But I'm getting ahead of myself. Today we went to another great local spot Ashley likes for lunch, the 5th Earl, not to be confused w/ the Earl. This was a unique place, small sandwich shop by day/wine bar by night and it was in a great old space with exposed brick, which I love! Red brick was definitely one of my favorite architectural features on the majority of the buildings and houses in Atlanta. There were so many great old brick houses as well as craftsman style houses with cute porches. One of my favorite houses we saw was actually the house of Ashley's friend who had the birthday party we attended on Friday. Not only did it have a great porch, but it had a front row view of the weekly Friday night fireworks at Turner Field, being that she's only a few blocks away from the stadium. It was so cool! I'd love to live in a place like that, such a great space and spot!
Anyway, back to 5th Earl. The sandwiches all sounded amazing, but I ended up getting the Windsor because it had sliced squash and zucchini on it! I love both and had never seen a sandwich with them before so I couldn't resist getting it and it was so good, totally worth it!
After lunch, we met up with more of Ashley's friends. She's a very popular lady! And what's even better is that all of her friends were very nice and welcoming to me as I tagged along on each of their adventures. Our initial plan was to try the olive oil and seasalt ice cream which Ashley had actually read about in the US Airways magazine on a plane once, but had yet to try. We were very excited, but found out that morning that the place isn't open on Sundays! We were bummed, but still determined to get ice cream, so we drove to another place called Paolo's, but they only took cash and we didn't have any, so we tried another place around the corner called What's the Scoop, which as it turns out no longer exists. Fortunately, though, in it's place is Yoforia, a yogurt place very similar to Pinkberry, for those LA natives who know and love it! It was actually a little different because it had a few other flavors of yogurt, including pomegranate, which I got and it was so yummy! I guess I'll just have to come back to Atlanta soon to try some of that famous olive oil and seasalt ice cream!
With our ice cream craving momentarily satisfied, we headed to a nearby park to wander around and people watch. 
Unfortunately, it was so hot and humid out that there weren't many people hanging out at the park and for the same reason, we kept our walk pretty short. However, we still had a good time and the park was really beautiful and worth braving the heat to see. 
Being from overbuilt and brush-filled California, a huge, bright green, shady park in the middle of a big city is always awe-inspiring to me. 
But by the end of our loop, we decided that we had clearly done the ice cream/park sequence backwards! Luckily, Ashley's huge apartment complex has a pool so we were able to cool off a bit.
Unfortunately, it was so hot and humid out that there weren't many people hanging out at the park and for the same reason, we kept our walk pretty short. However, we still had a good time and the park was really beautiful and worth braving the heat to see. Being from overbuilt and brush-filled California, a huge, bright green, shady park in the middle of a big city is always awe-inspiring to me. But by the end of our loop, we decided that we had clearly done the ice cream/park sequence backwards! Luckily, Ashley's huge apartment complex has a pool so we were able to cool off a bit. The final event of the day was a late night showing of the new film, "Mamma Mia." 
Ashley is my movie guru and it's only fitting that I'd see 2 movies in 3 days with her when Wall-E was the first movie I had seen in theaters in months. I do miss her influence on me! "Mamma Mia" was very entertaining and good, obviously in a different way than "The Dark Knight" but I enjoyed it almost as much. However, I don't know if I want to see it again just yet whereas I really want to see "The Dark Knight" again soon! Maybe I'll do a double feature on Friday w/ the new "The X-Files" movie, which I am super excited about! I can't wait! It is clearly movie week for Jessa!
Ashley is my movie guru and it's only fitting that I'd see 2 movies in 3 days with her when Wall-E was the first movie I had seen in theaters in months. I do miss her influence on me! "Mamma Mia" was very entertaining and good, obviously in a different way than "The Dark Knight" but I enjoyed it almost as much. However, I don't know if I want to see it again just yet whereas I really want to see "The Dark Knight" again soon! Maybe I'll do a double feature on Friday w/ the new "The X-Files" movie, which I am super excited about! I can't wait! It is clearly movie week for Jessa!Well, that is the end of this installment of the Ashley/Jessa saga for now, but I am sure that a sequel will be coming very soon! After all, sequels are so popular these days and us movie aficianadas wouldn't want to be left out of the mix!
and even stopped to help Thomas Jefferson write the Declaration of Independence. 
It was fun being silly with Ashley, or at least being silly while Ashley grinned, put up with me, and still was willing to take pictures of me for my blog!
