Stef's Knee Deep in Atlanta, Georgia - Update 1/27

[SCTigerCock 171]

I use half flour and half corn meal. About a table spoon of the mix per chop and an extra table spoon per mator

Season the chops, I use salt and pepper, plus garlic and cayenne sometimes.

I also add pepper, salt, cayenne, paprika and garlic to the flour and corn meal.

Coat the chops and then pan fry, same with maters but season those after frying.

Some people use buttermilk before coating the chops and maters.

[wanttogo 1]

Can't wait to read more !!! I, too, love ZBB. I won tickets to go see them last August, but, sadly, we had a hurricane that weekend and I did not want to travel in it. The concert was a couple hours away. I was SOOOOOO disappointed. Sounds like your trip was amazing. Can't wait to hear more.

[Lou... 3,118]

Can't wait to read more !!! I, too, love ZBB. I won tickets to go see them last August, but, sadly, we had a hurricane that weekend and I did not want to travel in it. The concert was a couple hours away. I was SOOOOOO disappointed. Sounds like your trip was amazing. Can't wait to hear more.

Well look what we have here, a newbie and from my home state of NH to boot.

When you feel comfortable, and for most that won't take long, we'd like to see an aka after your user name.

Where in NH are you?

[.....Gary 85]

I use half flour and half corn meal. About a table spoon of the mix per chop and an extra table spoon per mator

Season the chops, I use salt and pepper, plus garlic and cayenne sometimes.

I also add pepper, salt, cayenne, paprika and garlic to the flour and corn meal.

Coat the chops and then pan fry, same with maters but season those after frying.

Some people use buttermilk before coating the chops and maters.

What Genia said... no buttermilk. Wait!!! Buttermilk, flour and hot gease, what can be wrong w/ that?

[michele j 9]

Great trip report. Looking foward to reading more

[stefa70 205]

For the last post for today, I will give you my un-expert review of the Westin Hotel.

This was walking into the room:

The bathroom on the right:

The "business center" aka desk.

TV, dresser and wet bar

The king-sized bed

Now let's backtrack a minute.

The rooms seem very small because of their round shape.

I preferred the bathroom set-up of the Super 8. Shower and toilet in one room, separate from the vanity area.

The "business center" as they call it is a desk with a lot of electrical outlets underneath, a phone, an internet modem and lamp. That's the coffee maker on the left.

Internet: $14.95 per day (free wifi at the Super 8 ). They did allow us a free cup of coffee (but it wouldn't surprise me if I were to get a bill )

Now let's discuss the wet bar. It was in the cabinet on the right, but you had to go downstairs and get a key to open it. Those bottles of water, $5 each. Those bottles of wine, $34.00. Snickers bar $3.00. I'm sure you're getting the picture. I quickly told Trevor "Don't touch anything!" :siren:

The bed was fine and comfortable, but nothing spectacular. Everything in the Westin is "Heavenly"

The Heavenly mattress, the Heavenly shower head.....Sounds pretty, right?

The best part of the room, by far, was the view!

Looking to the right. You can see Olympic Park, Georgia Dome and CNN Headquarters. The Philips arena, where the concert was held, is just on the other side of the CNN building.

Straight out:

To the left:

Looking directly down:

Spooky for someone scared of heights, but I got used to it after a little while and enjoyed it, especially at night.

Now, as far as location, A+++++. Not only are you smack dab in the middle of everything, but the Atlanta police dept. is directly across the street. Feeling safe, and seeing a lot of men in uniforms is an added bonus.

This bank of elevators was fun too:

That is a huge mirror on the far end of the hall, so I used every opportunity to practice my Supermodel walk, all the while singing the song by RuPaul.

The room itself was like any other hotel room. There were nicks in the walls, some black stains in the tile grout in the shower, a piece of molding along the carpet that was peeling up.....I would not normally complain about those types of things, I know people do crazy things in hotel rooms, and it takes its toll.

But, in the words of Judge Judy: "Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining!"

The prices, the fancy pictures on the walls, the staff in suits and the flower arrangements don't bowl me over. It was just a normal hotel that happens to be in a great location.

