Atlanta/DeKalb
Where Southern Soothes the Senses

I swear that last cloud kicked me from behind as it spit me out!

It had been that way the whole flight -- first waiting out thunderstorms in Raleigh-Durham, then fighting a 25 knot headwind through afternoon buildups while I trundled onward to Atlanta. I was hot, tired, frustrated, and generally peeved at the world.

Then I was switched to the Atlanta controller.

"How y’all doing this afternoon, 64U?" a friendly voice drawled. "Peachtree is just off your 2 o’clock at about 12 miles. Y’all need some help finding it in this haze?"

The tower called my winds all the way down final, then offered progressive taxi instructions to the Airways Aviation. I pulled up under their arrival canopy that’s high enough and large enough to shelter even small biz jets from the weather and shut down as the linegirl hurried out.

"Hi!" she greeted me. "Glad y’all are here! What can we all do for you today?"

Oh, how I love that Southern hospitality!

During the Olympics, Atlanta was very busy and very crowded. Now that the town’s had a chance to re-adjust, you can return and enjoy the area at a non-competitive pace.

GETTING TO DEKALB-PEACHTREE

DeKalb-Peachtree (PDK) is about 8 miles Northeast of Atlanta. It’s a busy reliever airport for Hartsfield, with a lot of private, business, and helicopter traffic. There are four runways, including parallels for runway 20, so you rarely have to worry about crosswind landings. Elevation is 1002; pattern elevation is 2000. The airport has ILS, VOR/DME, GPS and RNAV approaches. The tower is open from 6:30 a.m. through 11:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7:00 a.m. through 11:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Frequency is 120.9, which is also CTAF. When the tower is closed, use 120.0. Lights are activated with three clicks for low intensity, five clicks for medium, seven for high.

There are two major FBOs on the field. Airways Aviation is the Air BP FBO. They are one of those wonderful places that treat the single-engine GA pilot and plane with the same courtesy and enthusiasm they treat the big bucks biz planes. They have both self-serve and truck gas. Self serve is $1.93 for 100LL. It’s $2.44 if you get it from the truck. Jet A is $2.28. If you do use the self-serve pump, they’ll tow your plane to the tie down for free. There is an overnight tie-down fee, however. $10 per night for singles; $15 for light twins. When you are ready to leave, call them, and your plane will be waiting under the canopy for loading.

AutoSave is the car rental on site at Airways, but they can arrange for Enterprise or Hertz, if you prefer. They also have a shuttle service that can take you to a nearby hotel, restaurant or MARTA station.

The other major FBO is Epps Air Service. They are also real big on friendly. Epps is the place to land if you need to have your plane worked on while you tour. They have a full service maintenance operation for airframe, powerplant, and avionics. They also offer flight instruction, if you decide you want to combine a vacation with upgrading your ticket.

Gas at Epps is $2.40 a gallon. While they don’t have self-serve, they do offer a 10 cent a gallon discount if you pay with cash or check or use an Exxon credit card. Tie down at Epps is $10 a night for singles; $15 for light twins. They can arrange for rental cars and provide courtesy ground transportation in a five-mile radius.

If you want to fly home in a gleaming specimen of aviation, check in with The Bird Bath. This is an aircraft cleaning service that can clean anything that can land at PDK. A basic wash for a single-engine is $45; wash and hand-wax is $165. They also do interior cleaning, including leather work. Ask the owners about some of the famous and infamous owners and their aircraft who’ve used them. It gives a whole different dimension to hangar-flying.

GETTING AROUND IN ATLANTA

One of the nicest things about Atlanta is its excellent public transportation system. You’ll need a car, but when you are headed into the heart of the city, you might find that the mass transit system will get you there just as quickly and without the headache of finding a parking space. You’ll also find that the tourism maps are generally very good.

The main in-town attractions are all clustered within a few blocks of each other. Those are the CNN Center, Centennial Park, Underground Atlanta and The World of Coca Cola.

"This is CNN." I know that everybody who walks into the massive skyscraper complex says that in their best James Earl Jones imitation. This soaring skyscraper complex is CNN, the heart of Ted Turner’s vast entertainment complex. During your tour, you’ll learn about teleprompters and chroma-key effects and look down into several of the news room studios as they broadcast live. If you are inspired to audition for the world of TV journalism yourself, you can make a sample videotape at the souvenir store. Who knows? You could be the next Ted Koppel or Connie Chung.

Nearby Olympic Park is a pleasant, green area with fountains and broad walkways built of bricks. The bricks were all purchased as part of the fund-raising for the Olympics. Each one has some kind of legend on it. Usually, it’s the name of the person who bought it, but some are marked with anniversaries or in memory of someone. If you were one of the thousands who bought a brick, there’s a directory to help you find it.

It’s a short walk to Underground Atlanta. This is a retail and restaurant complex actually located partly underneath some of the roadways in the heart of town. It’s six blocks of an urban marketplace, complete with a trolley running through the district so you won’t get worn out while shopping.

