Boo! Oakland Cemetery

Today, I’m going to focus on one close to home – the historic Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia.  Oakland Cemetery was bought in 1850 and was originally named Atlanta Graveyard or City Burial Place.  It was renamed to Oakland Cemetery in 1972.

Oakland Cemetery offers twilight tours of the cemetery – how scary huh?  And around this time of the year, the cemetery even offers what they call “Capturing the Spirit of Oakland Halloween Tours”.  What a way to catch some things that go bump in the night.  There are over 70,000 residents in over 40 acres that are just dying to meet you whether you have a guided tour or walk the cemetery by yourself… if you’re brave enough.

A lot of the history of this wonderful cemetery centers around the Civil War.  There have been stories in the Confederate portion of the cemetery of hearing names being called as if in a roll call.  But to look around, there is no one living there, just the statue of a lion guarding the unknown Confederate dead and he’s not talking.

Often the guides at the cemetery will tell you that people actually die three times.  Once on their last breath, once when they are laid to rest and once when they are no longer remembered.  Sounds just like a situation for a few people to come out and be remembered, doesn’t it?  So the next time you’re in the area, drop by for a visit.  I’ve heard they’re alway looking for a good soul to fright.

 

Travels in the South

Welcome friends to another week of Travels in the South.  This week it’s not a highlight of a restaurant.  Oh no.  It’s a highlight of a product that mom found in the store that me and dad can’t get enough of – can you say yummy!?

Mom has seen commercials on the television for this item – Skippy P.B. Bites – don’t they look awesome?  And you know that me and dad are *huge* peanut butter fans.  Neither one of us can get enough of the creamy or crunchy stuff.  We love both.  Mom had a coupon for a bucket of these bites.  With the coupon and them being on sale, mom paid right around $1.50.  It is a small container but there are lots of creamy balls in it – licks piggy lips.  I know that so didn’t sound right.  But take my word for it, these are delicious!

AND they come in two different flavors that mom saw at the market.  These which are double peanut butter and then they have pretzel peanut butter.  Right now, mom has learned something really important about the double peanut butter.  Me and dad can be bought with these balls of wonder and bribed to do anything in the Hotel Thompson.  Just give us peanut butter!

So the next time you are at the market, look these bad boys up on the peanut butter aisle.  Let me know what you think ❤

 

Travels in the South

Okay friends – today’s Travels in the South is brought to you by daddy.  He likes to think of himself as a professional eater.  I’ll admit it.  He’s *almost* as good as me at packing some food way.  Almost.

Now there is one restaurant that is open seven days a week 365 days out of the year.  I’m sure a lot of you will recognize the name – Waffle House.  This is a southern restaurant chain that opened in 1955.  You walk in, the waitresses and staff get to know you and call you by name.  You order and can then watch the cook prepare your breakfast right there in front of you in their kitchen at the grill.  All of the food is prepared fresh – from waffles to omelets and everything in between.

Daddy has the craving lately for a new dish on their menu.  It’s called the Philly Cheese Hash Brown Bowl.  It starts with hash browns (cooked however you want them), topped with cheese and Philly steak.  Sometimes, dad even adds add a couple of scrambled eggs.  It’s a bowl that has everything.  You can also get the bowl with other breakfast meats…. but we won’t mention them okay.  Snort sand oinks.

 

Travels in the South

Hello sweet friends.  How was your Valentine’s Day yesterday?  In honor of the sweetest day of the year, mom/dad shared a little love yesterday as well.  They went out to dinner and afterwards enjoyed this delicious concoction.  And hey, splitting a dessert means half of the calories, right?  But who’s counting calories on Valentine’s Day – snorts.

This lovely creation is called a Margarita Cheesecake which is seasonal special at a local steakhouse called Logan’s Roadhouse.  Now, it’s like other cheesecakes made with cream cheese but it has Logan’s signature margarita blend on the graham cracker crust.  And don’t forget about the sliced strawberries all over the place.  Mom said it was – what was the phrase she used – delightful to the fullest!

So, if you are near a Logan’s Roadhouse, make sure you check it out for this wonderful dessert.  You won’t be disappointed.

 

 

 

 

Travels in the South

Welcome my friends to another week of Travels in the South.  Today we wanted to share with you one of mom/dad’s favorite appetizers.  A couple of weeks ago, mom/dad was craving this delicious dish and went to the restaurant ordering and splitting just this plate.  What is it you ask?

Let me present to you Carrabbas Italian Grill Calamari.  It’s hand breaded to order and normally served with a marinara sauce.  But mom/dad, they like to get the lemon butter sauce on the side with the sliced peppers for just a little heat.