I had no idea that so many people would travel from all over the world to go to Coke musuem. I mean, I know I traveled pretty far to visit this magical place, but I just didn't know that other people were as interested and/or obsessed with Coca Cola as I was. It was a surprise to say the least. While contemplating what to do, we took a moment to pay tribute to one of my heroes, the inventor of Coke, John Pemberton!
Then I finally decided that rather than do all the work and waste all that time to find all those cool artifacts and wall decorations, 
I should just live at the Coke museum, which already has everything Coke I could ever want or need, plus plenty of Coke to drink as well. Problem solved! I'll let you know when I move in! 
To be honest, the majority of the different sodas we tried weren't that good and I am glad that we have an unlimited supply of regular Coke here in the US so that I don't have to worry about all those other brands and flavors. While in the tasting area, we received a souveneir bottle of Coke that was bottled today in the bottling section of the museum we had previousy toured and has today's date stamped on it, so it will be a great momento of my time inside the World of Coca Cola!
I, of course, bought several other souveniers, including a cool red t-shirt, a can-shaped glass, a shot glass in the shape of a classic Coke glass, and another bottle of Coke with a specialized wrapping image for the World of Coca Cola in Atlanta. 
Since it was right there, I decided to quickly walk through and take a look around at part of another Olympic site. It's pretty cool that in the span of just 3 weeks, I've been to two previous sites of the Olympics. 
I suppose the next goal would be to attend an actual Olympic games someday. I don't think that's going to happen this summer in China, but maybe I'll make it a goal to attend somehow if Chicago wins the bid for the 2016 Olympics. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed!
I had somewhat mixed feelings about seeing the new Batman movie because first of all, as you all know, I'm a huge Superman fan and less of a Batman fan, second, I wasn't that impressed with "Batman Begins," as I guess if I'm going to watch a Batman movie, I want to see Batman and was sort of bored with the first half of the movie with the ninja guys, and third, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about watching Heath Ledger on the big screen for the first time since he died. However, I was extremely impressed with the new movie. In fact, I loved it! I totally recommend that everyone go see it in theaters, don't wait for DVD! Heath was incredible, he embodied the Joker character so much I kept forgetting it was him. I want to say more, but I can't for fear that I'll give something away. Just go see it! Trust me!
Ashley ran through a list of 6 or 7 great local places she knows of for me to choose from for dinner and burgers just sounded good and they were! It was definitely a good choice! I was so impressed with her long list because I don't know if I could name that many places I like and often went to in LA even after living there for 5 years and she's only lived in Atlanta for 5 months between this summer and last. I clearly need to get out more so maybe this road trip is me taking the first step toward that! Let's hope so anyway! 
It's located in Centennial Park near Vanderbilt University. I was very impressed with the architecture and history of the structure. I never wanted to be an architect, well maybe for a few minutes in elementary school when I liked using a ruler to draw buildings cityscapes, but I love studying architecture and seeing uniquely designed buildings or at least ones with some history attached to them. The Parthenon definitely fit the bill since its history dates back to Ancient Greece! This Parthenon is the only full-zize replica in the world and it's in tact, which might actually make it a little cooler than the ruins that stand on the Acropolis in Greece today. It allowed me to see the structure how the Ancient Greeks would have seen it, which is pretty amazing. I would love to see the real thing in Greece someday, but for now this works just fine! 
Maybe I should finally invest in a more expensive camera and take up photography as a new hobby. Something to contemplate, but perhaps not until I have a source of income again!
She was located on the upstairs level of the museum, which was actually the large space that made of the inside of the Parthenon. It was very fun to not only see such an amazing piece of architecture, but to be able to go inside it as well! 
Usually, I'm more of a bacon and eggs kind of girl, but since this place is known for their pancakes, I thought it only right to give their pancakes a try and it was totally worth it! They were so good, especially with the warm, sweet maple syrup poured on top, mmm, mmm, good! I recommend it if you're ever in Nashville!
Since I had just been to Graceland, I found it hard not to compare the two music museums and I actually liked hte Country Music one a little better. I prefer self-guided tours of museums where I can look at the things I want to look at and spend as much or as little time doing so as I want to, which was the experience I was given at the Country Music Hall of Fame, whereas Graceland felt much more structured, almost as if I was walking thru the White House at times, which I didn't expect and didn't enjoy as much. Don't get me wrong, Graceland is definitely still worth a visit as I was able to see some rare and interesting historic artifacts, but I also felt like I can identify more with current country music legends such as Garth Brooks, Reba McIntyre, Faith Hill, etc. than I can with Elvis who was quite a bit before my time. On another note, no pun intended, the museum building itself was quite unique in that the window pattern on the front of the building was designed in such a way as to look like a keyboard, which I thought was pretty clever! 