By now, you’re ready for some refreshment. Welcome to the World of Coca Cola. During the self-guided tour, you’ll see over 1000 Coke artifacts -- from bottles to promotional items, visit an old-time soda fountain, and see and hear vintage Coke ads. When it’s over, you’ll know everything about the world’s most popular soft drink. Well, almost everything. The formula for Coca Cola Syrup is kept in a locked vault at an area bank.

The best part of the tour comes at the end, when you enter the tasting room. Here, streams of Coke products literally shoot across the room into waiting glasses and tourists waiting to sample them. The soda-tasting ‘bar’ has samples of Coca Cola products from around the world. There’s the Mexican tutti-fruiti flavor, Paraguay’s pineapple soda, and the Japanese Vegita-Beta -- an apricot-flavored drink fortified with beta-carotene.

East of the downtown, you’ll find the Martin Luther King Historic Site. At the Visitors’ Center, you’ll see a video and displays about Dr. King’s life and works as the leader of the Civil Rights movement. Across the street are his gravesite and the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he served as pastor during his early years. A block away is his birthplace and boyhood home, open for tours.

THE GOOD STUFF OUTSIDE OF TOWN

Leaving downtown Atlanta, head north. DeKalb County has the rest of the best attractions: Stone Mountain, Fernbank Museum of Natural History, the Michael Carlos Museum, International Village and Your DeKalb Farmers Market.

Stone Mountain Park proves that The South Will Rise Again. It did, in a manner of speaking, when the largest relief carving in the world was finished in 1972. It’s the Confederate Memorial with the figures of Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis, all mounted on horseback, chiseled into the mountain’s north face.

There’s a lot more here than just the carving, however. The mountain itself is a geologic anomaly. The world’s largest granite outcropping, it rises 1638 MSL and covers 538 acres of land. You have to take the tram to the top of Stone Mountain. Once there, you walk out on the granite for an overview of the area. You’re practically standing at pattern altitude for PDK! The park surrounding it is over 3-thousand acres of lakes, woods, museums, camping facilities and a hotel/restaurant complex. At night, there’s a laser show against the carving.

The main museum details the history of the carving, complete with the infighting that went on before it was finally finished. (There were three master carvers involved in the work. When one of them left, his successor blew up the first man’s work!) The museum also has a walk-through tour about Stone Mountain during the Civil War. Since it wasn’t the site of any military action, this focuses on how people lived during the conflict.

Also in the park is the recreation of an Antebellum Plantation, with buildings moved to the site from across Georgia. It’s a fascinating walk-through and living history display. If you are a fan of Gone With the Wind, you’ll want to tour the "Road to Tara" exhibit. It’s filled with movie cast memorabilia, collectibles from the film and novel, the book in hundreds of foreign editions, and displays about the life of Margaret Mitchell.

Just outside the park grounds is the Village of Stone Mountain. It’s small-town America, with a town park, several charming B&Bs, and a main street of small shops that you won’t find in any shopping mall. The town is consciously keeping out the big chains in favor of unique, locally-owned stores, where all of the shopkeepers know each other and their customers.

The Fernbank Museum of Natural History is one of the best thought-out museums of its kind. When you notice that even the floors of the elevators are limestone tiles with fossils, you know that someone was very concerned about getting the details right.

The main primary exhibit is "A Walk Through Time in Georgia." You go through seven full-sized dioramas representing the state’s geographic regions. You’re surrounded with the sights and sounds of each habitat. In the Okefenoke Swamp gallery, for example, you’ll stand on a boardwalk over a swamp while the lights and sound system let you experience a whole day in about seven minutes. (There’s a sense of humor here, too. While standing under the heavy foliage, you get that distinct feeling you’re being watched. You are. The hawk ‘soaring’ overhead is watching you carefully. So is the snake it is holding in its talons. They are all preserved. Not really alive. Really.)

I’m a pushover for interactive displays of optical illusions and aural oddities, so the Sony "Spectrum of the Senses" display kept me occupied for a long time. It contains 51 hands-on stations that trick the eyes and ears while demonstrating the concepts of light and sound. It’s a great playroom for adults and kids.

Ever wondered what it’s like to stand in the heart of an Egyptian tomb? Visit the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University. It houses a huge collection of objects from ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Near East, sub-Sahara and the Americas.

When the building was designed, the architect incorporated elements of the culture that was being displayed into each room. It’s nothing very obvious, since he didn’t want to distract from the objects themselves. But the room with the mummies has roughly the same kind of ceiling as the tombs and the texture of the walls and floors remind you of the sandstone of Egypt. The Grecian rooms give a sense of being in a temple. It gives an added appreciation to the incredible collection of pottery and papyrus, reliefs and requilaries, jewelry, sculptures, ritual objects and artwork. The handbook of the collection is one of the best I’ve seen, since it gives a little history and background on how pieces were used and what they meant to those who used them.

