Atlanta

As I had spent three nights couchsurfing with Anna it was time to move. I used my last morning at Anna's to do a load of computer stuff and some washing then I checked in to the Atlanta hostel. I was a bit worried when I first arrived as there was no one around and one reason why I like staying in hostels is that you can meet people and so have someone to hang out with. I would worry about that later. I went to see the house where Margaret Mitchell lived when she wrote "Gone with the Wind", well actually the apartment. The docent who gave me the tour was very knowledgeable about the author as you'd expect but she had a really loud, piercing voice. I guess she is used to speaking to much larger groups. The apartment itself isn't anything special but attached to the house they have a single room "museum" which has the front door set for Tara and the painting of Scarlett, both used in the movie. More interesting to me was the DVD they had about the making of the movie. I've seen the movie four times but never read the book. The book is on my to read list, but it's so heavy that I am not ready to carry it yet. Maybe when I am heading home I'll buy it.
I didn't do much the rest of the day and I was glad to head back to the hostel in the evening. For dinner I went across the street to "Mary Mac's", as recommended to me by the tourist information lady. The food was good, I ate my first "pot likkin" , a soup made out of boiled turnip greens, and peach cobbler. In my dorm I met Lindsey from Australia and Viet from China, it was good to have someone to talk to without feeling that there was some kind of subtext. I had felt like this at Anna's, not because of anything that she had done, I just wasn't comfortable there. I felt like I was imposing the whole time, like I was in the way and it hadn't been a wrench to leave. We were all talking about what we would do the next day, Viet and I had the same plans, to go to Stone Mountain, so we decided to team up. It would be nice to have some company and it would make sure that I actually left the hostel the next day and did something.
I got up at a decent the next morning but didn't want to leave the hostel too early. I think this frustrated Viet a little, but she put up with it with good grace. Getting to Stone Mountain was easier than I had expected, thanks to Google Maps. I love Google maps for the ease with which you can directions using public transport. I don't know what I would do without it, actually yeah I do. I would have to spend more on the net and probably would miss more buses and flights than I have. That was one of the problems I had in Charleston, Google was not linked into the city's transit website so I couldn't get directions and I hadn't left myself enough time to get the information any other way. We arrived at the park and it was a cold, misty morning. We ignored the sign that said the trail to the top was closed and started up. It felt good to be out of the city and getting some exercise. The hike was an easy one and the weather was holding. We got to the top and it was deserted, which wasn't surprising, the hill was covered in mist, it was cold and icy underfoot. I was frustrated as there were no trail maps at the top and so I didn't know if you could go down the other side, I wanted to the see the Confederate carving. We finally saw a guy arriving at the top, he kindly gave us directions and took our photo. We were on the way back down when Viet slipped, she was fine, more shocked I think than anything else.
On the other side of the mountain is a theme park, also called Stone Mountain, and it's from here that you get the best view of the carving. Stone Mountain is actually just an exposed mound of granite and on one side of it is carved a relief of Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson and Robert E.Lee. The relief was commissioned by the Daughters of the Revolution back in the 20's to commemorate the Confederate "heroes" of the Civil War. The theme park has closed its rides for the winter and has constructed a fake snow slope for tubing. Luckily if you don't want to use this you can enter the park for free and just wander around. We stopped to watch a glass blower at work, very cool but we got warm at the same time. On the walk back to the bus stop Viet and I were discussing relationships and sex. She was very frank and I was a little uncomfortable with this, she also seemed to be a very black and white for someone in their 30's. She not only equated sex with love but thinks that it is only men who want just sex, that women automatically want a relationship. I think it is better to have sex with someone you're in a relationship with but that is not always possible. And to take it one step further should we all just be having sex with our husbands/wives? I don't think so.
By the time we got back to the hostel I was in no mood to get myself together and go out for the night. We walked to the local supermarket for food and beer and settled in for the night. Later three guys that we had talked to earlier came back to the hostel with Monopoly, so I joined the game. Thomas and I were a team against his two friends Justin and Carl and another couple of guys. That's right, I don't remember their names, but I was probably on my third bottle of beer by then. Thom and I didn't do too well at first but then we had a run of luck where we didn't land on any ones property and won the game. It was 3am by the time I crawled into bed. I didn't feel too bad the next day, a little dehydrated but well enough to pack up my gear and get ready for my next move to Chattanooga. I was able to talk to Darren, something I hadn't done in forever. It's obvious that I miss him, but it really brings it home when I haven't spoken to him in while. When I don't even have that small amount of contact. The time difference isn't huge between east coast U.S.A. and the U.K. but it's just enough to make it difficult for me to call him. On a weekday I am often out and about doing stuff when he gets home from work and by the time I get back to where I am staying it's too late to call him. And it seems that on a weekend I am nowhere near a computer with Skype and/or headphones. It is a pain in the arse not to have my own computer.
I had lunch with Justin,Carl and Thomas at Mellow Mushroom, a pizza restaurant that originates in Atlanta. Justin gave me a lift to Chattanooga and dropped me off at the visitor centre. Now all I had to do was contact my next CS host.