Every year, we like to go away for our anniversary, even if it’s just a small weekend trip. This year, though, our anniversary coincided with Easter weekend. That meant sharing the roads and hotels with LOTS of other people. It was also quite likely we would pay more for whatever we chose to do (gotta love economics – supply/demand). With all that in mind, we decided that we would just plan a quick day trip somewhere fun and different. Metro Atlanta offers myriad options, but after much discussion and research, we decided on a day trip to Pendergrass Flea Market in Pendergrass, GA.
It is a Hispanic-run flea market, and it is huge! It boasts many aisles of goods, as well as a sizeable food court. Since it allowed us to head AWAY from Atlanta, we thought it sounded like a good option for something different. We had no idea what to expect, but being the foodies that we are, we were hoping we would at least let our taste buds have a new experience for the day.
Greetings from the Pendergrass Flea Market Cow
Upon arrival at the flea market, a giant cow greeted us.
We drove into the parking area, which we were pleased to find was nicely paved with decent-sized parking spaces, allowing you to have some confidence that your car would not get dinged while you were shopping. The parking area is somewhat strangely laid out, but there is ample parking near an entrance, no matter where you choose to park. We were quite impressed with the options available!
Once inside, we already knew our first stop would be the food court. We had purposely planned to eat there, and having gone longer than planned with no breakfast (it was now lunch time), shopping first was NOT an option. We stopped to take a short live video, but cell reception was apparently VERY spotty, so the video didn’t turn out very well. (If you want to take a look at it, anyway, check out our Facebook page.
But First...Food!
We walked around the food court and found mostly Hispanic-style foods. Most of the places seemed to have a lot of similar options, but each had their own special niche. In addition to the standard places with tacos, burritos, nachos, tortas, etc., there was a Salvadorian restaurant with pupusas and a Chinese restaurant. All in all, there were at least 10-12 different places from which you could purchase food. If your taste buds are less adventurous, they also had a Papa John’s Pizza and a place that served fried chicken options and fries.
We chose one of the traditional Mexican food options. I didn’t want to eat TOO much, as I knew there were other options I wanted to try before we left. I ended up selecting two tacos – one barbacoa and one pastor – which came topped with onion and cilantro. James chose a pastor burrito that was huge and stuffed with all kinds of yumminess. We also LOVE Mexican Coca-Cola, as it is made with pure cane sugar and tastes like it did before “new Coke” back in the 80’s. They offered this as a drink option, so it was an easy decision!
Time to Shop!
The food court is at one end of the flea market (and thankfully, exactly where we parked!), so we just began there to wander through each “street” of the market – going down one side, then coming back up the other on our way back to the car. Each aisle was much like you would expect – with booths up and down each side. The items offered varied quite a bit from one booth to the next, although there were many booths that offered very similar things. Did I mention that Pendergrass Flea Market was huge? After so many aisles (or “streets”), many of the offerings began to look the same.
Here’s a list of some of the things that you could find (in spades) at Pendergrass Flea Market:
- Jewelry
- Formalware (think quinceañera)
- Toys
- Boots & Shoes
- Toiletries
- Perfume & Cologne
- Cookware
- Artificial floral arrangements
- Jeans & T-shirts
- Tools
There were other offerings, but those are the categories where we were on mental/visual overload by the time we wandered through the whole place.
One of the sections offered live pets for adoption. We saw a couple of places offering puppies, one offering gerbils, and another with chickens for sale. Beside that, there was a mechanical bull that one could ride, if one felt so inclined (we did not). There were a few booths with musical instruments or collectible action figures (Marvel, DC, etc.), and finally, we saw some vendor booths with fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs. We were not in the market for any of those yesterday, or we may have taken a closer look.
Time for a Break!
After walking through all those shopping areas, which took the better part of a couple of hours, we were in need of a little break. Granted, we could have taken even longer to walk through, but since we were not really shopping for anything in particular, we didn’t stop for long at any one booth. The food court offered most of the main meal foods, but throughout the various corridors, there were several booths with treats and snacks. We had seen online that there was a place to get Cuban coffee, so we were on the lookout for that! Once we found it, we noticed that directly next door was a booth that sold rolled ice cream and gorditas de nata. We have wanted to try rolled ice cream for a while, so finding this was super exciting!
We ordered some iced lattes from Little Espresso’s, and after perusing the flavor options at Beyond Ice Cream, James ended up with pineapple mango, while I ended up with pistachio. This place has definitely set the bar for us in the rolled ice cream world!
Rolling in the Ice Cream
Just look at James’ amazing creation! For the ice cream itself, they pour sweet cream and chunks of real fruit onto a ultra-frozen metal tray. They chop up the fruit and mix it with the sweet cream until it is well-blended and almost frozen. After that, they spread the mixture really thin on the tray, then scrape it into frozen ice cream rolls that are then artfully placed in the bowl. We never expected it to come with so many extra goodies on top! It was such a tropical treat!!!
My pistachio creation, while completely different than his fruity concoction, was equally on point! For this one, the sweet cream was mixed with lots of roasted, salted pistachios that were chopped up after being placed on the tray. Such a fresh, light pistachio flavor – AND topped with additional whole pistachios!
It is a good (and bad) thing that this place is not easily accessible every day! While delicious, it took almost an hour to get there, and on most days, it would take way longer than that. But can’t you just taste it?!?
Even More Tasty Treats!
You can see my Cuban latte in the background, and it was delicious, as well! If you have never tried Cuban coffee in any variety, you should find a place to do that! If you are local to Atlanta, let us know, and we can point you to some awesome Cuban restaurants that will help give you the proper Cuban coffee experience. We can also hook you up if you live near Pigeon Forge, TN.
You may have seen the gorditas de nata mentioned above and wondered what they are. The place gave us free samples of some fresh off the grill (or comal). The flavor is much like a waffle cone, but they are thicker and fluffier like a pancake. Beyond Ice Cream offered the plain fluffy ones, as well as some filled with pineapple. They also had some that were thin and crispy. We grabbed some of the pineapple-filled ones to have an at-home treat along with our Sunday morning coffee.
On our way out of the parking lot, there was yet another Pendergrass Flea Market cow to wish us well on our way home – and offering to have us come back soon! We will likely go back if we are in the market for something we know they offer. Most likely, though, our reason for returning would be to eat some more yummy authentic food. We would, of course, follow that food with more treats from Beyond Ice Cream!
Take Me to the Church
Since we had seen way more than we expected, but nothing more that we wanted to explore more for the day, we decided it was time to go. Looking at the time, we had just enough time to make it back to our church for their Saturday evening Easter weekend service. We hit a little bit of traffic, but we were able to get there within just a few minutes of the service starting. What a great service it was!
Our pastor shared a great message about how Easter should be experienced – not just remembered. Rather than the traditional Easter message, it was the start of a series called “Back to Life,” sharing how God offers hope and redemption, no matter where you are today. It will be a great message, and if you are in the area, we would love to have you join us.
After the service, we took a moment for the obligatory photo op at the booth they had set up in the lobby. The picture doesn’t do it justice. They did a great job on it!
We would love to hear from you! What did you do this Easter weekend? Drop us a note in the comments!