Atlanta

Hi friends! A few weeks ago I traveled to Atlanta for a conference. It was my first time visiting the city, and fortunately I had some spare time to explore a bit.

The view from my hotel room....

After landing at the airport and grabbing a bite to eat, I headed to the Georgia Aquarium, which had some really cool stuff. Like an albino crocodile! I never knew such a thing existed.

At first I thought this was a statue, because it was completely motionless. But then this guy lumbered by...

We saw the dolphin show, but I didn't get any pictures there because our seats were terrible. We did visit their tank afterwards.

We spent a lot of time with the penguins.

They had a series of tunnels and underwater viewing areas that were really unique.

The otters are always my favorite. So cute and snuggly!

A sea dragon, which I don't think I've ever seen before. (I feel like the marine biology class I took in college has failed me.)

The beluga whales were fascinating.

The coolest part of the aquarium was this tunnel that goes underneath a huge tank with whale sharks, manta rays, and all kinds of other specimens.

There were also divers in the tank, as you can see. This shot shows just how big the whale sharks were.

The manta rays were also ginormous, although it's hard to tell from this shot.

I took about a million pictures of these jellyfish. I watched them for a good ten minutes. I kind of want to have a tank of these in my house.

Finally, outside the aquarium is this sculpture of a mean-looking penguin. 

Upon closer inspection, I learned that it's made up entirely of items that were found in the ocean.

Later we went to a Braves game at Turner Field.

And I suppose it wouldn't be a visit to Atlanta without a thunderstorm.

After a 90-minute delay, play finally got underway. (I think the Braves won. We didn't stay till the end.)

A visit to Atlanta also wouldn't be complete without going to the World of Coca-Cola, which is actually where our conference reception was held.

Vending machines and advertisements from around the world.

Various Olympic torches!

There's a whole room with about fifty different soft drinks produced by Coca-Cola for other countries. I'm proud to say I tried them all. Only one was downright terrible (sorry, Italy).

Another highlight of the trip was the Gone With the Wind bus tour. The book's author, Margaret Mitchell, lived in Atlanta all her life, and the premiere of the movie was famously held in the city.

Our tour guide was an actress playing Margaret Mitchell and she told us lots of stories about her life. Our first stop on the tour was her house.

They have the door used in the movie (the exterior of Tara was a facade, and the interior scenes were shot on a sound stage).

Mitchell lived in a tiny one-bedroom apartment which she called "the Dump."

Her kitchen is even smaller than mine! Apparently she didn't like to cook (we have a lot in common, I discovered).

We visited the public library, where they have a little exhibit on her life.

The typewriter she used to write her famous book...

Of course I had to get a picture of the Junior League programs...

And that's our tour guide in the background...

Lastly, we stopped at Oakland Cemetery, where she is buried. A picture of our tour group at the grave is here. 

Not surprisingly, there are quite a few Confederate soldiers buried there as well.

Well, I know that was a lot, but I have even more pictures!! Hopefully I will post those soon. Till then...