In June of 2012 we spent a couple days in Atlanta with my best friend’s brother and family. They are like my second family and I hadn't see them since they moved to Atlants. I was great to see them, we had a great time and saw quite a bit in that short amount of time. Our first night they took us to Stone Mountain Park to see the Laser Show Spectacular. According to their website, this not-to-be missed Atlanta tradition promises to wow your family with state-of the-art digital graphics and awe-inspiring effects. Experience multi-dimensional magic on one of the world's largest outdoor screens - Stone Mountain. It was wonderful and a great way to spend out first night in Atlanta. The show was great, but we has wished we had made it to the park much earlier in the day. They have all kinds of activites for families to do. Amazing cool park.
The next morning we got up early to beat the heat (not that it’s possible in June, but we tried) and headed into town to do a tour of Turner Field where the Atlanta Braves play. It is a great park, but before you even get to the park they have an awesome museum called the Hall of Fame Museum. It is an absolute inspiring museum and made me want to go to Cooperstown even more. One day! Anyway, we walked around the museum and took in all the treasures it held while we waited for our tour to start. It is a really nice field and we had a great time. One interesting thing is the 27-foot long "chopping" neon tomahawk located atop the video board which is used to encourage fans to do the tomahawk chop to cheer on their team. It seems like a fun place to watch a game when it’s not 110 in the shade, lol.
After the tour, and a quick lunch we headed to the Atlanta State Capitol. It has been named a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is the main office building of Georgia's government. The offices of the governor, lieutenant governor, and secretary of state are on the second floor, while the General Assembly meets on the third floor from January to April. There are also visitors' galleries and a museum on the fourth floor.The museum within the Capitol, in existence since 1889, houses extensive collections representing the natural and cultural history of Georgia. Native American artifacts, animals, rocks and minerals, and fossils illustrate the diversity of the collections. The Georgia Capitol Museum is a public education institution in the Office of the Secretary of State. The museum seeks to preserve and interpret the history of the Capitol, the functions of the government, and the events that have occurred in the Capitol. To accomplish this, the museum collects, preserves, and interprets artifacts relating to the Capitol or associated with the events that have occurred there. It was a cool capitol and I really liked the double stairs on both sides of the building.
The next day was an actual blast and would love to do it again. We went to the World of Coke. It is
an amazing place and something everyone should definitely do while in the Atlanta area. There is something for everyone of every age. After we were
treated like criminals trying to catch a place, we went in and their kids posed for a picture with the Coca-Cola mascot, the Coca-Cola Polar Bear. It was
really cute and they seemed to enjoy it. They have a lot of short movies/shows/commericals as well as a lot of older style artifacts. They also teased
us and showed us the Vault of the Secret Formula, lol. It was fun to hear about the history of coke, and to learn about the famous signature.
However, the best part was being able to try Coke from countries all over the world. Some were good and some not so good, but the absolute worst was the Beverly. Ugh, not sure if they still have it or not, but not worth it. It was horrible. Sorry Coke. I did like an apple tasting one from Argentina. It was really good. Besides those to try, we were also able to have as much of the regular Coke products that are available here in the US. Man was that nice on a hot humid Atlanta June day. We had a blast and drank so much that none of us were hungry for lunch, lol. As we were leaving they gave us a memento of our tour: an 8-fluid-ounce bottle of Coca-Cola with a special label and cap indicating that it was bottled at the Atlanta location. It is cool and we still have them. Of course we had to hit the gift shop on the way out to see all the cute Coke and polar bear merchandise. It was a great morning and I definitely would love to go again sometime.
Before we headed back to our friends house we drove around and stopped to watch the kids play in the Fountain of Rings at the Centennial Olympic Park. It was a hot day so it was packed. It was fun just watching people playing in the water and riding their bikes in the park. We could also see the CNN building from where we were. It would have been nice, but we didn’t have time. Maybe we will do a tour on another visit.
The next afternoon we were heading to South Carolina to see their capitol but stopped for lunch to meet my mom’s dear internet friend that she has never met. My mom had no idea that we were going to do this and was so surprised and shocked when I send her a text of us with her friend. We had a great lunch and ended up walking around and taking some pictures. It was very nice to meet up with her, but we both had wished my mom were there too. At least they got to talk. After we said our goodbyes, we left and headed north to South Carolina.
Atlanta is a great city and there is so much to do. We both wish we had more time to stay and see more of the sites, just not enough time. We will come back again during Feb or March, lol. In the meantime, here are a few fun things to do that we wished me had been able to see and do while we were there.
| Georgia Aquarium | CNN Tour | Jimmy Carter Library & Museum | Agatha's Mystery Theater | Atlanta Zoo | High Museum of Art |
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Page last updated August 2014.
