluga whales and little otters. The best part was this giant tank full of all kinds of sealife like whale sharks, rays, sea turtles, and millions of fish.

         After we had our fill of all the fishes we headed to lunch a little ways away in midtown, called Yeah Burger which is an Atlanta chain! I will preface this with the fact that I've spent about the last month looking up where to eat in Atlanta and Nashville, so I will say I had high expectations. But WOW. This burger place was out of this world. There were 5 types of meat to pick from, various buns (holla @ that GF bun), cheese, every sauce you could want, and some seriously amazing sides! The vibe was kind of a Shake Shack meets Super Duper, and it was the perfect lunch spot! Soleil and I both got beef patties, I got the GF bun, and for sides she did fries and I had the spiced cauliflower.

     Then, because were just weren't stuffed enough, we drove to a nearby donut shop called Revolution Donuts and Coffee that had GLUTEN FREE DONUTS. Now this might not be that exciting for your average gluten-eater. But let me tell you, I have not had a donut in 2.5 years, YEARS!!!!! That is way too long to be donut-less. So I was hyped to say the least to even find said donut. But the fact that it was one of the most amazing pieces of baked good I have ever consumed really just took it to the next level. Needless to say I was a happy girl.

     We changed our original plan of going to the Westside Provisions, an upscale outdoor shopping area, and instead went to a new market, by recommendation of the nice donut man, called Ponce City Market. This was a good call because it was exactly what we were looking for! Atlanta is known as an established southern metropolis but it also has that new young, modern shops popping up all over the place. This market was brand new, housed in an old factory, and was a cross of Chelsea Market and Pike Place. There were all your bougey shops like Anthro and J Crew, but the inside was packed with people enjoying the restaurant market which had every cuisine you could imagine. We ventured onto the roof to find an entry onto the Beltline, which is this circular park that wraps all the way around Atlanta. I also feel like I need to mention that it was about a million degrees with more humidity than is humanly okay. Soleil and I were pretty sure we were melting. So we were ready to run from air conditioned car then from shop to shop. 

     That afternoon we picked up Sara from work, and hung out at her place. Then we met Eric in midtown again for some classic Southern cuisine at the Colonnade. The restaurant wasn't quite what we were hoping for, and we looked about 60 years too young to be there, but we had a great time!

Thursday: Sara had to go into work for a Life Support exam, so after we dropped her off we took part in one of my favorite hobbies: messing around at Target. Then after 2 hours we met back up and headed to lunch with my Aunt Diane! We spent the afternoon perusing the Mall of Georgia. That night we watched Sara play on her indoor soccer team and caught up over dinner. 

Friday: Sara, Soleil and I had such a yummy brunch at Egg Harbor Cafe. Their strawberry orange juice was so freakin good and we topped that off with a gluten free cinnamon roll, obviously I was drooling on my plate. After Eric got off work we drove the 4.5 hours to Nashville!! It was a gorgeous drive through the Tennessee mountains (s/o to Sara for driving while we all fell asleep, love you!). 

For dinner we hit up Edley's Barbecue, which I had been recommended from a travel nurse at work, and it definitely came through. It was advertised as the Best BBQ in Nashville, and I have to agree. I got the half rack of ribs and I enjoyed it so much it ended up not only all over my face, hands, and clothes, but also in my hair - the mark of truly life-changing barbecue. We walked around the area, saw Reese' Witherspoon's upscale shop Draper James, and then headed to the other best culinary experience of the weekend, Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream.

          Now I consider myself to be a bit of an ice cream enthusiast/connoisseur, so I have tried some truly fabulous flavors. But guys, WOW. I have only once in my life been so in love with a scoop of ice cream. The nice guy who worked there thankfully seemed amused by my need to sample every single flavor, but I took that mission seriously. I ended up having Darkest Chocolate, Salted Peanut Butter with Chocolate Flecks, and Lemon & Blueberries Buttermilk Frozen Yogurt. Yes I had three scoops and if you're judging me, get out, you know you would have done the same thing. ANYWAY. I am aware that I have just written this love-letter paragraph about ice cream, but hopefully this instills in you all the importance of getting to a city with a Jeni's and eating it as many times as possible. Strongly considering moving to Nashville for this reason only. Moving on from this sonnet, I promise. 

  We checked into our VRBO in east Nashville and just fell in love all over again. It was perfectly decorated and our host was a dermatologist who left us samples, score! If you are ever looking to stay in the Music City, hit me up for the details on this cute little house. We headed downtown to Broadway street and danced our butts off all night at Honky Tonk Central!! It was beautiful out after a long hot day, and it was such a fun atmosphere with all the country music. 

