Courtney trying to fend off an offering of corporate brainwashing at the World of Coca-Cola.

Just for the heck of it, we decided to visit Atlanta around the Fourth of July. I had been there a couple times before, but those trips were more than a decade ago and well before some of the city’s newer attractions were built.

Because we were disembarking after work, we broke the six-hour trip up into two days, overnighting in Anderson, S.C. (whose sole purpose seems to be serving as a home base for people attending Clemson football games), so that we only had to drive two hours to reach Atlanta this morning, giving us ample time to see some of the sights. We spent the bulk of the day in downtown Atlanta, visiting the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola. Here are some of the highlights and lowlights of the day.

The Good

• The enormous shark tank at the Georgia Aquarium: If you’ve followed our travel blog posts, you probably know that we’re suckers for zoos and aquariums, and we’ve seen our share of shark tanks. However, I don’t think any of the ones we’ve seen can compare to the one at the Georgia Aquarium in terms of size, both of the tank and of the residents within. That tends to happen when you have three whale sharks gliding through the water in your tank. These animals were truly magnificent, and they weren’t the only giants in the tank. There were huge manta rays and quite a few giant groupers that made us salivate.
• Beluga whales: These guys were the other top attraction at the aquarium. They were extremely playful and flexible, effortlessly twisting through the waters and casting beautiful reflections when they approached the surface of the water.
• Sunfill: If you haven’t heard of it, this is a soda made by Coca-Cola and sold in the African nation of Djibouti. It was our clear favorite from the tasting room at the World of Coca-Cola. It was very minty (think mint Sweet Leaf iced tea, but mintier) and did not have much carbonation.
• Monks: When we were visiting the World of Coca-Cola, we noticed several Buddhist monks in our group, clad in their orange robes. They soon became an attraction in themselves as other tourists quickly took notice as well. The monks rolled with it, too, posing for pictures with a couple people. And there’s something hilarious about seeing a monk wearing 3D glasses.
• Meehan’s Public House: After a long day with relatively little food, we were walking around downtown Atlanta in search of a place for dinner when we saw the sign outside this Irish pub advertising lobster ravioli, which is one of our favorite dishes. Courtney ordered that daily special while I got the beef short rib, and both were delicious. The beef was extremely tender and juicy, with a nice layer of fat in between the meat, and it came with a sweet blackberry demi that made for an excellent sauce. The prices were quite reasonable, too, considering the location (we ordered the two most expensive items on the menu and the bill came out to be $33).
• VRBO and our lodging: Instead of a hotel, we opted to stay at a vacation rental that we found on Vacation Rentals By Owner. It’s the first time we had gone that route, and so far, we’ve been thrilled with our choice. We are staying in a carriage house in the neighborhood of Buckhead. We had originally booked a studio at the house, but a couple days before the trip, the owners informed us that after some shuffling, they had upgraded us to a one-bedroom apartment that they had finished building on the lower level of the house. We were totally knocked out by the apartment when we walked in: dark wood flooring, granite countertops, marble bathroom, and tasteful and somewhat eccentric decor. In addition, our hosts are super friendly. Oh yeah, did I mention that this place cost us significantly less than a hotel room? I think we’re going to go the vacation rental route instead of hotels as much as possible in the future.

The Bad

• Atlanta traffic: Our drive was smooth the whole way, but the traffic entering Atlanta was surprisingly congested considering it was 11 a.m. on a weekday. Thank goodness for the MARTA, which spared us from having to drive into downtown.
• The ticket line at the aquarium: Remember this tip: Buy your tickets in advance online before you visit the aquarium. One look at that meandering mass of humanity at the ticketing queue and you’ll be very glad you did. We bought a combo pass for the aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola in advance and were able to walk right past that long line of people waiting to buy tickets and head almost immediately into the aquarium.
• The other lines in the aquarium: We might’ve dodged the line outside the aquarium, but there was no escaping the lines inside. Every exhibit had a mini-queue of people in front of it. Imagine if we had gone closer Friday or Saturday, with the holiday crowd out in force.
• Corporate propaganda overload: From having gone to the old World of Coca-Cola, I knew that the new one would be one big commercial for Coke, but it proved even worse than I thought. The tour started with an impossibly cheery staffer pointing out various pieces of paraphernalia and telling the crowd to ooh and aah at certain items (I think she secretly hates her job, because it’s impossible to get this enthusiastic over soda). That intro was followed by a short “documentary” — a 3D animation flick showing various strange alien-looking creatures making a bottle of Coke in the most wasteful, least efficient, and probably least green way possible, and then talking about how much they love Coke. Then the staffer was back for a few more lines of corporate brainwashing. “We’re all from different places around the world, but we all have one thing in common? What is it? We all love Coca-Cola!”
• The 4D experience at Coke World: As if the constant barrage of “Coke is great. We love Coke” programming wasn’t enough, we were treated to a “4D” movie in which a scientist and his assistant travels all over the world to study what makes Coke great (and incidentally, show off the company’s massive distribution network). Aside from the over-the-top acting by a couple actors who will probably be forever haunted by this screen credit, the segment also featured some not so gentle rocking of seats to “enhance” the experience. I was expecting the rocking and I’m not stranger to thrill rides, but this ride was rough. I was feeling an ache in my head and neck by the end. Oh, and they also squirted water on us several times to coincide with scenes in the movie where there was a splash. It was only a few drops each time, but I didn’t appreciate not being told that we would get wet, as I would’ve put my camera back in its bag if I had known.

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