FLIPping Over a Swimmingly Sensational Saturday

Saturday morning, we set off on an impromptu road trip! (When was my last one of THOSE?! :-P) My longest & first BFF, Amy, (our moms were BFFs & pg with us both at the same time :-)) and her two boys were down from Washington D.C. visiting Atlanta, so we drove the 3 hours up to meet them for the day!

I requested we meet for lunch at FLIP Burger Boutique. I am a Top Chef junkie, and Richard Blais is one of my ultimate favorites! FLIP is *his* restaurant, and with a menu like this, I have been obsessing over getting up there to try it for ages. It did NOT disappoint!!! So fun, chic w/o being the least bit stuffy, a total blast! I had:

warm bacon potato salad, zucchini fries (my FAVE!), the butcher's cut burger w/ caramelized onions & red wine jam, and a beet salad with dates & goat cheese along with a nutella + burnt marshmallow liquid nitrogen milkshake!!!!!!!!!

I also had half of Sissy's Krispy Kreme shake, again: made with liquid nitrogen - AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!

Afterwards, we headed over to the Georgia Aquarium - the LARGEST aquarium in the WORLD! It opened two weeks before we were transferred away from ATL five years ago, so this was our first visit. :-)

The kids' favorite part were the touch pools where they could touch rays, baby sharks, starfish, & urchins. We couldn't drag them out of there!!! They were all really sweet together, acting like no time had passed (much less over THREE YEARS!) since we'd all been together. They picked right back up, just like Amy & I have done our whole lives. :-)

We finished our visit with dinner at Pura Vida, a shot-in-the-dark choice that turned out to be a fun tapas adventure! The yucca tostones were FANTASTIC, Amy discovered she likes empanadas, and the fresh salty/sweet peanut butter ice cream was to die for!!!

We had the most wonderful (albeit too short) reunion. Amy is one of those friends with whom I never miss a beat, no matter how long it's been ...although we always swear that next time, it won't be as long!!! ;-) She & her family are my family, and I am so thankful for them!