Saturday: We headed back downtown to Broadway St to go to Acme Feed & Seed for brunch. This is another restaurant I interested in because I had read so many rave reviews. They have a great rooftop, but since we were not trying to be roasted we opted for inside. One of the great things about Nashville is that there is good live music literally everywhere you go, making dining or even a walk down the street an experience. It also makes it a struggle to hear each other over brunch, so we opted for the quieter second floor (where you can also find a sushi bar!).  

After a revitalizing brunch we perused the cowboy boots and nearly broke before we realized we live in SF and that we have about zero places to wear said $200 boots, Ha! We then walked over to the Pedestrian Bridge for a beautiful view and photo op of downtown and the Cumberland River. 

After this Soleil and I headed to the Grand Ole Opery for a backstage tour. It is a bit more outside of the city than I expected but honestly I was just happy for an air conditioned ride. The Opery tour was pretty awesome! We got to see all the dressing rooms and the backstage area and even stand on the historic stage! Having grown up on country music, I was pretty starstruck to see where all the greats have preformed. 

We headed back to the house to meet Sara and Eric and recharge for the night. We tried to go to Pharmacy Burger in east Nashville for dinner but after getting rained on and hearing about the hour and a half wait, we settled for the restaurant across the street, Mas Tacos. I had previously read this place was closed on Saturday nights, but it was hopping! It was everything a good taco joint should be, unclean, dimly lit, and filled with locals. We had some bombbbbbb tacos, iced coffee horchata (can you say match made in heaven?!) and fried plantains and I could not have been happier. 

Sara and Eric headed to the famous Bluebird Cafe for a music show, but due to lack of tickets Soleil and I had to find something else to do. We went back downtown to try to get into the Listening Room. This is the place where all the writers of the big country hits play, and it being a Saturday night they were totally sold out. But thanks to the rain some people were no shows and we snagged a table to ourselves. The singers were really really good. They did an acoustic round robin that showed off how beautiful their raw voices were and let them share some stories and personality. This was definitely a great place that I highly recommend!! Soleil headed back to the place and Sara, Eric, and I spent another night dancing on Broadway street! 

Sunday: We got a little bit of a late start this day but really made up for it with breakfast. I have been gluten free for 2.5 years now, so nothing gets me hyped like a restaurant that caters to my dietary issues. Ever since I read about the Pfunky Griddle in south Nashville I have been beyond excited to go. It is a restaurant with griddles built into the middle of each table. You buy the uncooked ingredients, whether that be pancake mix, hash browns, eggs, ect and you cook your own food in front of you. This is basically the coolest thing I have ever heard of. They also had great coffee and like 50 toppings you could get, and you guessed it, GF BATTER so helloooooo I was like a little kid in a candy shop. We proceeded to stuff our faces to maximum capacity and then had a groaning party. 

As per my request, we drove around Vanderbilt and Vanderbilt Children's Hospital and all adored the campus full of brick buildings and beautiful big hospital. We tried to go to the Nashville Farmer's Market, but felt like we were standing on the face of the sun, and decided a lazy afternoon watching TV was preferable. 

After quite a few episodes of Friends I mobilized the troops, because I was somehow hungry again. We went back to Pharmacy Burger and were happy to find a much shorter line. The burgers were good and the tater tots were great. We decided to check out the local bluegrass scene and headed to a small place. We stayed for approximately 3 minutes after we realized this was some back-home, harmonica slinging, serious bluegrass. I mean I am a country fan, but I felt like I should have been churning butter in that place!!! We ditched it for another go at Jeni's ice cream. 

Monday: Soleil left early for the airport. Sara, Eric, and I drove back to Atlanta where they dropped me at the airport. It was a madhouse because that morning the Delta system had gone on a nationwide blink and ATL is the Delta hub. I was super lucky that I got out of there at all, not to mention on time!! 

Tues-Fri: Mom and I  had a great time in Siesta Key! My parents recently purchased a condo there because the place holds a very special place in all of our hearts. My grandparents live there part of the year and we have visited almost every year of my life, and all name it as our happy place. We decorated the new place to prepare for renting it out and enjoyed the hot hot sun. 

I am so happy to have been able to visit my sister, experience a new place with her and Eric and Soleil and of course to visit Florida which I always leave with a peaceful mind. I am beyond grateful for a job that gives me the flexibility to travel and for everyone who has either traveled with me or housed me in my travels! Thank you all!! 

I spent the last few days time with my best friends at home as they each leave for school. This has been the best summer, and to finish it off, tomorrow I celebrate my 20th birthday and Wednesday I head to school to start a brand new year!