I will start with my favourite picture, of a possum, of course. I don’t really know the real name of the animal (no, it’s not Henrik or something – at least not as far as I know), but it must belong to the phalangeriformes. Aren’t they lovely? I have never seen any before, we don’t really see them at home.
But, first things first. I haven’t posted in such a long time. It wasn’t that we weren’t travelling (maybe less, due to Covid-19 restrictions, but even that has been a while ago), but I also didn’t take my camera with me many times and my old PC that I edited the photos on back then got very slow, so I didn’t really want to do that anymore. But, I got a new one now (after using the old one for over ten years) and it’s working perfectly. I was also thinking about whether I enjoyed posting or maybe it was just something that I used to do? But here I am, it’s 6.14 in the morning, I am having my lupin coffee that I switched to because of sleeping problems (and did you know it’s delicious and better for the environment?) and started writing this post.
So, we went to the U.S.A. last December and would stay until the beginning of January, spending Christmas and New Year’s there.
The U.S.A. would not be my personal first choice, don’t get me wrong it has beautiful landscapes and the people we met were very friendly, but there is also way too many cars, highways and too much junk food. For my personal taste, if you love all of that, then go for it! But I was a bit scared on Atlanta’s highways in the city, coming from Europe, we don’t have that. That many lanes! Also, the cars are so so big, like small trucks. We also don’t have that (or very little of them and they are used for business).
The reason we chose to travel to the U.S. was because we went to visit my sister-in-law who lives in Florida.
The plan was (and spoiler alert: we also didn’t change it) to start in Atlanta, then go to South Carolina (Hilton Head, to be exact) and then drive down to Florida, flying back home from the Florida Keys. The first day in Atlanta was very sleepy, of course and we didn’t do much. There also weren’t many people on the street (Downtown Atlanta).
But the second day (which I called Day 1 in the title – because otherwise people would be like: where is Day 1? Is she confusing me on purpose? – because it was the first official day that we did something in Atlanta) we went pretty early to the Botanical Gardens (they open at 9 am and we were on of the first people there). I really enjoyed them, seeing nature and sometimes animals (like the possum) roaming the gardens.
Adult admission for a day is 26.95 USD, there would have been a night admission that was almost sold out – with beautiful lights (I guess, since we didn’t go but that’s what they advertised). There only were VIP tickets left and we decided against it. But I’m sure it would have been a nice experience! You could see the things that would be lit in the evening/night on the trees, like those butterflies:
The weather was really nice, not even that cold, just a bit chilly. We went in the morning, took a Lyft to get there. Had some coffee and tea at the gardens and then just strolled around and took pictures. There were A LOT of squirrels and they didn’t mind me taking photos.
There is a canopy walk that we enjoyed and that looks really nice on pictures. I also liked reading about and seeing the plants like the one above. (Unfortunately I can’t remember that they are, though)
We spent about 2 hours at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and liked them very much. Could have spent even more time there, to walk around, look at plants and animals and have more coffee or tea at the restaurant.
Afterwards we went to Piedmont Park and enjoyed sitting in the swing and looking at the skyline.
Then we got pretty hungry and went to Whole Foods, something we did at lot during the trip. It was cheaper in comparison to restaurants (at least the ones we saw/visited) and they always offered something vegan and healthy. Eating out was very expensive compared to what we know from home, so we cooked a lot at the apartments that we were staying at. In Atlanta we had booked a hotel, so we went to Whole Foods this one time, ordered food one time (Slutty Vegan Burgers, that we heard about even before going to the U.S.!) and got Asian take-away once.
We were pretty tired and jet lagged the first days, so we didn’t do much after eating. I think we did try to get to a thrift shop, but then it was too far to walk. We only walked past the Coca Cola Experience, since we weren’t that interested. But I think it can be fun for kids, maybe.
The next day we rented a car to drive to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, where we also would spent Christmas!
See She Flies And Writes 
Welcome back
Thanks 🙂
Aw lovely, I really enjoyed the Atlanta Botanic Gardens as well. I agree though the driving on those highways is hairy! Welcome back 🙂