Getting Lit in Hotlanta: A 420 Day trip to the ATL

A 420 Day trip to the ATL

I made a batch of cherry cola gummies infused with FECO (full extraction cannabis oil) for an upcoming day trip to Atlanta, the unofficial capital of the South and home to Coca Cola. I find edibles to be the perfect road trip companion, especially when you can match the flavor to the location. I typically eat my gummies when I’m roughly an hour from my destination so the full effects kick in upon arrival. This was a perfect strategy as my wife and I made a morning drive to ATL, scheduling our first stop for lunch at the city’s best pizzeria, Antico.

Antico has several locations in town but the OG is in the heart of the city, practically on the campus of Georgia Tech. The Midtown pizzeria was opened in 2009 by owner, Giovanni Di Palma, and has been cranking out wood fired Neapolitan style pizzas ever since. The “00” flour, San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo milk mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil and many of the toppings are all imported directly from Italy and give the pies a very authentic flavor. Even the monstrous wood fired ovens are Italian imports.

The small foyer leads to a set of cash registers, and a beverage cooler. My gummies are kicking in right on time as I study the simple menu: Rosso vs Bianco pies. We go for the classic Margherita D.O.P. A deliciously chewy dough topped with a simple San Marzano sauce, bufala mozzarella, fresh basil and drizzled with high quality EVOO. I’ve had it before and it does not disappoint.

With our order number in hand, we walk through a small dining room that leads to a much larger beer garden style seating area, filled with long communal picnic tables. In one direction, the dough room, where fermentation and proofing take place behind a glass window for viewing. Straight ahead, the long counter top separates the dining room from kitchen, where a fast paced crew, rapidly assembles and fires the pies in three enormous wood fired ovens. If you didn’t know any better you would swear you were in Naples.

The Marhgerita ($21) lands on our table in less than 10 minutes and makes the perfect lunch for 2. So simple, yet freaking delicious! I find less is more when dealing with such high quality ingredients.Washed down with a bottle of San Pellegrino the meal is filling yet light. The properly fermented dough is easy to digest and doesn’t weigh me down for a day of activities to come.

We head back to the car and begin making our way east to the Little 5 Points neighborhood. Atlanta is notorious for bad traffic but things are moving smoothly today. We park on a residential street a short walk from the heart of L5P, the 5-way intersection connecting the major avenues, Moreland and Euclid.

Following GPS, we head down a short alley to a hidden enclosed parking lot. Rounding the corner the lot’s back wall instantly smacks you in the face with the massive Outkast Mural created by the artist JEKS in 2019. The black and white image is hyper realistic and almost looks like a huge blown up photograph of the famous ATL duo. The lot is empty, so I play the song ATLiens out loud on my phone and have a quick smoke sesh of Tangy Rainbowz with my one hitter dugout; a brief yet special moment to honor my all time favorite rappers.

We continue to wander around Little 5, checking out some of the other street art, graffiti and murals. I see the huge skull entrance to the Vortex, an excellent burger joint with a ton of character. I highly recommend it as an alternative to Antico if you want to avoid the drive from Midtown.

With the mid July heat radiating off the pavement, we decide to duck into the Junkman’s Daughter to cool off. A funky store, open since 1982, that has everything from vintage clothing, bongs and pipes, joke gifts, posters, local Atlanta artwork and a vast array of eclectic treasures. I laugh at the kitchen towel stitched with the wording “The food has weed in it.”

We get back in the car and make the short drive to the Inman Park neighborhood, home of the Krog Street Market. We find street parking a block from the market and make our way through the 1920’s iron works warehouse converted to a modern food hall in 2014. They’ve got BBQ, dumplings, wood fired pizza, sandwiches, tex mex, noodles, locally made chocolate and more.

We stop at Xocoatl, an awesome chocolate shop that sources, roasts and grinds high quality cacao beans from around the world. They temper and transform the chocolate into a beautiful variety of truffles, flavored bars and single origin bars. We buy a single origin bar made with beans from Kilombero Valley, Tanzania ($11) and are blown away with the bright and citrusy berry flavors. It has a nice tangy sourness from the bean’s fermentation, complimented by notes of red currants, strawberries and tropical fruit. Worth every penny!

