29. Spend a day with the dead

There is no better way to get to know a city’s past than exploring its citizens’ final resting places. And there’s nothing macabre about graveyard tourism; older cemeteries were designed to be enjoyed by the living, serving as public parks.

30-33. Experience four essential festivals

You can tour historic homes in Atlanta’s first “suburb,” take in bands, and see local art, but the real highlight 
is Saturday’s parade, complete with 
an attorney drill team, the Seed & Feed Marching Abominable, and the Trash Queen.

4. Bard-y hearty in 
Piedmont Park

Spring fever is never lost on the wily comedians of Georgia Shakespeare when the company breaks out of its Oglethorpe campus confines to play at Piedmont Park.

35. Sleep with 
the fishes—or the felines

If you’ve got small kids, we don’t need to sell you on the marvels of Zoo Atlanta and the Georgia Aquarium.

Stayin’ Alive: A Monk Shares How Not to Kill Your Bonsai

It's not every day you’re able to interview a monk. And it’s even rarer to interview him about bonsai trees. But Friar Gerard Gross has been in charge of bonsai cultivation at the Monastery...

37. Commune with the walking dead

Back in September 2011, we boldly declared Atlanta the zombie capital of America, and we’re not backing down from that assertion.

18. Enjoy the Eastside Trail

If you’ve ever doubted that demand for the Atlanta BeltLine exists, it’ll be dispelled the moment you step onto its Eastside Trail—which opened in fall 2012, and runs 2.25 miles from the Old Fourth Ward to Piedmont Park—and jostle for space with joggers, dog-walkers, and kids wobbling on two-wheelers.

Digging for Precious Stones at Crater of Diamonds State Park

“I’ve played enough Minecraft to know where diamonds are,” my 19-year-old cousin says as we schlep across acres of muddy furrows with our rented bucket, sieves, and shovels. Although I’m highly skeptical of the real-world applications of Minecraft, there’s no sense in arguing when he points out a small rivulet of water trickling through the muck.

9. Binge on books

The annual book fest makes me so proud to be an Atlantan. A quarter of a million folks come together over Labor Day weekend for the AJC Decatur Book Festival to hear from renowned authors—and enjoy local musicians, craft beers, cooking demos, a children’s parade, poetry slams.

23. Catch Atlanta’s other pro football team

Here’s a suggestion for city boosters: If you want to tout Atlanta as a global city, showcase Atlanta Silverbacks Park, where the world’s most popular sport is played by a men’s pro team (the season starts April 13) and a women’s developmental squad, as well as soccer amateurs and club teams of all levels.

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