Trip Report - Atlanta, March 5-8

My mom and I drove from Raleigh, NC to Atlanta, GA on Thursday, March 5. It took about 6.5 hours, with a 30 min stop for lunch at a Zaxby%26#39;s. The weather for our entire trip could not have been more perfect: sunny with highs in the low 70%26#39;s. I am thankful we postponed from the previous weekend, which was when it snowed both here and in Atlanta.

Our first stop was Atlantic Station for Dialog in the Dark and the Bodies Exhibition. I was pleased that they extended the dates because originally both were going to end on March 1. The parking is plentiful and inexpensive, but it%26#39;s kind of maze-like in the structure. You are supposed to ascend elevator/escalator 5, so park near that if possible. I%26#39;d purchased the combo ticket online for a 5:00 pm entry to Dialog, but we got there early and although you%26#39;d think no one had ever asked to go in early before, they did eventually let us. We were instructed to put all our belongings inside the complimentary lockers. You should stick $2 in your pocket to buy a drink, as the tour ends at a counter in a soda shop. I opted not to bring money, but later wished I had. Our group only had 4 people, and all of us were women. I%26#39;m glad, because once you%26#39;re in the pitch black darkness, you run into each other and touch each other a lot as you%26#39;re trying to find your way around. They do give you a cane to use, but I still found myself walking with my arms out in front of me. Although I%26#39;m not afraid of the dark per se, I did find myself getting nervous in the ';dimming room,'; as I contemplated what it would be like not to have any clue what%26#39;s around me. The entire experience was very much worth it. The only thing I%26#39;d want to add to it is at the end, it%26#39;d be nice to go back through everything but with the lights ON, so you can see how different it is from what your mind%26#39;s eye had envisioned. But I suppose visually impaired people don%26#39;t get to do that, so the fact that it remains a mystery is appropriate.

Next we went to Bodies and although it was interesting, I think I%26#39;d heard too much about it and seen too many pictures online (although photography isn%26#39;t allowed at this location) so it lacked some of that ';ooh, ahh'; factor. Hopefully I won%26#39;t offend anyone when I say that the baby section was the most fascinating. It is incredible how a fetus goes from a tiny speck to palm-sized in just a few weeks!

There were several good options for dinner right downstairs when we left Bodies, but we decided to go check into our hotel. We stayed at the Wingate by Wyndham in Buckhead. It was very nice. We got a good deal: 30% off best available rate when staying 3 or more nights. Call and ask for that special if you aren%26#39;t given it automatically when booking through the website. I liked the Pergo floors in our room. That%26#39;s a first for me, and I travel for work a lot. Alas, neither my mom nor I slept particularly well any of the nights, but I can%26#39;t imagine that was any fault of the room. The beds/linens were comfy, and although we were facing the street, it was pretty quiet from 11-7.

For dinner Friday we ate at Annie%26#39;s Thai Castle, which was not far from the hotel at all, and it was *delicious*. It%26#39;s a tad on the pricey side, but worth it. The portions were large.

Friday morning we were going to head to the Aquarium right when it opened, but the World of Coca Cola opens an hour earlier so we decided to do that first (City Pass). This ended up being my favorite attraction. I loved all the memorabilia, and the introductory 3D movie was clever. The 4D movie was just okay. The tasting room, not surprisingly, was the highlight. It was not crowded for us at all, but there are so many stations I%26#39;d think that even with lots more people it would be doable. We found that getting a cup of water from the drinking fountain helped us cleanse our palates in between tastings; otherwise, everything starts tasting the same. Our favorite was Bibo, a very sweet fruity drink from South Africa. Our least favorite was Beverly from Italy. Ugh!! The gift shop has more Coca Cola branded merchandise than you could ever imagine! We spent about 2 hours total here, longer than the website said was average.

