I am home! Yea. I was in Dallas for 6 days and then Atlanta for 5 more. It feels good to be home. We learned some new strategies to use in the classroom and explored in the evenings. Dallas, well it is just Dallas. We did get some shopping in, stores that we don't have here at home and that was fun. We went to various restaurants, but did not really eat anything that was wonderful which was sort of disappointing, as we went to places like P.F. Chang's and pappadeaux, but the food was just so-so.

Our hotel was kind of cool. We stayed at the Hotel Lawrence in downtown Dallas. http://www.hotellawrencedallas.com/ It was built in 1925 and has been "restored" (lots of it is still old). The elevator (yes just one) was iffy, but staying on the 8th floor it was my friend as the stairwell was skinny and not air conditioned. The reviews for the most part are not good and most of them are true, the photos for the hotel are a bit misleading, so when you arrive you are a bit shell shocked. However, the shower was amazing. It has a shower head and the a shower bar that goes across the middle.

Next off to Atlanta. We stayed a the Hyatt Regency Peachtree,

http://atlantaregency.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp

It was okay.....not that it was not nice, but not as "nice" as we expected it to be. And on top of that at the cheap hotels you get free Internet, not here! $12.95 a day. Yikes. So much for getting on the computer, so I have not checked my mail for a week. (still haven't, doing that next). Anyway in Atlanta we worked all day, but then we had dinner and we went to the attractions. The Atlanta Aquarium is worth your money, it would be an amazing place for kids, lots of hands on stuff, even touching animals in the water. http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/

Then there is the World of Coca Cola. That was a visit worth the money! http://www.worldofcoca-cola.com/ Besides regular museum stuff, they also have an interactive 4d movie and a tasting room with all 64 varieties of drinks they make around the world. ( I can not imagine tasting all 64 of them).

But of course there is the food. The food in Dallas was just okay, the food we had here was amazing. The first night was Benihanas, it was wonderful, we looked at each other and all said oh yea! good food. We also ate at Rays In The City. It is a seafood place and the fried green tomato's were fab! I had Parmesan crusted scallops with risotto. Yummy. If you are ever in Atlanta you should go. http://www.raysrestaurants.com/ We also ate at Mary Macs Tea Room. It is an out of the way local place that we learned about from our Taxi driver. It was one of those places that you are glad you discovered. http://www.marymacs.com/ It is great food, black eye peas, turnip greens, catfish, fried chicken etc. etc. etc. all made fresh.

More beach tomorrow........ ( I know I am slow).....

I love you girls.