Weekend in Atlanta 2021

---

Friday, July 9, 2021 (Rob and I)

As soon as Rob got home from work, we packed up the car and headed toward Atlanta. We decided at the last minute on Thursday to make this little weekend jaunt. I booked a hotel right across from the aquarium and that is where we were to stay.

It is a 3 hour drive from Kingston to Atlanta and we made it with little trouble to our hotel. We stayed at the Hyatt House, a seven story hotel downtown Atlanta. The only parking was valet style (and expensive), but it was a nice place and the room was well appointed. Best of all, it was really convenient to everything. It was getting late when we got in, so we crashed right away. Unfortunately, the hotel is right next to a club that had loud music and a constantly talking DJ and they did not close until 3am. We struggled to get much sleep.

Saturday, July 10, 2021

Despite the all night thump thumping, we did manage to get some sleep and were rested enough to get up and have breakfast in time to be at the Georgia Aquarium at 8am. It was a great time to get there with hardly any people and the atmosphere was quiet. The first hour at the Aquarium is sensory hour, made easier for autistic children, so the lights were down low and there was little noise. It was awesome. We saw the new shark exhibit and the huge whale shark tank before the crowds started rolling in. It took us at least 3 hours to see everything and that was without seeing any of the dolphin shows or 4D theater. We ate there as well and by the time we were done it was already 12pm and time to head to the World of Coca Cola next door. By the time we got there our 12:30 tour was just being let in. It was fun and interesting, with a lot of history of the brand and displays as well and some taste testing of products from other countries. We were there another 2 hours.

It was 3:00 by the time we got back to the hotel. We had been on our feet all day, so we decided to take a breather and just hang out at the hotel until 7pm when we had reservations at the Catch 12 restaurant. We decided to take a dip in the pool, but didn't stay long because a thunderstorm came in and rained us out. We took naps in the room and just chilled out until evening (we are old).

The restaurant was nearly a mile away, so we decided to use a Lyft to get there as we didn't want to get the car out of the valet parking. But I did not get the Lyft app figured out in time, so we had to drive ourselves anyway. I got turned around even with GPS and it took a minute to find the restaurant. We were late for our reservation, but that was no problem as the place was nearly empty. It turned out to be a lobby restaurant in a hotel. There was no real atmosphere and the hostess acted like she was annoyed that she had to do something when we got there. The food was fancy and very good, but the prices we paid should have included a nice atmosphere. It was slow getting our car back (they also had valet parking only) as they were understaffed, so we just went back to the hotel and crashed for the night.

Surprisingly, despite the fact that the club next door was thump thumping when we got back, the noise completely died down by the time we headed to bed. We slept pretty well that night.

Sunday, July 11, 2021

We got up at our leisure and had breakfast at the hotel then checked out and headed up to the Georgia Botanical Gardens. It was a fairly easy drive and we got to see a little of the city on the way up. Atlanta is really big. Skyline views surrounded the beautiful park and gardens. I was really impressed with the lush vegetation and beautiful art on display. They had a beautiful topiary display of a woman which was the highlight, plus multiple areas with all different types of flora. There was a conservatory with a rain forest inside dedicated to orchids. There were gardens of all types and fountains galore. Very beautiful, and totally worth the price. We ended up walking around there for 2 hours.

After that beautiful, albeit hot tour, we headed back home. It was an easy 3 hour drive back. A very nice time for a spontaneous trip!

---

Comments

[Janice]

Atlanta trip
I love the pictures....it looks like it was a great time, and beautiful too!!