Next we headed over to the aquarium (used City Pass), which was just a couple minutes%26#39; walk away. It was crowded just like we%26#39;d been warned. It wasn%26#39;t horrendous, but it was enough to take away a little of the enjoyment. We passed by a lot of windows that had crowds in front of them just because we didn%26#39;t want to wait. Sadly, the penguin exhibit was closed, and they are doing major construction for a new dolphin exhibit. We did get to see the Beluga whales, the sharks, and the otters. Those pesky otters are hard to get a good photo of! I know this aquarium is the world%26#39;s largest and all, but personally I felt that the one I visited in Denver last year was much better. Again, maybe it was due to the crowds. We did pay the extra to see the Titanic exhibit, which was good, but for Titanic buffs like my mom and I, it didn%26#39;t hold much new insight. I did enjoy the displays of passenger effects though. And we each got ';boarding passes'; when we entered, with a name and some background about our person. At the end they had a roster of who lived and who perished--my mom survived, but I wasn%26#39;t so lucky. No photos were allowed in this area, so that was disappointing. The last thing we did was see the Deepo movie, which was lame--and I love animated movies. Seriously, don%26#39;t bother wasting your time unless you have kids under 10. It is a shameless and pathetic Nemo knockoff. I%26#39;d say we spent about 2.5 hours here total.

After the aquarium, we walked just a couple minutes up to Johnny Rockets for lunch. Then we walked through Centennial Olympic Park to the CNN building for the 3:40 tour (City Pass). Our guide, Alba, was just eh. She knew her stuff, but was seriously lacking in personality. Again I found myself bummed that photos aren%26#39;t allowed during the tour. But I did take pix in the lobby. There are several little shops and eateries inside the building so this would have been another option for lunch.

To wrap up the day we walked over to the Westin Hotel and used our City Pass coupon to get half off the elevator ride to the Sundial viewing deck. Several women bypassed the fee by just saying they%26#39;re going up to get a drink. I think you could save yourself $2.50 by doing that even if you%26#39;re not going to drink, but really, it%26#39;s only $2.50. Unfortunately the glass elevators were blacked out for our ride, as they are doing construction right now. But the view from the top was lovely. We spent about 15 minutes up there.

We walked back through Centennial Park and caught the fountain show. Kind of neat. We retrieved our car from the Aquarium/Coca Cola parking deck, and paid $10 total for parking the entire day, which was a good value I thought. We went back to our hotel and walked to Tin Lizzy%26#39;s for dinner but found a 45-minute wait, so we walked a little farther to the Landmark Diner, which had immediate seating. I don%26#39;t recommend this place because it is ridiculously expensive for a diner. My mom and I had the cheapest things on the menu--she, a roast beef sandwich, and I, a turkey sandwich, for $9.95 each. If you wanted, say, a pasta dish, count on paying at least $16.95! At least the sandwich was good though. After dinner I%26#39;d booked us massages at Massage Envy down the street, so we pampered ourselves and then went back to the hotel.

Saturday morning, we had breakfast in the hotel again (loved the omelet station!) and then made our way to the Botanical Garden. We wanted to get our money%26#39;s worth from the City Pass so we stopped here for just about an hour or so to see the orchids. Perhaps later in the spring or in the summer there would be more to see. Then we headed over to the Atlanta History Center (City Pass again), where we went on the Swan House tour, the Tullie Smith farmhouse tour, and stopped in to see the Olympic museum and the Civil War museum. We weren%26#39;t really up to the large amounts of reading that would%26#39;ve been necessary to get the most out of the museums, so we passed through those quickly. Even so, we spent about 3 hours at the Center. Our guide for the Swan House tour was nice, but not very articulate; the guide for the farm house tour was in costume and much more adept. No photos allowed in either house, but photos were allowed in the museums.

