Unofficial Guide Issue 6.16: Eat, Visit, Do, and Shop

This state is bursting at the seams with visitors here for the World Cup games and festivities. It’s been so much fun watching folks from other countries experience Georgia, the Southeast, and the United States for the first time. This issue of the Unofficial Guide will hopefully give some ideas of places to stop into for visitors and residents alike, as they travel the state.

Eat: … a peach! After all, this IS the Peach State. Head to the center of the Georgia, where the Fall Line cuts through the state. Here’s where you’ll find the best peaches and you can enjoy them steps from where they were carefully picked from the tree. Choose from a few orchards in the area to visit, OR make it a mission to try ice cream at all three!

• Pearson Farm in Fort Valley allows you to get up close and personal with the packing process. They’ve been operating for over 140 years and have some of the best peaches – and ice cream – you’ll ever taste. (Pro tip: get peach and butter pecan swirl ice cream. You won’t be disappointed.)
• At Dickey Farms in Musella, where they’ve been packing peaches for over 125 years, you can get fresh peaches, sandwiches, and peach cobbler. Oh yeah, and ice cream, too!
• Lane Southern Orchards in Fort Valley has been growing peaches and pecans for more than 100 years. Sit on their front porch in a rocking chair and enjoy a little something from their cafe and bakery. The peach cobbler is good, but honestly their pecan pie is the best!

Visit: If you’re here for a few weeks, hitting up Athens for AthFest is a great idea! This three-day festival (June 26-28) celebrates the vibrant music and arts culture of the Classic City. If you can’t make the festival, just visiting Athens is a treat. Experience the home of R.E.M., The B-52s, and Widespread Panic, hit up one of the 80 bars in a 1-square-mile area (2.5 square km area) for drinks, live music, or just people watching. Walk through one of the most beautiful college campuses in the country. You won’t be disappointed in a day or weekend visit to Athens, we promise.

Do: Cool off in the river with Whitewater Express in Columbus. On the banks of an urban city, The Chattahoochee River is home to the world’s largest urban whitewater course for rafting. While they offer more than rafting, with options like “The Challenge Trip” and “The Carnage Trip” who wouldn’t want to give one of those a try?

Shop: If you’re looking for some memorable shopping to do, look no further than Ponce City Market. Besides having really cool stores, delicious confectionaries, and unique dining options, the place itself is incredible. From being the “Coney Island of Atlanta” at the turn of the 20th century, to becoming a Sears & Roebuck store and warehouse in 1925, to becoming City Hall East in 1991, Ponce City Market emerged into what it is today through years of vision and hard work.