cruisin' the ATL

Yesterday was a banner day for us here in sunny Atlanta, Georgia. Besides sleeping on the most comfortable bed in the world, getting plied with fine aged scotch, and generally being treated like visiting royalty, we also had an excellent time seeing some of the best sights around town.

We started with breakfast at Sublime Donuts, specifically their Oreo and Deep Dark Chocolate Fudge Icing varieties. Next up was the World of Coca-Cola, a museum which also doubles as an immersive and frenzied torrent of advertising. We especially enjoyed the room at the end where you can try unlimited amounts of various Coca-Cola-brand fizzy drinks from all over the world, even though the floors were sticky and it made us never want to drink any kind of soda pop ever again.

Right next door was the Georgia Aquarium, either the best or the second-best aquarium we've ever been to (the other contender is Monterey Bay), where we saw belugas, an octopus, whale sharks, sea otters, and the rest.

We ate lunch at the Varsity, "The World's Largest Drive-in Restaurant". Except we ate inside. But it was good. Beccah had a chili-cheese-slaw dog and felt no remorse. Then we checked out Ebenezer Baptist Church, which is where MLK preached, and the surrounding neighbourhood. It turns out that he was born just down the street and he's buried right next door. On the way home we spotted the Great Fish (pictured below), and picked up BBQ at Pig N Chik, a local favourite.

Today we went to the Dali exhibit at the High Museum of Art, tomorrow we plan to go shoot clay pigeons, and we'll be leaving for Mobile, Alabama on Monday morning.

We learned that Coca-Cola has actually done a small amount of advertising over the years

The grand finale of the tasting room: all the regular ones

The tunnel. Hammerhead and sawtooth sharks would swim right over your head

Muscley beluga

Aunt Kathryn petting a ray. I petted a shark. True story.

This octopus was hiding but then it came out, got in a tussle with a moray, and quickly retreated behind some rocks

A whale shark swims by

Food at the varsity, including the chili-cheese-slaw dog (at center)

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s place of birth

MLK and Coretta Scott King's tomb

The great fish. It was huge!