(Today on conniewasthere.com we have a guest post from my daughter Julie about a wonderful weekend she recently spent with her oldest daughter Allie).

I recently had the occasion to spend a delightful November weekend with my daughter in the Atlanta area for her fifteenth birthday. Allow me to share some of the highlights from our trip in case you find yourself with a similar opportunity in the future. Allie lives in Duluth,GA, so I picked her up after school, and we spent a few hours in the quaint downtown area around Main Street on the bright, fall Friday afternoon. There is a large, meticulously manicured city green with a fountain and attractive sidewalks and park benches, leading to the newly constructed city hall that features a magnificent clock tower and three floors. The city park  has a constant calendar of events year round for young families. The city maintenance department does a fantastic job of keeping the grounds neat and attractive, especially with all the continuous activity. It doesn’t have the historic charm that you find in older city squares, but there is a fresh, modernistic air of a city moving forward.

colorful fall leaves in Duluth, GA

A block over from the park is Main Street, which features a sort of “think tank” area for new business, unique decor, fashion and art shops, a few locally owned restaurants, a bakery, and a coffee shop. Allie and I enjoyed browsing through some of the shops, especially “Peace, Love, and Decorating”, and stopping for some cake and coffee at Espresso Theory. Several of the local business owners raved over a pie shop called Crave Pie, but we didn’t have room for pie after the chocolate cake. 🙂
Next we traveled to the town of Marietta, about a thirty minute drive away, for our bed and breakfast destination. We had a room reserved at the Stanley House Inn for the weekend. The Stanley House is a Queen Ann mansion built around 1895 and preserved by a lovely couple with a flair for genuine hospitality. We arrived at the Stanley House just a little before dark, and there was a note on the backdoor from the owner letting us know she had walked to the city square for dinner, but to let ourselves in and make ourselves comfortable. We walked in through the huge, creaky old doors and into a large, beautifully decorated dining space with large fireplaces, shiny hardwoods, elegant flowers, and soft music playing. Upstairs there were four large bedrooms. When we opened the door to ours, we found chocolates and cupcakes waiting on the bedside table to help us begin the birthday celebration.

Our room at the B and B

We decided to walk a few blocks over to the city square for dinner. A friend had recommended the Taqueria Tsunami, a sort of Mexican/Asian mix of fresh food. She told me it had been featured in food magazines and that when she lived there, she saw Alton Brown frequenting it as one of his acclaimed favorite diners. We were early enough (around 5:30 p.m.) to be seated right away, but I noticed by the time we left an hour later, there were lots of people waiting to get in. It’s not a very big place, so try to go early if possible. They don’t take reservations. The food really is so delicious! We began with the Avocado Cilantro Egg Rolls, which were a perfect blend of spicy and sweet. For my meal, I had the Thai Chicken Taco, and it was really yummy. Allie had the Chipotle Lime Chicken. She liked it, but I think mine was better. I really wanted to experience the Mexican/Asian mix. They really go well together! After dinner we walked a little downtown, but Marietta has more of the old charm than Duluth, so many of the shops were already closed for the evening. We looked in the windows and decided to come back in the morning to step inside. We went back to the Stanley House and had a deliciously uninterrupted night of sleep. 🙂 The rooms all have the sound machines by the beds, so we listened to waterfalls as we drifted off to sleep. The Stanley House owner called me while we were having dinner to make sure we arrived safely and to ask what time I would like to have breakfast, so we slept in and enjoyed our breakfast of Bananas Foster hotcakes and bacon at 9 a.m.  The hotcakes were perfect, and the Bananas Foster sauce was so rich and sweet and creamy, that neither of us could completely finish our meal!

(Come back to the blog on Wednesday for Part 2 of this fun mother/daughter weekend review.  I’m beginning to think it would work for a grandmother/granddaughter event, or a Girls Weeekend Getaway, don’t you?)

Photos by Julie Rodgers.