Next we stop in Hop City Brewing to check out their selection of THC seltzers. It’s awesome the have a cooler section with single cans available; they’re a perfect addition to a walk along the greenbelt that parallels the market. Sweet tea being the unofficial beverage of the south we both choose a Torch: THC Iced Tea in Mango-Lemonade flavor with 10mg of nano-emulsified THC ($5 each) for quick onset effects.

Outside on the greenbelt, infused tea in hand, we make our way south towards the legendary Krog Street Tunnel. The street walls leading up to the tunnel are lined with large graffiti pieces and you can see the intense density of colorful paint as you approach the underpass. It seems as if every bit of space has been utilized. There’s graffiti on the walkway, the ceiling, the walls and on every face of every pillar supporting the tunnel. Walking through heading south and then crossing the street to return north on the other side is like visiting a mini museum of modern art. Don’t miss it!

Making our way back north, we pass the market heading for the Historic Fourth Ward Skatepark. The mango tea is refreshing in the heat and I down my can pretty quickly. I feel my endocannabinoid baseline rise slightly with relaxing vibes despite the swampy humidity. The diversity in Atlanta is amazing and shines through in the hundreds of people we pass on our walk up the beltline. As we approach the skatepark, there’s tons of street art below the John Lewis Freedom Pkwy bridge, with multiple artists actively working on graffiti pieces and making sketches.

A young artist from SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design), Calder Robinson, is posted up in a lawn chair under the bridge with a sign offering “1 minute sketched portraits for free”. There’s a short line so my wife and I decide to wait and support him. He takes a good bit longer than 1 minute per drawing, but it was worth the wait to chat with him and have our simple sharpie sketch portrait made. He’s got a tip jar, but I have no cash on me and instead shoot him $5 on Venmo.

The skatepark is filled with smiling skateboarders, scooters and bladers of all ages, whizzing down ramps and attempting tricks yet rarely landing them. Double checking no cops are around, the cement wall lining the skatepark is the perfect place to post up and smoke discreetly. A good old fashioned dugout one hitter is always clutch in these situations. We’re smoking on some Tangy Rainbowz, a raunchy and fruity autoflower that’s got me feeling pretty heady.

We chill watching the skaters a bit, then head back south on the beltline for an early dinner. We’re in the mood for southern food and wanted to check out this place a 5 minute walk from Krog City Market called Lady Bird Grove & Mess Hall. The massive space is reminiscent of an old camping lodge and has a huge outdoor deck overlooking the belt line.

Feeling pretty stoned, we rorder the old bay boiled peanuts, the peel n’eat shrimp with scampi butter plus creamy dill sauce and the fried catfish platter for 2 with crab stuffed hush puppies and fries. We go town and inhale it all in no time. The catfish and hushpuppies were nice and crispy; perfect with just a squeeze of lemon. The plump boiled shrimp were loaded with a spicy cajun seasoning and disappeared the fastest. Boiled peanuts always remind me of roadtrips through the south and today will certainly be added to that memory bank.

Both of us having an insatiable sweet tooth, we head back to the market for dessert at Jeni’s Ice Creams. I go for a waffle cone double scoop of salty peanut butter chocolate chip & double cookie dough. We take our cones outside and sit on the market’s front patio under the big ass fans. The ice cream begins melting fast in the heat and we dominate our cones like savages. It’s so good! I’m grinning as it drips down my chin like a big ol’ 3 year old. I pop some more cherry cola gummies and we’re off.

Now! The reason we came to Atlanta today in the first place! We’re heading to the Eastern to see Steel Pulse and the Original Wailers in concert. The parking is insane and I finally find a spot on the street behind the venue. As we get out of the car the security guards out back yell to us we can’t park there and tell us to head to the Publix up the street and leave it there. Just a 5 minute walk, it’s a solid option.

As we enter the venue the Wailers are already bumping 3 Little Birds and I’m excited for a great night. The security was extremely light and I easily slip through with the dugout full of freshly ground herb in my back pocket. It’s truly amazing Steel Pulse has been rocking stages for over 50 years now. They put on an amazing show and played all their hits. We smoke and boogie the night away like some dancehall hippies. What a day!