After unloading our stuff, we went downstairs to pick up our platinum package ZBB tickets. Did I mention that we got goodies? By goodies, I mean this:

We each got a tote bag, a leather keychain, a poster signed by all the band members, and a t-shirt! All very cool!!!

We received our tickets, our eat & greet wristbands and our sticky patch that gave us free access to the bar until Zac took the stage. BTW, Zac's 2 main sponsors are Jack Daniels and Landshark Lager, which is Jimmy Buffetts brand.

With all the details out of the way, we headed out to the mean streets of Atlanta. We weren't sure what we were going to do, but we definitely found something to occupy our time!

[stefa70 205]

I use half flour and half corn meal. About a table spoon of the mix per chop and an extra table spoon per mator

Season the chops, I use salt and pepper, plus garlic and cayenne sometimes.

I also add pepper, salt, cayenne, paprika and garlic to the flour and corn meal.

Coat the chops and then pan fry, same with maters but season those after frying.

Some people use buttermilk before coating the chops and maters.

Thanks, I'll have to try that. I'm actually shocked that there isn't beer in this recipe.

Can't wait to read more !!! I, too, love ZBB. I won tickets to go see them last August, but, sadly, we had a hurricane that weekend and I did not want to travel in it. The concert was a couple hours away. I was SOOOOOO disappointed. Sounds like your trip was amazing. Can't wait to hear more.

Oh no!! That really stinks, but living in Florida I understand not wanting to travel in a hurricane. I am the first one to freak out as soon as the wind blows. If you ever get another chance, definitely go see him! They really are amazing musicians, with great opening acts.

(for the most part, which I will get to later)

What Genia said... no buttermilk. Wait!!! Buttermilk, flour and hot gease, what can be wrong w/ that?

You had me at hot grease. You could deep fry a dog turd, and I'd probably eat it. :rofl2:

Great trip report. Looking foward to reading more

Thanks Michele! Happy to have you on board.

[wanttogo 1]

Well look what we have here, a newbie and from my home state of NH to boot.

When you feel comfortable, and for most that won't take long, we'd like to see an aka after your user name.

Where in NH are you?

my AKA is Diana :) I am from Concord.

[MicknMin...Holly 54]

I love ZBB! I can't wait to see pictures!

[SCTigerCock 171]

Thanks, I'll have to try that. I'm actually shocked that there isn't beer in the recipe

Welllllllll, I've thought about marinating the chops in one. But never had an extra to spare. I'm think Guiness or a red ale would be a good marinade.

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

Ok, I'm in now! I am not a big country music person, but I love "chicken fried" and "toes in the water, a** in the sand!" I'm also anti-big city and pro Fried Green Tomatoes, the movie and the food! What an awesome gift from your Mama!

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

What a view!!! I have to agree with you though, no matter what the price, it's still just a hotel room. Loving all the pictures!!

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

my AKA is Diana :) I am from Concord.

Welcome, Diana!!!

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Steph, I've only used the KOA for a quick overnighter. I'm usually pulling in about midnight and back out by 6 or 7 am. The pull throughs are level enough to stay hitched and just plug in the electric and still run the AC. The bath houses are clean. The folks running the place seem very friendly with coffee going pretty early. The last time I stayed there, the site they assigned me popped my ground fault when I plugged in, so I moved to the next site, left a note on their little board, and they were troubleshooting/repairing the electric before I left the next morning. So that's my review of the KOA Forsyth. Oh, and I get great 4G phone signal there to use my phone and HotSpot.

[stefa70 205]

my AKA is Diana :) I am from Concord.

Welcome Diana!! I see you're a newbie. Please don't be shy, I love when people ramble on like me.

I love ZBB! I can't wait to see pictures!

:jumpforjoy Cool! I am loving all the fans. I really think these guys cross the borders between twangy country music and hard rock. There were people ages 5 to 65, all just enjoying the music. I was introduced to a couple of other really good bands also, which I will share later.

Welllllllll, I've thought about marinating the chops in one. But never had an extra to spare. I'm think Guiness or a red ale would be a good marinade.

Cooking does burn off the alcohol, so it would probably be a waste of a good beer.

Ok, I'm in now! I am not a big country music person, but I love "chicken fried" and "toes in the water, a** in the sand!" I'm also anti-big city and pro Fried Green Tomatoes, the movie and the food! What an awesome gift from your Mama!