If food is one of the defining elements of a culture, Your DeKalb Farmers Market is a true learning experience. The vast warehouse has meats, produce, seafood, baked goods, flowers, coffees, beers and wines from around the world. You probably won’t even recognize some of the fruits and veggies waiting to be squeezed in the huge bins. The market’s restaurant and bake shop make sure you can sample the bounty even if you aren’t doing a week’s shopping. If you get there early, you’ll be overwhelmed by the scent of fresh-baked bread and pastries.

Buford Highway is known as the International Village. It runs through the largest ethnically-oriented business and residential area in the Southeast. Don’t be startled if you hear Kenny Rogers "The Gambler" being sung in Vietnamese on a tape behind a stall in an open-air market. There are dozens of small shopping centers catering to the various nationalities that have settled here. You’ll find Chinese art, Indian rosewood furniture, British rainwear, herbal medicine shops, and music stores with CDs and instruments from everywhere. And, of course, too many restaurants to choose from! A Cultural and Community Center is being developed. In the meantime, there are cultural festivals held all along the area almost every weekend.

WHERE TO STAY

With a combination of good mass transit and a comprehensive interstate system, staying in DeKalb as opposed to Atlanta proper makes a lot of sense. You’ll find most of the major chains here, as well as a lot of B&Bs and smaller motels. You can expect prices to start at $70 per night at places like Days Inn, Holiday Inn and Ramada. B&Bs average $100 per night and are all the epitome of Southern elegance.

WHERE TO EAT

Where to start? Southerners pride themselves on good food, so you’ll be hard-pressed to find a bad restaurant. We stopped at the Basket Bakery and Cafe German Restaurant on the outskirts of Stone Mountain Village for overstuffed sandwiches on fresh-baked bread. Not wanting to be rude, we couldn’t turn down the chocolate mousse or cheesecake.

Along the International Village, we ate at Pung Me Chinese Restaurant, where the fish swimming in the large tank in the lobby bore a startling resemblance to an FAA Inspector performing a ramp check. If you go there, ask for the rice bread. It’s made with the dough used for rice crackers. Very unusual and very good.

Of course, there are some Southern specialties that must be tried. Krispy Kreme donuts are a southern tradition. Look for the shops or ask where you can find them. They are handfuls of sweet, doughy decadence! You’ll find grits at most places for breakfast. If you want to see a Southern brawl, ask people what they put on their grits -- sugar, butter, cheese or other things. And you thought debates over proposed FAA regs could get hot!!!

With so much to see and do and Southern warmth in temperature and hospitality, it’s easy to make Atlanta a winter destination.

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Atlanta Information

Area Code: 770/404/678

Airways Aviation: 770-452-0010

Epps Aviation: 770-458-9851

The Bird Bath 770-455-0938

DeKalb Convention and Visitors Bureau: 800-999-6055

DeKalb On-Line: www.dcvb.org

Accommodations

Sheraton Perimeter Hotel: 800-683-6100
111 Perimeter Center West

Marriott Perimeter Center: 770-394-6500
246 Perimeter Center Parkway

LaQuinta Inn - Stone Mountain 800-531-5900
(They offer lots of discounts for AARP, AAA, Military and Government)
1819 Mountain Industrial Blvd.

Super 8 Chamblee: 404-633-8451
2867 NE Expressway

The Village Inn B&B - Stone Mountain: 800-214-8385
992 Ridge Ave

Stone Mountain Village B&B - Stone Mountain: 770-413-0611
5470 E. Mountain St.

Silver Hill Manor B&B - Stone Mountain: 888-381-5808
1037 Main Street

Food

Basket Bakery and Cafe: 770-498-0329
6655 Memorial Drive, Stone Mountain

Pung Me Chinese Restaurant: 770-455-0370
5145 Buford Highway

Frontera Mex-Mex Grill: 770-972-3366
5074 Hwy. 78, Stone Mountain

Deacon Burton’s Southern Cuisine: 404-523-1929
1029 Edgewood Ave.

Attractions

CNN Center: 404-827-2300
Marietta Street at Techwood Drive, Atlanta

Underground Atlanta: 404-523-2311
Peachtree Street at Alabama Street

World of Coca Cola: 404-676-5151
5 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, Atlanta

Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Site: 404-331-6922
526 Auburn Ave. NE, Atlanta

Stone Mountain Park: 770-498-5600
Hwy. 78, Stone Mountain

Stone Mountain Village: 770-879-4971
Hwy. 78 East, Stone Mountain Village Exit

Fernbank Museum of Natural History: 404-378-0127
767 Clifton Road, Atlanta

Michael C. Carlos Museum: 404-727-4282
571 S. Kilgo Street, Atlanta

Your DeKalb Farmers Market: 404-377-6400
3000 E. Ponce de Leon Ave., Decatur

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