24 Hours in Atlanta

Stephanie and I have been planning a trip to Atlanta for a while, and we finally had our chance this weekend. I went in to work early yesterday so that I could leave by 3:00 pm. We drove to the Atlanta temple (before the traffic got too bad) and spent some time there. Afterward, we drove up to Woodstock to spend the night with Sister Brush, an elderly lady that used to go to church with us in Augusta. She treated us to a nice dinner out, and we had a great time catching up before going to bed. She's getting older and slower, but she is not losing her energy nor her optimism.

After a wonderful breakfast and goodbyes, Stephanie and I drove to downtown Atlanta. We started with a 9:00 am tour at the World of Coca-Cola. There were fun exhibits that talked a lot about the history of Coke, advertising, production and distribution, and its global impact on culture. Best of all, the final exhibit had kiosks with Coke products from different regions of the world, and we tried just about all of them. Stephanie really enjoyed the drinks from Latin America, and I was very impressed with a melon flavored soda from Israel. Since we were the first tour, we were able to be out before the huge crowds were there.



After enjoying some buffalo wings for lunch, we headed next door to the Georgia Aquarium, the largest aquarium in the world. The crowds were starting to get pretty big by that point, but it wasn't too bad. We were impressed with the Ocean Voyager exhibit, which had a long walk-through tunnel, various windows and portholes, and a theater-like view into the tank containing 4 whale sharks, in addition to tons of other fish, sharks, rays, and sea creatures.


Overall, we had a blast! It was nice to take a break from our normal routine, and we got to see some pretty amazing stuff. We hope you enjoyed pictures. We love you all and can't wait to see you again!