Funny! My cell ring tone is "Toes" and Trevor's is "Chicken Fried" I'm super happy to have lured you in!

I agree, Mama ROCKS! :heart: When I texted her the picture of me on the bed surrounded by my goodies. She replied: "It was worth every penny, enjoy!"

And I cried.

What a view!!! I have to agree with you though, no matter what the price, it's still just a hotel room. Loving all the pictures!!

I wish I had more pics than I do, but I will explain that later also. Gee, all these teasers, and I'm not even trying to leave you hanging. Just great comments, I guess.

Steph, I've only used the KOA for a quick overnighter. I'm usually pulling in about midnight and back out by 6 or 7 am. The pull throughs are level enough to stay hitched and just plug in the electric and still run the AC. The bath houses are clean. The folks running the place seem very friendly with coffee going pretty early. The last time I stayed there, the site they assigned me popped my ground fault when I plugged in, so I moved to the next site, left a note on their little board, and they were troubleshooting/repairing the electric before I left the next morning. So that's my review of the KOA Forsyth. Oh, and I get great 4G phone signal there to use my phone and HotSpot.

Thanks for the info Carol. If the bath houses are clean and the people are friendly, I'm happy. It's in a great location!

[wanttogo 1]

Believe me...I can ramble with the best of them :)

[stefa70 205]

Believe me...I can ramble with the best of them :)

Well, you're in the right place then. :jumpforjoy

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Loving this report Stef.

For the record, I am pro-ZBB. And while I like them, INC REALLY likes them. I think they would put on a great show...especially since seeing them on an awards show a couple years ago doing The Devil Went Down to Georgia at a very fast tempo. It was an incredible performance!

And I am also VERY pro-Fried Green Tomatoes. The food of course. I saw the movie back in the day and it was fine and all, but was kinda a chick flick IIRC. But I LOVE me some fried green maters...especially with a bit of crunch from the corn meal. :heart:

[stacktester 78]

I thought Jessica Tandy was one of the best actresses ever. She played her roles exceptionally well. Glad you had fun Steph. I am pro Westin Peachtree. I think our view was south though.

[stefa70 205]

Loving this report Stef.

For the record, I am pro-ZBB. And while I like them, INC REALLY likes them. I think they would put on a great show...especially since seeing them on an awards show a couple years ago doing The Devil Went Down to Georgia at a very fast tempo. It was an incredible performance!

And I am also VERY pro-Fried Green Tomatoes. The food of course. I saw the movie back in the day and it was fine and all, but was kinda a chick flick IIRC. But I LOVE me some fried green maters...especially with a bit of crunch from the corn meal. :heart:

Devil Went Down to Georgia was the third song that they played! Talk about sensory overload!! The crowd went CRAZY, the lights were flashing, the band was all over the stage and it was nuts.

I have one strange picture of that performance coming. "Strange" because you really didn't know what to focus on, and people were literally freaking out!

I thought Jessica Tandy was one of the best actresses ever. She played her roles exceptionally well. Glad you had fun Steph. I am pro Westin Peachtree. I think our view was south though.

I agree 100%! Jessica Tandy is in some of my favorite movies. Loved her in Cocoon, Driving Miss Daisy and of course Fried Green Tomatoes.

Had an amazing time, though I am more pro Westin view, than the hotel itself.

[Lou... 3,118]

As a former musician I do appreciate the musicianship of the ZBB and agree that they are very good, but for reasons that I won't get into, I stay away from pop or rock live concerts now. And I bet the concert was loud.

I'll have to try fried green tomatoes some day.

[stefa70 205]

After getting all our tickets, goodies and wristbands, we headed out to find something to do to kill a couple of hours.

I forgot to mention, we were also given a yellow wristband that had to be worn after 8:00pm to get back into the hotel elevators, due to increased security on New Years Eve.

In my Zac Brown excitement/daze throughout the week between Christmas and New Years, I had lost track of anything else going on in the world! When we got out to the street, I found myself in a sea of blue & orange. Where I come from, blue & orange means Florida Gators, but what the heck does it mean in Atlanta Georgia?