Here are a few other things I thought were interesting inside the museum (a lot of the images are blurry from a combination of once again not being able to use flash to preserve the artifacts and having to take photos thru the reflective glass which distorts the images as well):
Johnny Cash's suit and Willie Nelson's sneakers
Webb Pierce's "Silver Dollar" Convertible (complete with pistols as door handles, a saddle in the front seat, and silver dollars glued to the dashboard and saddle)
One of my favorite people because I love to order Roy Rogers to drink at restaurants, good old fashioned grenadine and coke, mmm, mmm, good! Thanks Roy!
But before I get into the details, here is a brief disclaimer about the photos in today's blog. Please excuse the poor quality and blurriness of many of the photos. There was no flash photography allowed in the Graceland mansion or museums in order to preserve the quality of the costumes and fabrics in those places. Apparently, one flash is equal to 50 days of sunlight exposure, at least that's what I think one of the workers at Graceland mentioned at one point. I suppose having blurry pictures is worth preserving Elvis' Graceland home and legacy.
and Can't Help Falling in Love (I really love this one!) and I respect his talent and the enduring legacy he left behind as the King of Rock and Roll. To be really honest, the majority of my exposure to Elvis in my life can probably be traced back to the classic TV show, Full House, in which John Stamos' character, Jesse, was an Elvis wannabe and thus often referenced the King on a regular basis. Sad, but true. At least now I have a exerienced a more meaningful exposure to the true Elvis having been to Graceland, his home and a tribute devoted entirely to him. I mean, how much more legitimate does it get? Although, I think 3 hours at Graceland put me in a bit of Elvis overload and shock, it may have been a bit too much all at once, but it was, once again, worth it!
The mansion tour was very cool, but it was a bit more structured than I'm used to on this trip. Most places I've visited have allowed me to take self-guided tours where I can go where I please within the park or museum and spend as much or little time in each section as I please. The mansion was very different. We were shuttled across the street from the main facility to the mansion and constantly remained in a single file line as we were shuffled through the one way only path through the house, running into security and workers at every turn, and always being watched by numerous security cameras in each room. The upstairs was off-limits for the tour as Elvis wanted it that way while he was alive and they continue to keep it that way today out of respect to his wishes, but with all the security on the grounds, you'd think that he was still alive and living up there! Despite the different atmosphere, it was still a great sight to see, all the suedes and tweeds on the furniture, the shag carpeting, the old TV sets, the loudly patterned curtains, wood paneling, all still in tact and preserved for us to see it as it was when Elvis lived there. 
I love it when people work so hard to preserve history for generations to see as they were in their present time. It's so much more impactful and leaves a stronger impression than photographs of those things would. I think it's so important to preserve what we can of today's world for future generations to appreciate and be a part of in their own way.
I love old cars and even though he didn't own my coveted 1966 Ford Mustang, but he did have a 1966 Rolls Royce which isn't a bad alternative!
Here are some of his other amazing cars! I'd love to just ride in one of them, let alone own one!
1960 MG 
1971 Stutz Blackhawk
Private planes are always cool because they're so spacious and there's usually very luxurious, comfy seats with tons of legroom and often a bedroom to stretch out in as well. However, they're not nearly as exciting to just walk through as they would be to actually fly in, I'm sure! Mostly the plane had couches and a conference room table. I thought the only cool parts of this plane were the fancy, fairly spacious bathroom with a gold (probably real gold) sink, the bedroom in the back, 
and the multiple TV's, which must have been pretty innovative and rare back in the 50s and 60s. The other plane on display, the Jet Star, 
was much smaller than the Lisa Marie, but had a unique feature that made up for it: bright yellow and lime green colored seats! 
If I ever have a private plane, I want fun-colored seats, lots of TV's, and a comfy bed, just in case anyone is thinking about getting me an early birthday or Christmas present!
I can't imagine a musician today wearing those costumes in the same way I can't imagine Elvis wearing anything else! It was great to see all those tangible peaces of Elvis, since I know of him, but never got to see him in person. Now I feel like I've gotten as close to the real thing as I can get and so glad I had that opportunity!