For lunch, we went to Souper Jenny%26#39;s, a place I%26#39;d read about here in the forum and was very excited to try. I was not disappointed. It%26#39;s literally 2 minutes from the History Center. The lunch special for $12 includes a TON of food--two items plus drink, bread, and cookie. In fact, splitting it with someone is not out of the question. I got the turkey chili and the turkey pita, while my mom got the chicken tortilla soup and the tomato-mozzarella baguette. Everything was delicious. My pita was divine. If you have the chance, you must stop by this very welcoming place. My only tip: get water instead of soda so you have room to finish all your soup! Oh, and your Garmin will take you to the right shopping center but Jenny%26#39;s is around the back so you probably won%26#39;t see it right away.

After lunch we went to the High for the Terracotta Warriors exhibit. They charged a ridiculous $12 for parking. We didn%26#39;t use City Pass for our entry, but rather had bought a combo ticket with Tut online, and used AmEx to get 25% off. I had ';high'; hopes (ha ha) when I was given a photograper%26#39;s pass but those hopes were dashed when I found out it only entitles you to photograph permanent exhibits, not special ones. We arrived at 3:30 on the dot four our timed entrance, but still had to wait about 10 minutes in line to go up the elevators. It was somewhat crowded, but for me, it kind of lent to the excitement. All these people here to see these amazing artifacts! The soldiers were great. You could get up very close to them. I loved the exhibit and definitely recommend the audio tour. It%26#39;s a good one. We briefly checked out the Louvre exhibit, but it%26#39;s really not much. We couldn%26#39;t seem to find any of the ';permanent'; exhibits so we just left. We were super tired at this point. We decided to go to the movies at Phipps Plaza (not stadium seating, by the way) and then were lazy about picking a dinner spot; we just went to Chipotle.

Sunday we checked out of the hotel and drove to the King Tut exhibit. Our tickets were for 10am, and we pretty much got in on time. Parking was a reasonable $5. We got the audio tour but frankly I could have done without it. They say it%26#39;s narrated by Harrison Ford, but he reads about 10% of it. The rest is historians, and it%26#39;s kind of dry. The placards provided enough info in my opinion. I found the artifacts interesting and enjoyed the overall experience of the exhibit, but was a little disappointed with the anticlimactic ending. The big golden sarcophagus is not on display. I had a feeling it wouldn%26#39;t be--but I still thought maybe... This 3D movie (they%26#39;re everywhere!) was by National Geographic, and maybe I was just sleepy, but it was kind of boring. The gift shop had tons of stuff to buy but it was all rather expensive. One neat souvenir was getting your name printed in hieroglyphics from this kiosk. It was only a buck.

After that, we drove home. Although this isn%26#39;t Atlanta-related, I do want to mention that we stopped at the brand new Ikea in Charlotte. We%26#39;re originally from So Cal, and I hadn%26#39;t been to an Ikea in years. We had a ball shopping in the marketplace (the non-furniture section).

So that%26#39;s our trip to Atlanta. I had a great time overall, but just wish more places let you take photos. I hope some of my observations will be useful to future visitors! If you want to see some photos, you can do so here: http://idek.net/4pK.

Thanks to everyone who posts here in the forums--I found lots of useful information that really helped me plan my trip. And thanks if you%26#39;ve read this far!! You%26#39;re a trooper!

Trip Report - Atlanta, March 5-8

WOW! Awesome trip report! You really maximized your time:-) Please come back soon!

Trip Report - Atlanta, March 5-8

Excellent TR glad you had a great time in one of the best southern cities i have ever been to,thanks for sharing.

You%26#39;ve seen about as much in a week as I%26#39;ve seen after living here 10 years! Thanks for the report. Glad you enjoyed the trip.

JAtlanta,

I know, right?! I haven%26#39;t done all this kind of stuff in my own city! I think it would be a good idea for everyone to approach their hometown as a tourist for a fun, budget-friendly weekend vacation.

Excellent trip report!

When you come back, check out the Atlanta IKEA, it is right there at atlantic station where you saw dialogue and bodies.

Great report! The information about the botanical garden, history center, and soldiers was helpful.