Auburn Tigers and Virginia Cavaliers! I completely forgot that the Chick-fil-a bowl was being played that night in the Georgia Dome. I texted Jen and told her that she would be in blue & orange heaven. :)

ZBB concert at the Philips arena, 21,000 seating capacity

+

Chick Fil-a Bowl at the Georgia Dome, 71,000 seating capacity

= A freakin ton of people in downtown Atlanta!!

Though the crowds were through the roof, it was nice to not have to worry about safety, as you were never alone, anywhere.

A lot of the streets were also shut down, so it was easy to navigate through downtown.

A parade was getting ready to start, so we walked down to Olympic Park. These guys were the first sight we saw, and I have to give them props for team spirit because it was chilly!

As we got closer we realized why they were posing like that.

The parade was to end at the park, so a lot of fans had gathered there.

All the Christmas decorations were still up.

One other good thing about the Westin is you will never lose sight of it, so it would be hard to get lost.

We strolled back towards the hotel and found a piece of sidewalk that was in the sun and waited for the parade to start.

It started with motorcycles...hundreds of them! I'm not sure about the correlation between football, and motorcycles, but it was neat to watch them come down the street.

Chick fil-a made their presence known.

There were a couple cows on the cooler scooters which made Trevor and I laugh. This is the same type of cooler that Tina rode at the Fort, but with a little less grace. :rofl2:

This Star Wars lady had me at gunpoint.

Some cool floats that they had to maneuver around the trees.

It was quite a mish-mash of things, but it was a lot of fun. Good show of fans by both teams.

Not sure what these ladies were representing, but they were all riding side saddle.

You can't have a parade without Miss Georgia!

If I wasn't already missing Mason, when the Atlanta Golden Retriever Rescue came by, it was 10 times worse.

The high school bands that marched were fun to watch. You could tell some of these kids were not in the best of shape. There were a lot of red faces by the time they made it to where we were. Some of them were really impressive, some not so much.

The obligatory fire truck. I did stop and think about these guys for a minute. Not that I don't respect all firefighters, because I do, but with the size of some of the buildings in that area, I couldn't help but think of 9/11 and how these guys would be the first ones headed up inside. :worship:

As always, the Shriners put on a good show.

This guy was having the time of his life! He would sit back for a minute and then bake the tires off and grin from ear to ear. Gotta love the smell of burning rubber.

I'm probably nearing my photo limit so we'll continue the end of the parade in the next post.

[stefa70 205]

The Cavaliers and Tigers wrapped up the parade.

College bands are LOUD when they are 3 feet away from you!

The last showing of Virginia was followed by their fans.

Then the Tigers followed.

If any of you read my Halloween report, you may remember a certain costume that disturbed us all. It was two guys in green Morphsuits. Well, even in Atlanta, I couldn't escape the Morphsuit. At least this guy had the decency to wear shorts over it.

After the parade ended, the street sweepers were right behind it cleaning the streets up. We headed back towards the hotel for an hour of rest before we needed to be at the arena. We had basically been on our feet since 10:30 am when we checked in.

We came up to the Andrew Young Memorial, which was in full sun, so we sat for a minute and just took in the sights. I saw my first Atlanta bum. He is seated on the right of this picture, vigorously combing his hair.

Our hotel is right across a small street from the memorial.

We went back up to the 45th floor, and I got on FF to check in. No, I did not pay for internet, my trusty Virgin Mobile plug in worked fine.(Thanks Steve for the recommendation) A little slower than normal, but free. Take that Westin!! :hah:

After an hour, we got ready for our big night. My nerves were in high gear, and I couldn't wait to meet Zac and the band!

[stefa70 205]

As a former musician I do appreciate the musicianship of the ZBB and agree that they are very good, but for reasons that I won't get into, I stay away from pop or rock live concerts now. And I bet the concert was loud.

I'll have to try fried green tomatoes some day.

Loud doesn't even begin to describe it Lou! We stood in the "pit" about 5 feet from a speaker and the sound coming out could be felt throughout your entire body. Good stuff!

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Great update! I'll try to keep up while I'm on the road.

My first thought when I saw this picture was good they got arrested for making bad fashion choices. :rofl2: