A Whirlwind of Activity in Atlanta, Georgia

I never told you about the rest of our visit to Atlanta!  We went to the King Center to pay our respects to Martin Luther King, Jr.:

And we went to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History:

Hey, look!  It's the South.

And we went to the High Museum of Art.  I didn't take any pictures there because I think people who take pictures in art museums are obnoxious and I only do it if we have a gallery to ourselves.  It was a blistering Saturday afternoon which meant we were standing cheek to jowl with sweaty strangers (who were plenty obnoxious, by the way) so my camera stayed in my bag.  Luckily just about everything you see in an art museum can also be seen online, so I can show you my favorite thing, which was the Baptistere de Saint Louis.  

It was amazing, and I'm so glad the Louvre decided to share it with us for a little while.  You know what else was amazing?  It had its own oxygen-free display case.  The Goobs were impressed.

After the art museum we went back to the hotel to swim, and then we headed over to Stone Mountain to watch the laser show.  We would have skipped it but my mom's friend's grandpa helped with the blasting of the rock face (or something) and we couldn't leave Atlanta without clapping for my mom's friend's grandpa. We clapped, but we left when the monster truck started chasing the devil across the mountain.

We so don't belong down here.

Georgia Aquarium; Atlanta, GA

The Georgia Aquarium is right next door to the World of Coca-Cola so of course we had to stop by.  They bill themselves as the world's largest aquarium, and their prices reflect that!  You only live once, though, right?  As we entered we had our bags inspected by smiling employees, and then another smiling employee took our picture.  Of course we bought one, because you only live once.  Plus I'm never pictured on my own blog, and that isn't right.

Right away I could tell that the aquarium would be worth the price of admission - they have whale sharks!  Two of 'em!  That is just amazing.  The Goobs were all calm and collected - they just sat there in a viewing window with their little fish guides and identified this fish and that fish,

while I bounced around from window to window hollering, "Look!  Here they come!"  and "Oh, my GOODNESS, it's coming this way!" and "Look, guys!  It's a freakin' WHALE SHARK!"  My poor little Goobers.  They can't take me anywhere.

Look at them!  They're cool as cucumbers, just hanging out in the window as if there aren't two WHALE SHARKS swimming around in that tank.  

Well, you know what?  I didn't need them.  I just kept on bouncing from window to window and muttering, "Whale shark!" to myself at regular intervals.  This gave me great satisfaction because a) it completely embarrassed my family and b) it ensured unobstructed views because nobody wanted to let their children stand too close to me.  Ha!  Hahahahaha!

Eventually The Goobs stepped in and led me gently but firmly away from the whale sharks.  I might have screamed and kicked a little, but I was soon distracted by the interactive touch screen and the lecture on beluga whales.

But as soon as The Goobs turned their backs, I ran right back to the whale sharks. 

I just can't be trusted.

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I want to take this opportunity to tell everyone how wonderful it is to have children the age of my Goobers.  They can go to the bathroom by themselves, they can sit still and listen to a lecture, they don't run away while your back is turned, they don't throw their toys at little old ladies . . . I  had no idea how much time I spent trying to shield an unsuspecting public from the horrors that are my Goobs until I didn't have to do it anymore.  And now they're shielding the public from the horror that is me.

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"Mom, let the little girl look at the whale sharks.  Mom.  Get off the glass, Mom.  MOM!  Come on!  Let the little girl see!  Look, there's a sea dragon.  Isn't it pretty?  Oooh, look at all the sea dragons!"

"And jellies, Mom!  Look at the jellies!  Aren't they pretty?  Look, jellies like JellyMan!  Mom?  Wow, Mom, jellyfish!  Can you say jellyfish?  Mom!  Get back here and look at the pretty jellies!"

They'll be such good parents someday.  But for now, they're still having a good time crawling through tunnels and playing in the touch tank.

 Hey, look!  A freakin' whale shark!

World of Coca-Cola; Atlanta, GA

Now that we finally have orders (to Hawaii!) we need to get serious about seeing all the things we want to see before we leave the Southeast.  We thought about going up to North Carolina to see Roanoke, but the thought of being trapped in a car with The Goobs and me for thirteen hours roundtrip made The Man's eyes bleed, so we drove four hours to Atlanta instead.  Why Atlanta?  Because of its Civil War history?  Because of its Civil Rights history? No, you sillies.  Because of the World of Coca-Cola.

We have been promising The Goobers a trip to the Coke museum for about four years now, and we finally made good!  After we paid our $50! entrance fee (okay, it wasn't quite that much because we bought City Passes, but still), smiling employees ushered us through metal detectors and into the lobby, where we milled around and waited for the next tour to begin (they're on a timed admission system).  We entered another lobby filled with Coke memorabilia and listened to a perky tour guide tell us about the museum and some of the memorabilia in the room.  The tour guide really seemed to love her job, and delighted in telling us that the green stained glass lamp really was a Tiffany.

Tiffany, schmiffany.  My favorite part was the 1980s vending machine.  It took me right back.

After the talk we watched a weird little animated movie that shows what happens after you push the Coke button on a vending machine.  

It was surreal.  The Love Puppy things made me feel squirmy and not much like having a Coke and smile, you know?  But I felt better once we toured the bottling factory.  Everything looked pretty sanitary - I couldn't find even a speck of spit or fur anywhere.

There were a LOT of exhibits to go through.  We watched a documentary about Coca-Cola last year, and The Goobs actually remembered enough of it to be of some help as we were wandering through the vast holdings of the World of Coca-Cola.

The Goobs liked the pop culture gallery the best, and their absolute favorite thing was the couch from the 2005 season of American Idol.  (I think they were so excited because 2005 was the last time I allowed them to watch American Idol.)

Jeez, JellyMan.  Chill out.  It's only a couch.  

When we had seen every last possible style of Coke bottle, Coke can, Coke sign, Coke pencil, Coke painting, Coke t-shirt, Coke coffee mug, Coke flashlight, Coke lamp, Coke toy, and Coke frisbee we saw another Coke movie in 4-D.  After that, we entered the highlight of the museum:  Taste It!

This is where you can sample 64 different Coke products from all over the world.  It was a tough job, but we managed to taste them all.  I took their picture after we had gone through about 40 flavors - their smiles had faded a bit, but they were still game!

My absolute favorite was Bibo Candy Pine-Nut from South Africa.  It was delicious!  Oh!  Remember Tab?  My mom drank that when I was little.  My brother and I would beg for a sip, but she always said, "No, you can't have any.  There's rat poison in it."  We thought she just didn't want to share, but after tasting it I know she was speaking the truth.  Rat poison is indeed the predominant flavor.

Once we made ourselves sick on 64 samples of Coke (I'm pretty sure The Goobs had well over 100) we were treated to:  more Coke!  Each guest receives a complimentary bottle of Coca-Cola from the factory downstairs.  Cool, right?

And then you exit through the Coca-Cola store, where your kids say, "Wow!" and "Oh, look!" and "That's so cool!" and you part with the rest of your cash because you can't stand how cute they are. 

It was a great visit.  Sorry we made you wait so long, Goobs!