Despite being a small town, Ball Ground was nice. The hauling company and landfill I visited were on the outskirts, of course. Active landfills are usually away from residential communities.
I drove around with the safety manager and a couple of supervisors looking for trucks for a job observation, so I got a decent sense of the town. Nice homes, newer with the oddest driveways/garages I'd ever seen. I'm not certain exactly where they were - the routes that day went into Dahlonega, but most of the houses in that subdivision had a three-car attached garage, but it was three separate garage doors, which were at a right angle to the driveway. I have no idea how they got cars in them.
We had lunch at Rooster's Cafe in Dahlonega - I had the fried chicken sandwich upon recommendation from one of the supervisors. It was prepared more like regular fried chicken than the usual 'crispy' chicken sandwich and was quite tasty.
A number of the employees were Hispanic, which was unexpected t me. Hadn't thought of that. Checking the stats, Canton is over 25% Hispanic. Very pretty area, and the folks seemed happy, healthy, and friendly overall. Outside of the accent, it felt like many towns I've been to in other areas. Checking the stats again, Ball Ground/Canton/ have a population base which shows: Unemployed percentage significantly below state average, Black race population percentage significantly below state average, Median age significantly below state average. Young, employed, and white. Not exactly a typical slice of the South overall.
Next up was Atlanta. I finally feel I’ve seen the city (a bit).
I took the MARTA from the airport where I’d returned the blasted Prius I had rented for Ball Ground, and headed over to the Hyatt for my conference.
I met up with a coworker, and she had bought tickets for the Braves game that night. We again took the MARTA train, then a bus, to Turner Field. Hot dogs were eaten, a keychain was purchased, and there was a beautiful sunset. We won, 4-8, though we left a bit early since it was getting chillier than we’d anticipated. Bus to train and back at the hotel.
My drug conference was downtown, at the Hyatt. It was a very nice hotel in a business district.
Numerous restaurants were in the area. I ate twice at Sway, in the hotel; Cuts – a nearby steakhouse; Meehan’s – an Irish pub downtown; and twice at White Oak. The steakhouse was a generic steakhouse, very good but nothing to tell you that you weren’t in Kansas anymore. The other two had a taste of the South, though higher-end. At Sway, I had Peaches n’ Cream Waffles for breakfast and a blackened tuna salad for my lunch visit. Cuts served me pecan salmon, and at Meehan’s I had a venison burger with (gasp-battered!) onion rings. At White Oak I had a lamb burger with fried green tomato on it for lunch, and a grilled tilefish for my dinner visit.
The conference itself was great, as usual, though my old buddy Joe was MIA. The conference was the initial reason for the trip to Georgia, and I added the site visits to each end.
Lately all of the conferences have been at a Hyatt, and I can’t say I didn’t like the service. On the last day I bought the obligatory keychain, checked out, hopped back on the MARTA to go back to the airport to pick up another car for last part of the trip.
Macon is larger community of about 91,000 people ~80 miles southeast of Atlanta, in Bibb County. It is a less affluent town with a median income upwards of $23k (compared to ~$47k for the state overall). It is the County seat, and the Macon Metropolitan area has a population of about 155,000. Checking the stats again, the Macon metropolitan area has a population base which shows: Unemployed percentage above state average, Black race population percentage above state average (66%), Median age below state average, Median household income below state average. Young, poorer, unemployed, and largely black. A bit more like the South I hear about.
Lunch was at The Bear's Den, billed as "The South's Best Homecooking." It has a rotating daily menu. "Friday Meats" were Baked Chicken & Dressing, Chicken Parmesan, Fried Catfish, Chicken Tenders, Beef Stroganoff on Noodles, and Fried Chicken. Friday Sides were Squash Casserole, Cabbage, Baked Beans, Green Beans, Macaroni & Cheese, Turnips, Cole Slaw, Cheese Grits, Dressing, and Corn Fritters. You got one meat and two sides, so I chose catfish, squash casserole, and mac n' cheese. Casserole was ‘eh’, but the mac n' cheese was creamy and browned on the top, and the catfish was crunchy and flavorful (and came with two hush puppies.) I had sweet potato pie for dessert, because everyone gets dessert.
I was with the Safety Trainer on Friday, and after lunch we drove around the town. I’d found an older postcard picture which I had posted on FB, and he recognized the locations right away. One was on Washington Avenue, approaching St. Joseph’s Catholic Church on the left and the First Baptist church ahead. The flags pictured in the postcard apparently have been removed. The Cannonball House, named for damage sustained during the War Between the States, was built in 1853 as a planter’s townhouse. It was smaller than I’d expected from the postcard, and there were no Southern Belles lounging on the porch.
While touring the area, we passed a “Little Library” which looked like the Tardis. I didn’t know it was a library until I looked it up. My photo is pretty bad (I wasn’t expecting it) but I found a better one.
Atlanta was very nice, with enough South to let me know I wasn’t in Chicago. The Ball Ground/ Dahlonega area that I saw was plain vanilla typical subdivision houses. The different trees were the only sign you weren’t in suburban Detroit. Admittedly, I was following a residential garbage truck – the towns themselves might have been very distinctive. Overall, I liked Macon the best. It had character, despite the economic challenges. Ray knew the area well, and was proud to show me the town. I let him know I didn’t want to go to a big chain for lunch, so he took me to a small local place. I really ‘knew’ I was in the South I’d read about. I was glad to *not* see Confederate flags everywhere – actually I saw not a one the whole trip. Stereotypes can be wrong. Georgia is not what I’d thought. At least where I’d visited, I could see myself living here if circumstances brought me to Georgia.
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