On our first full day in Atlanta we elected to travel down to Senoia, Georgia which is about 50 minutes south of Atlanta proper. We went there because we are big fans of Walking Dead and it is filmed down there in Senoia and neighboring towns like Griffin, Georgia. It is a popular filming town for things such as Fried Green Tomatoes, Zombieland and and other films and shows.

So we arrived probably around 10:30 am and parked right in downtown Senoia, which incidentally stood in for the town of Woodbury in Walking Dead (the land of The Governor). We went the “Woodbury Shoppe” (or The walking dead store) and looked around. It changed it’s merchandise since I was there last. (it was my third time going there.) We picked up a walking map of filming locations in Senoia. We walked around finding all the spots like the “pudding House” and the “Claimers house” etc. They have built a small shopping building in the place where the Governors burned out town hall was. After walking in the Georgia heat we stopped in at the Senoia Coffee shop and I had a gatoraide. We then went to a little garden stop looking for a weather vane (we want to put one on our chicken house) and incidentally the second exit to the garden shop was right on Morgan Street where they have the street blocked because the set for the “Alexandria Safe Zone” is located on that street. We saw the “safe zone” gate was open and we started walking toward it but we were waved away by a man who popped out of the guard shack. (They were filming that day) So Close!

We went back to the Walking Dead store and picked out some souvenirs for ourselves. I got a a “Mrs Rick Grimes” coffee mug (it had a heart handle if I remember correctly, as I haven’t seen it since then)) and Eric bought a Grill Apron which had “Terminus BBQ” and something like “We’ll meet you there”  Why this is significant- Terminus was supposed to be a haven for our zombie apocalypse survivors but turned out to be a colony of cannibals.  

We had a late lunch at Nic and Norman’s in downtown Senoia. This is the restaurant owned by director/ special FX artist Greg Nicoterio and Actor Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon on the Walking Dead). Tuned out to be a gourmet burger place with a lovely atmosphere. Nice tables, large photographs by Norman Reedus lined the walls in beautiful frames and 40’s music playing overhead. Really great place. I had the classic cheeseburger with a “non- bun” (lettuce wrapping) and a fried egg on it. It was delicious but a bit sloppy on the “non-bun” so I can’t recommend the non-bun for that particular burger permutation. I had the burger with onion rings which were so good but I couldn’t finish them.

We drove back to Grant Park after our meal. We found the address of the house which stood in for Rick Grimes house in Atlanta (before the apocalypse) and found it just around the corner from our B&B on Cherokee Street directly across from the Zoo Atlanta. I took pictures, of course.

For dinner that evening, we went to Ponce City Market for dinner. Ponce City Market used to be a Sears warehouse but had been turned into a large shopping mall with an amazing food court unlike any food court I have ever seen. Many gourmet restaurants and food stands. They had a place where they only served tap beer called something like Tap on Ponce or something like that. They but the beer in a plastic beer bottle and seal it up and you can walk around with it. It didn’t last long with Eric, of course After perusing all of our choices we elected to eat at a little food stand called Korean Seoul. It was Korean BBQ and it was amazing. I had my “buns” with my Favorite Soda treat Boylans Black Cherry. One was super spicy – the pork bun I believe but oh so good. For dessert, I picked up 4 macaroons from the French bakery that was there and hubby had gelato from a Gelato place. (I never did get to eat those macaroons because I was stuffed from my Korean BBQ. ) We walked the mall and outside for a while until they were closing and then we drove back to our B&B to retire for the evening.

We sank into that wonderful bed and got a good nights sleep. We would need it as we had plans to go into Atlanta downtown area the next day.