For those that don’t know what calamari is – it’s squid.  Now before you go eeww, don’t know it until you try it.  Honestly.  Even I have tried it and I like it.  Like in this dish, it’s fried crispy and is wonderful.  Sometimes it can be a little salty but for the most part it’s an awesome dish.

So the next time you are at  Carrabbas Italian Grill, give it a try.  I bet you will fall in love with it as well.

 

Travels in the South

Hello friends – welcome back to mom/dad’s Travels in the South.  Today is a good one…. snorts – I say that every week don’t I?  Rolls with piggy laughter.  Well as you know mom/dad have been changing their way of eating.  It’s definitely a work in progress for sure.  Well, a couple of weeks ago mom took dad out for his birthday.  Dad wanted to go to a local steakhouse for dinner.

Dad went for a steak of course ❤   He ordered a prime rib and mom said since it was his birthday he could have french fries.  Nice of her huh?  Snorts!  Mom went with the strawberry fields salad.  Doesn’t that look awesome?  It has everything in it from nuts to grapes to strawberries to oranges.  Yummy huh?

 

Travels in the South

Are you asking yourself, “Self, just what is this creation on Bacon’s Travels in the South this week?”  I’m glad you asked my friends.  See last week for dad’s birthday, he wanted to go to our local Bojangles where he wanted to try this creation.  Now I’m going to let mom describe what it is… she says I don’t need to know what’s inside of it.  I think we all knows what that means.

This fabulous looking bowl is called the Pulled Pork Bowl.  It starts with Bojangle’s spicy Cajun pintos, then they add a sweet and smoky sauce along with pulled pork and topped with cole slaw.  Even I was questioning if this would be good or not.  In fact, I tried not to like the taste I got out of the hub unit’s bowl.. but I couldn’t help myself.  It was delicious!

So if you have a Bojangles in the area, stop in and try this creation – I think you’ll like it too 🙂

 

Weather in Atlanta, Georgia

Yep – this is what we are like here in sweet Atlanta, Georgia.  ONE snowflake and we shut down all business.  The weather people were projecting a ‘wintery mix’ starting yesterday evening into late night. Heck, moms work even sent everyone home around 2pm. Mom came home and it was cold – around 31-32 degrees. 

After mom got home, it started to drizzle rain. You know the kind of rain that is cold and miserable that makes driving a little iffy with sliding. So last night we all went to bed kind of early. Personally I think mom/dad were looking forward to the great southern Snowmageddon 2017. 

This morning mom jumped out of bed like a little kid, ran to the front room and opened the front door in anticipation. Lowers head in disgust and somewhat laughter over mom’s reaction. I’m sharing some pics I took. Don’t laugh ok. The entire town shut down here. 

Cartoon taken from Pinterst

 

Travels in the South

Sometimes daddy’s midnight munchie monsters awakens him and he *needs* to be fed.  This is one of those nights.  Daddy woke up mommy to go in search for food… of course that meant a midnight run to the nearest Waffle House – snorts with piggy laughter.

When they got to the Waffle House, mom told daddy about a new menu item called the Hashbrown Bowl.  You could see the grin on dad’s face when he said, “Yes please”.  So that’s what daddy got for his midnight munchie monster.  Let me introduce you to the ingredients of the bowl:

Hashbrowns – requested well done crispy please.  They were then topped off with a slice of American cheese and scrambled eggs.  That was followed by chopped up sausage (which mom explained comes from a different kind of pig – snorts with piggy laughter).  Then the bowl is presented to you – let the eating begin.

So the next time your midnight munchie monster hits, run for the Waffle House who is always open.

 

Travels in the South

Welcome my friends to another edition of Travels in the South.  Today I want to introduce you to a dessert that is popular here in the south – pecan pie.  There are so many pecan orchards here in Georgia – and they are gorgeous.  But today’s pecan pie has a little twist.  This is chocolate pecan pie.  Yep, you heard it.  As if pecan pie was not sweet enough – let’s throw in some chocolate too with a side of vanilla bean ice cream.  This was a dessert that mom/dad shared over the weekend.   First off – awesome job of those two sharing a dessert.  But look at that pie.  The crust was awesome, the gooey pecan pie mixture was delicious and then the chocolate flavoring in between everything – as mom said, Oh my piggy heavens!

So there you go friends – this week’s Travel in the South find.  Hope you enjoyed it.  Have you ever tried pecan or chocolate pecan pie?