Top Travel Days of 2021, Biking Atlanta
Since we celebrate the great Martin Luther King Jr. today, it’s a good time to dive into my top travel days of last year, which includes MLK’s hometown of Atlanta. We arrived in Atlanta for 3 nights after a weeklong trip along the South Carolina and Georgia coast in early November. Any one of those days could have made this list, especially strolling through the centuries-old live oaks at Charleston’s Magnolia Plantation, dripping with Spanish moss, and a majestic walk on the beach of Hunting Island State Park. But we really enjoyed our time in Atlanta, which started with a splash at the Holiday Lights show at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. The city has a lot to offer, including a world-class aquarium, the High Art Museum, which featured an intriguing exhibition on the outsider art of Grandma Moses and Horace Pippen, and upscale shopping at Ponce City Market. The highlight was a 3-hour bike tour with Bicycle Tours of Atlanta that started at MLK’s boyhood home just down the block from Ebenezer Baptist Church, and ended with the cottages in Cabbagetown, with stops at Inman Park and the house used for the television show, Lovecraft Country. We also were introduced to the wonderful Atlanta Beltline, which transformed 33 miles of old railroad track into a biking and walking path that surrounds the city. Afterwards, our excellent guide, Robyn Elliot, led us to many walls and bridges covered with graffiti art. A perfect introduction to the city.