Georgia!

Georgia

Savannah

First thing's first. In Savannah, you can have open containers in the street. You can get beers to go. Okay, that awesome perk being established, let's talk about Savannah:

So I took coastal rte 17 from Charleston to Savannah. Very pretty road, although for being along a coastline, I didn't see THAT much coast. Oh well, it was pretty.

Pulled into Savannah after sunset. Failed to nail down a campsite that night, so the evening was pretty planless aside from Moon River pub and brewery. It was pretty awesome, but for shame guys, $5.50 for your own beers at your own restaurant? F that. I tried a few beers there, and the only one worth mentioning is the Rosemary IPA. It was unique, and delicious. Not an overpowering rosemary, really complimented the hop character. Their food, I was told, is amazing. I got 3 chicken fingers and fries for $6 and was more impressed with their honey mustard than I was with the chicken or the fries. Oh well. Georgia has a law against breweries selling direct to their customers, but it's A-Okay if they also serve food. Stupid. More on this later.

After Moon River, I went down to River street, where all the touristy things happen, and where musicians play for passer-bys like myself. Pretty neat. Stumbled into a bar called the cotton exchange and met a dude named Mark, he was a real nice guy, talked to him about the area for awhile. He offered a place to stay up by Atlanta, which I never ended up hitting him up for. Whatever, real nice guy.

After the cotton exchange (last call 10:30, bartender liked us, drank till about 11:15) we went to a place called the Bar Bar. The Bar Bar was cool because it wasn't crowded. Seemed like a douchey spot when it's happening, though. Free pool tables are a plus,and cheap domestic drafts (PBR $1.50). After getting a decent look of the city, I went and found a rest area nearby to sleep.

The next day I went to set up camp at Skidaway National Park. It was fantastic. Water, electricity, showers, playgrounds, hiking (if you can call any trail in southern Georgia “hiking”) trails, bike rentals. This place had it all. I should have taken more pictures, but here's our spot:

We set up the tent, napped for a bit, and then hit Savannah for another night on the town. This time, we went to a place called Shipwreck on Broughton street. This street had a lot going on. This bar was pretty cool, and the bartender was really nice. She recommended we go to Congress street to bar hop. There was The Rail, and Irish Pub, and this place called The Social.

We went to the rail. Really friendly bartender again, and the guy next to us sent us his Guinness because he had somewhere to be. He talked to us for a little bit, he was a psychologist paid by the government. He gave us some ideas of cool stuff to do in Savannah that we did none of. If you're ever in Savannah, though, “Don't go to Paula Dean's restaurant. It's way too expensive. You can get a 5 course meal at a place called the Sapphire Grill (look for the blue sign), for about $60 bucks a head.” I wanted to do it, but I didn't. I should have. Oh well. We went outside to drink more and met a tattoo artist from Wisconsin named Marshall (he actually gave the bartended from shipwreck one of her awesome tattoos. Marshall's tattoo shop also shares a wall the rail. Got to talking to him and his girlfriend for a while about the area, they gave us some more good ideas we didn't take up, like the Hearse tours. Take a tour in a converted Hearse. Apparently, the test to become a Hearse tour driver is one of the hardest history tests in the country. They all give different tours, and there are a lot of different drivers, so it's something you can do every time you visit and get something new every time.

After The Rail, we, per the Tattoo artist's recommendation, went to a pizza place called Vinnie Van Go-gos. Amazing, amazing, amazing pizza. Huge, not too much money. Definitely check this place out.

After Pizza we hit the road back to camp.

The next day, we went back to Savannah again. I sat at a starbucks near the college campus and discovered that many attractive women about my age live in the area. Always a plus. I was there to charge my cell phone and use wifi, because I had no 3G service because my smartphone was being a dumbphone. Once I got the phone and deal situation situated, met up with Nick and got some burgers at B&D's burgers. Holy hell hot owner. Anyways, she was married, but damn. They had an impressive burger list and a lack luster beer list. I got their version of a rodeo cheeseburger, half pound, cooked to perfection. Very impressed.

After the burgers, we went to the social and hung out for a bit. Not many people there, but a friendly crowd. The bartender was from Montpelier, so we had a bunch to talk about. After a few drinks there I went back to the shipwreck, then back to the cotton exchange. I hung around the city for awhile and went into a bar that looked metal as fuck but was some shitty club-scene bar. I don't remember the name, but if you're in Savannah and think you found a bar that looks metal as fuck, it's probably not. It was on broughton street, I think. Oh well.

I went back to the campground, slept, and then took off the next morning for the terrapin brewery in Athens.

Athens

The drive from Savannah to Athens blows. It's all roads like this:

I was on an interstate for all of 40 miles before take roads like that for about 30 miles. Just... nothingness. On the east coast! Who knew? I had to take about 40 different highways (severe exaggeration alert), it just seemed very convoluted. I asked around Athens, and evidently, it's just they way it is. Oh well.

Like I said earlier, Georgia has laws against brewers selling directly to their customers unless they also make food. Terrapin's brewery sucked for this reason. You can get samples at the designated sample hours (530 – 830), but it's just pretty dumb. The master brewer there's wife is trying to open her own pub and brewery (separate from terrapin) and the georgia laws won't let her. She'd have to get a “divorce,” because she shares her last name with the master brewer of a brewery. Bulllllshit. So I asked the staff where I can get their beers and they're not allowed to tell, because that's favoritisim. Very nice staff being held down by supid age-old laws. Man, I can't wait until my generation is in power.

