Our trip to Atlanta with Doodle was a pretty laid back one. Our primary reason for visiting was for the wedding of a good friend. We also have many other good friends in the area and saw many at the wedding. I also got the unexpected opportunity to attend a bridal shower for another great friend and we spent the last night in Savannah with another friend.
All of the events and visiting (and car “problems”) left us with very little time to do touristy things but we were able to see and do a few things while there.
The first night after driving up, Doodle and I stayed with a friend from Dublin and the next day we were on our own until hubby arrived in the afternoon. It was suggested we try the aquarium or zoo but since Doodle is still so little and I was by myself, I didn’t feel the expense was worth the trouble. So instead, after breakfast, we headed to Atlantic Station which is a nice shopping area downtown. We spent the morning wandering around and I found some great deals.
Just as we were heading back to the car I got a call from another friend from Dublin (weirdly, I have 3 friends I met in Dublin that are now in Atlanta!) And Doodle and I met her at The Flying Biscuit for lunch. The restaurant is an eclectic breakfast-all-day spot and Atlanta legend. The food was excellent, service quick and polite and in hindsight, I should have gotten some of their delectible apple butter to go!
Doodle and I spent the rest of the afternoon in the car and after meeting hubby and checking into our hotel in the Buckhead area, we were all too tired and aggitated to do much so we headed to the Buckhead Diner as recommended by the hotel staff. We should have known it wasn’t a typical diner when we saw the valet out front, but the food was excellent and service extraordinary! And while it was more pricey than we anticipated, we actually had leftovers to take back to our room (which we enjoyed on our way to Savannah!)
The next morning we decided to head towards the aquarium but hubby spotted the World of Coca-Cola on the way and decided that would be a better choice. The museum/experience/exhibit isn’t huge and only took a couple hours to get through, but we enjoyed it overall. There was an opportunity to take pictures with their familiar Polar Bear and while we worried Doodle might be scared of him (he is enormously tall and has an animated mouth and eyes), it turned out Doodle loved him and he laughed every time the bear moved his eyes or mouth!
We enjoyed most of the exhibits though the one part I didn’t really care for was the 4-D experience. While I was okay with the movie, the movement portion was extremely jerky and horribly loud and disrupted the feeling of the experience and was really unnecessary. But hubby and I did really enjoy the tasting room where you can sample Coca-Cola products from around the world (hubby was a little obsessed with the minty one from Djibouti) but we were disappointed most things in the gift shop were outrageously priced since we were hoping to get a little something for each of the kids (we did not, though.)
We then stopped by The Varsity for a Frosted Orange. We didn’t stay for lunch as we had lunch plans with friends but can at least say we went! The rest of the day was filled with visitng with friends, retrieving our car and the wedding.
The next morning we packed up and were able to have brunch with a bunch of friends at the 57th Fighter Group Restaurant at PDK (AKA, DeKalb-Peachtree Airport) which pleased all the pilots in the group. The food was good and the atmosphere was great, Doodle really liked watching the planes out the large windows while he munched on melon and grapes.
I then headed to my bridal shower in Marietta and hubby took Doodle to the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. Hubby has a small obsession with the Civil War and had a great time taking Doodle around to see the canons, memorials and monuments before we headed down to Savannah for some more time with friends.
