Answer the question ‘What’ll ya have?’
Location: The Varsity
Date taken: December 17, 2012
No Atlanta blog or list of places to visit is complete without The Varsity. The restaurant has long been a favorite of visitors, Georgia Tech tailgaters and natives (yes, my grandparents used to head to The Varsity when they were dating). When you step up to the long row of registers, know you’ll be asked “What’ll ya have?”. And, I recommend placing an order for a Frosted Orange, onion rings and chili dog (the grilled pimento cheese is pretty good too). Opened in 1928, The Varsity has been a unique place for many reasons — the world’s largest drive-in, the addition of the “lunching pad” and rooms set up with televisions before they were commonplace in homes or businesses. If you dine at The Varsity, you’ll walk out with a little taste of Atlanta history and maybe your very own paper Varsity hat.
Watch the colors change
Location: Lake Clara Meer at Piedmont Park
Date taken: November 10, 2012
Piedmont Park:
211 acres
160 people in a Picnic Shelter
70 jets at Legacy Fountain
60-minute guided historic tour of the Park
30 vendors at the Saturday Green Market
22 grills
12 tennis courts
8 items on the Scavenger Hunt
4 lap lanes at the Aquatic Center
3 fishing piers
2 bocce ball courts
1 lake
See the sites, see the lights
Location: Atlanta Botanical Gardens‘ Garden Lights, Holiday Nights
Date taken: December 9, 2012
Holidays are all about traditions. Your Atlanta tradition might be seeing the lighting of Macy’s Great Tree, picking up a tree from the same lot each year, buying tickets to the Fox Theatre’s Nutcracker or touring Christmas at Callenwolde. Growing up in Atlanta, our family tradition was heading to the downtown Rich’s store to ride the Pink Pig. The Pink Pig is now a train ride in a tent at the Lenox Mall parking deck, but back then it was a monorail style ride located on top of the Rich’s store. We would climb the stairs up to the roof, hop aboard a small pig car and circle the base of Rich’s Great Tree, admiring its surrounding Christmas village. When the ride was over, we stuck our “I rode the Pink Pig” stickers on our coats and wore them proudly for the rest of the day. If you are looking for a new holiday tradition in the city, check out the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s Holiday Nights event, which is now in its second year. There’s no sticker at the end of the tour, but the lights are bright and plentiful and the event is great for all ages.
Hear a concert in the park
Location: Justin Townes Earle concert at Atlantic Station
Date taken: December 2, 2012
Concerts. Bed races. Beach volleyball. Beer festivals. Food festivals. Cirque du Soleil. The 138 acres now occupied by Atlantic Station have seen a lot of changes in the past 100 years. Opened as the Atlantic Steel Mill in 1901, this Westside neighborhood is now a tourist destination for shopping (only IKEA for hundreds of miles) and dining. And, for locals, it’s a space to live (buy or rent) and work (Creative Loafing’s offices are here) and attend a variety of events. If you can navigate your way in and out of the massive parking deck, it’s a great place to spend an evening.
Volunteer for a good cause
Location: Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta truck
Date taken: December 8, 2012
What’s the first thing any kid (or adult) wants to do when they receive a new bed and mattress? Run and jump on it, of course. That’s exactly what one 7-year-old boy did on a December Saturday afternoon. The apartment he shared with his mother and older brother was practically empty … except for two air mattresses, a television, a chest of drawers and a clock on the wall in kitchen. When volunteers from the Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta brought in two twin beds for his room, the first thing he did was run across the room and jump on the new bed. Each year the Furniture Bank provides essential furniture to more than 3,000 families moving out of homelessness, battling HIV/AIDS or fleeing domestic violence. On this Saturday afternoon, more than 30 Atlantans volunteered their time to help deliver new beds to 81 kids in need … kids in need of a comfortable place to sleep.
Meet the person who wrote the book
Location: Tomboy Style book signing at Ann Mashburn
Date taken: November 9, 2012
A good friend has been talking excitedly about Lizzie Garrett Mettler’s blog Tomboy Style for a few years now. So when the blog was turned into a book and the author scheduled an Atlanta appearance, we had to go. Bookstores maybe disappearing, but the thrill of meeting your favorite author face to face, of getting a book personally autographed and being able to ask that one question you’ve been wondering about … those things are here to stay. Thankfully, Atlanta still has places that make great stops on an author’s tour — local shops, schools and libraries, the Georgia Center for the Book and the author-drenched Decatur Book Festival.
atlantaheydays.com 
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