I had the opportunity to take a friend to the Fox last night for the first time.  That building is just fantastic, and I’ll take any excuse to go.  BTW, Ryan Adams put on a killer show there.  I saw him a few years ago at the Tabernacle, and he was pretty flat.  Part of it, I’m sure, was the venue.  I’m just not that impressed with seeing shows there.  I mean, the building is super cool, the sound system is fine, they get good acts…. but it just feels odd to me.  I’m not really sure what it is, but I just can’t warm to the place.

But back to the Fox – my friend was absolutely blown away, and it reminded me how I can take some things in this town for granted.  While not on the level of the Fox, there are actually a few other things I find natives rarely go to:

• Stone Mountain – I hiked this once for Cub Scouts when I was 10.  Never mind that my grandparent’s house in Stone Mountain had a view of the thing from the front yard.
• Zoo Atlanta – I’ve been maybe twice in the last fifteen years.  I last went maybe two years ago, and thought to myself, “This place is awesome!  I need to come here all the time.”  Um, yeah.  That worked out… Also, I said this while I lived a single block from the Zoo.
• Aquarium – This is still new enough that it hasn’t really earned a place on this list.  We all went when it opened up, and now it has been relegated to the “We take family when they are visiting” list.  Give it a few more years, and you’ll forget about it until your out of town co-workers tell you they went last time they were in Atlanta for a conference.
• Sweet Auburn and the King Center– I’m not sure if I’ve ever done an official tour or anything, actually.  It is actually pretty shameful. I love driving through, but how did I get through 10 years of Atlanta Public Schools and never go on a field trip??
• Georgia Capitol – I absolutely love this building, but that is because I’m an architecture dork/real estate junkie with a serious politics problem.  I spent a decent amount of time in this building some years back, and just fell in love with it.  I just love the sound of hard soled shoes on marble…. oh, and the building is absolutely gorgeous.  They spent tens of millions of dollars restoring it over the last few decades, and it shows.  Anyway, most folks went here for a field trip in 8th grade and then only see it on the way to Braves games.

What have you taken for granted about this fair city?