Road Trip to Athens, Georgia : Part 4 – Out and About in Athens

We spent three days in this delighful college town, home of the University of Georgia. What made it most special, of course, was that we were hanging out with Joe and his totally cool family and friends. But the town itself has lots to offer visitors, and I encourage you to add it to your list of places to visit. Rather than bore you with the details, I’ll just give you some of the highlights. And since this purports to be a food blog, I’ll start with …

Where we Ate

• The Grit:
  My favorite place in Athens. Great vegetarian food served with a bit of attitude and lots of flavor. I love the look and feel of the place. Old bulding, lovingly revovated, very casual and hip.

  Check out this veggie stir fry. The portions are huge, the prices moderate.

  The kids love the mac and cheese.

  They even have a cookbook!

• The Jot ’em Down
  The Jot Em Down is an old local country store that has been revived as the same plus barbecue. It’s name comes from what you do with the list of things you need from the grocery store – you jot ’em down.

  And what a coincidence – I had just jotted down “Buy deer head and new baseball cap” and there they were!

  This is genuine beef and pork barbecue, smoked out back in a steel shack, served with sides such as cole slaw and cabbage cooked in creamed soup with crumbled crackers on top. No haute cuisine here, just typical Southern food served on styrofoam platters, so roll up your sleeves and dig in!

  The pulled pork sandwich is a classic. It’s mildly spiced, so add the hot sauce.
  And there was plenty of hot sauce…

  

Where We Wished We Had Eaten
No time to check out Five and Ten, run by award winning chef Hugh Acheson. Definitely checking this place out next year…

Shops We Liked

• Dynamite
  This upscaled-looking thrift shop is my kids’ favorite place to shop in Athens. Great selection, everything totally retro and now completely in. Every mannequin was dressed just like my girls.

• Jackson Street Books
  I found some great used jazz Cd’s here, and Nats got a book. But the best part was their parking ticket crusade, mounted in protest to the new one hour parking limit in town. Bring them your parking ticket, and you’ll get the price of the fine off your purchase!.

• Used Records/CD Store
  I have no idea what this place is called, but we had a great time there. The vinyl records are organized by decade, so if you are my age, you can head straight to the 70’s and 80’s and buy back all the albums you sold at your yard sale when you coverted to CD’s..

Other Things We Did

• Georgia Botanical Gardens
  Still a work in progress, so it’s small. But all the plants are native. The hiking and jogging trails are apparently well used…

• Watson Mill Bridge State Park
  About a half hour outside of Athens, this was an idyllic place to spend a spring afternoon sitting on the big flat rocks in the river and watercoloring with the kids. In addition to beautiful views, the park has horseback riding, camping and hiking trails. Here’s the original and my water color.

And for some real art, we went to…

• Georgia Museum of Art

Small, making it just the place to bring kids for a quick dose of art. They were having an exhibit of wearable and fabric art by Mariska Karasz, a mid-centruy designer and artist. Concurrently, the students at the University of Georgia were having their own exhibition on campus of works inspired by Karasz. It was such a treat to see both these wonderful exhibits!

Next up: Athens Music