Duluth, Georgia. Not exactly on my bucket list, but there is a reason for my second visit to this northeast suburb of Atlanta. The Gas South Arena played host to this year’s SEC Gymnastics Championships and it was the perfect place for my March stop in the Year of Travel.
Most of Friday was a wash, thanks to a delayed flight, a long walk/train to the rental car terminal, pouring rain, lots of traffic, and a ho-hum hotel experience. My plan was to watch both gymnastics practice sessions on Friday afternoon, but my delayed flight meant I arrived just as the second session was starting. The SEC Gymnastics Championship is broken into two sessions on Saturday and the Friday practice is similarly broken into two sessions. I had fun watching the teams warm up and practice their routines for Saturday’s big meet. Since it was raining and I didn’t feel like going out to eat, I picked up Chick-fil-A from the outpost right next to my hotel and enjoyed my chicken sandwich, waffle fries, soda, and cookies and cream shake in my room and then had a quick soak in the hot tub before calling it a day.
Thankfully, Saturday was a much better day. I was up well before the crack of dawn, as usual. I watched some YouTube and took my time getting ready before heading out to breakfast at West Egg Café in midtown Atlanta. West Egg Café was mentioned on every page I visited after Googling “best breakfast in Atlanta”, so how could I not try it out? I sat at an outdoor table under a semi- warm heater (it was only 37 degrees on Saturday morning) while enjoying an iced cookie latte and enormous ham and cheese omelet with a biscuit and potatoes. I can see why it gets such rave reviews! Plus, they seemed quite content to let me sit and read my book for a while once I finished my meal.
After breakfast, I headed just a couple miles east to Piedmont Park, home to the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Despite the chilly temps, I am really glad I made this my one big non-gymnastics outing for the weekend. I wasn’t sure the experience would be worthy of the $27.95 price tag (plus $11 for parking), but it was well worth the price to enjoy a few hours of springtime blooms as it will be a few more weeks before spring arrives in New England.
The botanical garden has several different garden areas and I started by walking through the woodland area. There are several sculptures and trolls scattered throughout the garden as well as a canopy walk connecting the woodlands to the rest of the gardens.
I spent time exploring the Trustees and Children’s gardens and then headed to the Great Lawn. Surrounded by tons of (blooming) tulips, I spent a lot of time walking around this area and listening to the birds. March is orchid season at the Atlanta Botanical Garden so the highlight was Orchid Daze, a whole indoor garden dedicated to the beautiful winter bloom.
After leaving the Botanical Garden, I headed back to my hotel to rest and get ready for the weekend’s main event: the SEC Gymnastics Championships. The afternoon features the four lower-ranked teams (based on their National Qualifying Scores, or NQS), while the evening session hosts the four highest-ranked teams. With all eight SEC teams ranked in the top 20 in the country, I knew I would be in for some great gymnastics. I’m a Florida Gators fan through and through, but I can appreciate good gymnastics from any team.
I bought my ticket 10 minutes after they went on sale a couple of months ago, but the best seat I could get was in the upper section, a little far to see everything well. Fortunately, I learned from attending in the past that a lot of people only attend one of the two sessions and I was easily able to move to a closer seat for the afternoon session.
Between the two gymnastics sessions, I had time to leave the arena for dinner. Not feeling like going out, I headed back to my room and ordered DoorDash from Luciano’s Ristorante Italiano. Even though it’s only a mile or two away, I didn’t feel like dealing with the traffic around the arena to pick it up myself. My dinner ended up being one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time. I ordered the gnocchi with prosciutto in a gorgonzola cream sauce. It came with toasted garlic bread and a sundried tomato dipping sauce. The cream sauce was rich without being overpowering and the gnocchi were super soft. And the dipping sauce for the bread? Heavenly, with a pleasant hint of sweetness… the whole meal was 10 out of 10! I didn’t finish all of my meal, because of course I ordered dessert too. Zeppole filled with ricotta and Nutella… another 10 out of 10! Bonus: the order came in a reusable Luciano’s bag.
I was back at the Gas South Arena for the evening gymnastics session just a couple of hours later. While the Florida gymnastics team has cracked under pressure in the past, Saturday was not that day, and after a somewhat shaky vault rotation, they put together an incredible meet and came away with a 198.425, led by two perfect 10s by Trinity Thomas. I stayed to watch the awards ceremony and it’s always fun to see the gymnasts from every team congratulating each other. Many of them have trained and competed with and against each other for years.
I managed to sleep in until almost 7:30AM on Sunday morning. I can’t remember the last time I slept past 6AM, never mind 7! Anyway, my breakfast adventure was to Egg Harbor Cafe in Johns Creek, about 15 minutes away. Everyone I interacted with was so friendly and outgoing that I was immediately impressed. I ordered Swedish pancakes with lingonberries along with a side of yogurt. The semi-tart lingonberries and the delicately thin, crepe-like pancakes were a delicious combination. That is, until I found a hair in my food. I’m not naive enough to think that hairs never end up in food in restaurants, but I decided after finding it that I was finished with breakfast. Not one, but two employees (I think one was the manager) came over to apologize profusely and assure me that my breakfast was on them.
After breakfast, I packed up my hotel room and headed back to the airport for my (delayed) flight back to Boston. Even though it was a very short weekend away, it reminded me again of how much I love to travel and spend time in other places. And seeing the Florida Gators win the SEC Championship made this quick getaway well worth it!
Traveling with Laura 