Anyways, I headed to college st in Athens and went to Trapeze. It was a bar and grill that had some awesome beers. The beer guy there brews a couple of his own. I forget what it's called, but it was a strong belgian styled golden ale. Fan-fucking-tastic. I also tried Terrapin's rye pale ale, which was also excellent. The bartended there was the man. He was a fan of Opeth, BTBAM, number 12, so many other sweet bands. Talked to him for a while about music and beer, had a great time. After that, I walked back to feed the meter for my car and passed a place called Copper Creek Pub and Brewery. Reminded me a hell of a lot of Otter Creek, because their flagship beer is their Copper ale. I went in and got two beers, the Belgain red which was a little spicy, pretty thick entering the palette, and smooth as silk on the way down. Great beer. The next beer I got was called the Steam. It was a lighter golden with a crisp hoppy finish that I never saw coming from the moment it hit my mouth. Really took a minute for the bitter kick to occur. I liked it. Copper Creek was clutch, I met a dude there named Tynan who had gone across the country 16 times. I talked to him for about an hour about places all over the country I need to go. Thanks dude, hope you're reading this! Good luck and such.

Atlanta

So I pulled into Atlanta after trying a Kickin' Chicken at a Zaxby's per Cleve's orders. Guys, if you've never heard of a Zaxby's, go to one the next time you see one. Best fast food chicken I ever ate. Two strips of fried chicken, smothered in Zax sauce (Ketchup, Mayo, and Franks, probably) in between two slices of texas toast. Fantastic.

I got to my Uncle Louie's place in Vinings, just outside Atlanta proper. He's in a really sweet gated community that is way, way, way nicer than it's surroundings. Sweet deal.

The next day I went to check out Atlanta Institute of Music, where Tosin Abasi “studied briefly,” I was unimpressed upon entering, and massivle impressed upon leaving. It had all the charms of an ITT-tech on the outside, but the inside was loaded, loaded, loaded with state-of-the-art equipment. Cheap school, huge names come through to give speeches (Guthrie Govan is gonna be there next week). I talked to a couple recent guitar grads and they were into a lot of the same stuff I was, which is certainly encouraging. They had heard of Candyrat records, they obviously knew who Tosin was, they were even privy to the term Djent. Badass.

After that I went to a Bahama Breeze, a chain restaurant down south. Pretty good, honestly. They have an amazing appetizer that's beef, vegetables, and spices in a deep fried pastry. So good. I also got a Terrapin and a Sweetwater 420 pale ale (which is named 420 for no other reason than the brewers being huge pot heads). They came in 20 oz glasses. $4.29 each. Dope. The bartender there knew the area, talked to him for a bit, he told me to hit up Vortex and Little 5 corners. So far, I've hit up Vortex. I'll edit in Little 5 corners later if I end up going before I leave Atlanta, but I'm starting to doubt I will.

On my way to vortex, I hit traffic. I saw a guitar center and stopped for some shredz. Two people asked for my information, one dude named Vaughn who is in some band on tour, and one dude that worked there. I was pumped that a guitar center employee, who probably sees 100 douchebags like myself per day come in and lay down some dope licks and riffs, actually wanted to know who I was, what I was up to musically, etc. Really cool.

Vortex, oh my god. Inside vortex exists a comedy club called the laughing skull. Every bartender there was a total badass. If they weren't intimidating, they were just doing bar tricks like they were nothing, keeping track of everyone's shit with no tabs. Kind of crazy.

I was sent here to get a burger. They have crazy burgers, including the triple coronary bypass, which was featured on man vs. food. It is: two half pound sirloin patties stacked inside 3 grilled cheese sandwiches, topped with two fried eggs, 8 pieces of american cheese, 10 strips of bacon. It comes with fries and tater tots drenched in cheese.

Here's the whole menu. It's funny. It's awesome. http://www.thevortexbarandgrill.com/menus/WebMenu.pdf

There was the “hot bitch of the day” behind the bar, which was a pinup from a porno. Funny.

They played amazing music. Here's the songs I remember: Sweet Charity, Air conditioned Nightmar, Goodbye Sober Day – all by Mr. Bungle, Bleak – by Opeth, Swim to the Moon – BTBAM, among other awesome songs I recognized. So awesome.

I sat next to a wonderful woman named Katie (hope you're reading this Katie!) she told me a lot about the area, and a lot about Vortex. She's a regular. We ended up getting a couple burgers together and talked the night away. The atmosphere at this bar made it really easy to joke endlessly about anything, from the hot bitch of the day to the hilarious menu.

This place also does 20 oz glasses instead of pints (so awesome). They also brew there. They make a red brick porter, which was all gone :(, and they make The Laughing Skull amber, which I had 60 ounces of. It was a pretty plain amber. Kinda perfect for the atmosphere I was in.

Lastly about Vortex, and Atlanta in general, you can smoke in bars. I hate that laws prevent this. It's not fair to bar proprietors. That perk attracts a certain crowd, and the risk of second hand smoke issues with the amount of ventilation that exists in bars like this is so minimal. It should be up to the owner, not the law. Something in this country that is highly, highly unamerican.

Take care friends and followers. I'll see you on the road! Next stop is Chattanooga, I'll be camping at Raccoon Mountain. There's caves! I can go mining for gems, too! Hopefully I come out rich, and with many souvenirs for any jewelery loving friends of mine. Here's hoping!