GPA Conference: Atlanta, GA

This year's Grant Professionals Association (GPA) Conference was in Atlanta. I co-presented a session on social media with D, a woman I'd met at my first GPA Conference in 2014 when we ran together in the dark Portland morning with the running/walking group. Unfortunately, D was on crutches this year due to a possible hip stress fracture (!), so she came down in the morning to greet the runners and walkers but couldn't come out with us. I joined M and J to run the route towards Centennial Olympic Park and did two loops around the venue before returning to the hotel and then heading a few blocks farther north on Peachtree Street to complete our 5K workout.

Of course I had to make time to visit the Capitol Building, in line with Mr. E's and my affinity for capitol cities. Since I was staying at the downtown Hyatt Regency, just a bit more than 1 mile from the Capitol, I was able to enjoy a walk in the sunny afternoon along Peachtree Street on my way south to the Capitol. I passed by Woodruff Park, which has some great public art celebrating the city of Atlanta.

And once I reached the Capitol, I did a self-guided tour of the interior, where I was particularly struck by the beautiful portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr.

I also circled the exterior grounds, which are full of statues depicting historical figures and events in Atlanta's history, including Jimmy Carter and an artwork commemorating the expulsion of a number of black legislators due to racism.

I was pleased to discover that Atlanta has a fledgling bike share program, although I didn't get an opportunity to do any cycling during my visit.

After the conference wrapped up for the day, I headed up to Polaris, the 360-degree rotating restaurant on the top floor of the hotel. I enjoyed a tasty roasted beet salad and a Negroni cocktail as the sun set and the view of the city slowly passed before my eyes.

The next evening, I planned to take a ride on Skyview Atlanta, the big Ferris Wheel near Olympic Centennial Park, but it was closed due to some sort of power outage. Darn! Luckily, I had gone with a GPA colleague to Sundial, another rotating restaurant much higher than Polaris, at the nearby Westin Hotel, so I still got to enjoy a great panoramic view of the city.

I had an early morning flight on Southwest back home to Sacramento on Saturday, but the beautiful sunrise view outside the plane helped to redeem the 3:30am (yawn) wake-up time.