Our trip to Atlanta

Allison and I went to Atlanta last weekend. I had to go for business (Monday through Wednesday), so we decided to head up there early on Saturday to see the sights.

On Saturday, we started the day off going to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. We collect pilsner glasses from all the HRCs we go to when on vacation. The crazy thing is that we actually met someone from Texas. I was wearing my Josh Hamilton shirt, and the woman approached us and said that Hamilton is her favorite Ranger. To make things even crazier (and on a related note), we saw the same woman at the Rangers game Allison and I went to on Friday night (after we had come back from Atlanta). Anyway, back to the trip...after lunch, we went to the Georgia Aquarium, which is said to be the largest in the world. It was pretty cool.


After the aquarium, we headed over to the World of Coca-Cola, which was across the yard. I think this was Allison's favorite. It had a history of how Coca-Cola was started and evolved into a world wide phenomenon. There were Coke memorabilia from all over the world and there were even samples of different Coke products from around the world. The coolest part is that you got a free (glass) bottle of Coca-Cola when you left. And the store had a bunch of cool stuff in it too. Oh, and you know the polar bears from the commercials? One of them was there too for taking pictures...


After that, we ventured over across the street to the Olympic Park from the 1996 games. We found four pillars that listed the names of all the medalists, and I singled out fellow Baylor Bear, Michael Johnson. 1996 is when he set the world record for the 200 meters. It was pretty cool to see that.


On Sunday, we toured the CNN world headquarters. It was amazing to see how many cameras and stations there were to put together a broadcast.

Next, we got to go on a behind the scenes tour of Turner Field (where the Atlanta Braves play baseball). We got to go in the press box, the clubhouse, and down on the field and in the dugouts. It was incredible. I used to be a huge Braves fan growing up when Ron Gant played for them. He was from Victoria (like I was) and that was all it took. It was cool to see memorabilia from the 80s and 90s. This, to me, was the coolest part of the trip so here are several photos.




To wrap up our eventful weekend, we went to the zoo. It was alright. If you've seen one zoo, you have seen them all...at least in my opinion. Although, this zoo did have some pandas. I don't think I had ever seen pandas before, so that was a nice highlight. The pictures of the panda didn't turn out very well, so nothing to share. :(

Monday night, we went to an actual Braves game. So that is another stadium to cross off our list. Allison and I are trying to see a baseball game in all the major league stadiums. We are going to Arizona this coming weekend to see the Diamondbacks. But as of today, we have been to the stadiums for:
Texas Rangers
Houston Astros
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees (the original stadium)
Philadelphia Phillies
Baltimore Orioles
Washington Nationals
Chicago Cubs
Atlanta Braves

That pretty much sums up our trip to Atlanta.