Trip Journal: Weekend in Atlanta.
Atlanta, Georgia
Friday, September 20, through Monday September 23, 2019
The genesis for this weekend get-away was my June 2018 trip to Atlanta for the AIAA Aviation Forum. While this was primarily a business focused trip, I did have some time to check out the area and try some local dining and craft beer options. The highlight was the Georgia Aquarium, so much so that I mentioned it to Lynn as someplace that she should really see. Between my commentary and the Animal Planet series about the aquarium her interest was piqued. By summer 2019 we had the return trip on the books. Actually I was surprised that we were able to fit it in to an already jammed travel year, with Alaska, my crazy business travel schedule and the uptick in Lynn's work trips. In fact, we had to skip the 10th annual UTAH meet-up due to our hectic schedules. But while we could not make the big trip to Hanksville, we were able to fit in the weekend adventure to Atlanta (which just happened to work out to coincide).
The planning for this little excursion started on Sunday, August 4, while enjoying a porch beer (that seems to be a common theme for our travel planning). Lynn was thinking that we could fit in a short trip this fall and suggested looking at airfare to Atlanta for a long weekend to check out the aquarium and maybe the zoo. There were actually pretty good rates (under $200) and decent itineraries for direct flights on Delta in late September. The thinking was to keep this to a short trip so that we can go with a carry-on and save the checked bag fees. OK, that works. How about lodging? There were actually some decent rates in downtown Atlanta, like the Hyatt Regency where I stayed last trip, and I know that location is convenient to the aquarium and several good dining options. The rate was about $100 per night so that's a deal. This is looking promising. Lynn's final question was how about if we ask Lisa if she wants to come along? Fine by me.
We resumed the conversation on Friday, August 9, after I returned from a Board meeting at AIAA HQ. Prior to the meeting, I chatted with Steve Justice, who lives in Atlanta; he said there were a lot of things to keep us busy for the weekend with the aquarium being at the top of the list. Steve also warned me that the electric scooters had invaded Atlanta and were all over the place. In fact, they had their first scooter fatality in Atlanta recently when someone on a scooter crashed and truly did end up under a bus. Sad tale, but we won't be scootering anywhere. It will be walking or Uber for us to get around town. Lynn also had time to contemplate the Atlanta trip while I was gone. Lynn and I discussed options over an early dinner at Lager Heads (where else). After dinner, I ran off to get fuel for the mowers, so Lynn called Lisa to see if she was interested. She's in as long as the costs are reasonable. Once I got back Lynn and I looked at lodging while enjoying the pleasant evening on the front patio. Hyatt Regency looks to be the best value for hotels but I also checked out the VRBO selection. There were actually quite a few rental options, but nothing that was really a better value due to cost, location or the looks of the place. Back inside we looked on the computer as the bigger screen and functionality of the larger device really helps. Yep, the Hyatt just seems to be the right choice. I booked two rooms for $405 each, all taxes and fees included, so right at $135 per night in the heart of downtown. That should work. We'll travel down on Friday evening and back on Monday morning (which should be interesting considering that Atlanta is one of the biggest and busiest airports in the U.S. and Monday morning is a high-volume travel time).
Friday, September 20, through Monday September 23, 2019
The genesis for this weekend get-away was my June 2018 trip to Atlanta for the AIAA Aviation Forum. While this was primarily a business focused trip, I did have some time to check out the area and try some local dining and craft beer options. The highlight was the Georgia Aquarium, so much so that I mentioned it to Lynn as someplace that she should really see. Between my commentary and the Animal Planet series about the aquarium her interest was piqued. By summer 2019 we had the return trip on the books. Actually I was surprised that we were able to fit it in to an already jammed travel year, with Alaska, my crazy business travel schedule and the uptick in Lynn's work trips. In fact, we had to skip the 10th annual UTAH meet-up due to our hectic schedules. But while we could not make the big trip to Hanksville, we were able to fit in the weekend adventure to Atlanta (which just happened to work out to coincide).
The planning for this little excursion started on Sunday, August 4, while enjoying a porch beer (that seems to be a common theme for our travel planning). Lynn was thinking that we could fit in a short trip this fall and suggested looking at airfare to Atlanta for a long weekend to check out the aquarium and maybe the zoo. There were actually pretty good rates (under $200) and decent itineraries for direct flights on Delta in late September. The thinking was to keep this to a short trip so that we can go with a carry-on and save the checked bag fees. OK, that works. How about lodging? There were actually some decent rates in downtown Atlanta, like the Hyatt Regency where I stayed last trip, and I know that location is convenient to the aquarium and several good dining options. The rate was about $100 per night so that's a deal. This is looking promising. Lynn's final question was how about if we ask Lisa if she wants to come along? Fine by me.
We resumed the conversation on Friday, August 9, after I returned from a Board meeting at AIAA HQ. Prior to the meeting, I chatted with Steve Justice, who lives in Atlanta; he said there were a lot of things to keep us busy for the weekend with the aquarium being at the top of the list. Steve also warned me that the electric scooters had invaded Atlanta and were all over the place. In fact, they had their first scooter fatality in Atlanta recently when someone on a scooter crashed and truly did end up under a bus. Sad tale, but we won't be scootering anywhere. It will be walking or Uber for us to get around town. Lynn also had time to contemplate the Atlanta trip while I was gone. Lynn and I discussed options over an early dinner at Lager Heads (where else). After dinner, I ran off to get fuel for the mowers, so Lynn called Lisa to see if she was interested. She's in as long as the costs are reasonable. Once I got back Lynn and I looked at lodging while enjoying the pleasant evening on the front patio. Hyatt Regency looks to be the best value for hotels but I also checked out the VRBO selection. There were actually quite a few rental options, but nothing that was really a better value due to cost, location or the looks of the place. Back inside we looked on the computer as the bigger screen and functionality of the larger device really helps. Yep, the Hyatt just seems to be the right choice. I booked two rooms for $405 each, all taxes and fees included, so right at $135 per night in the heart of downtown. That should work. We'll travel down on Friday evening and back on Monday morning (which should be interesting considering that Atlanta is one of the biggest and busiest airports in the U.S. and Monday morning is a high-volume travel time).
Looking at things to do in Atlanta, the centerpiece of this weekend trip is the Georgia Aquarium. That's why we are going. Looking at additional options, there is Zoo Atlanta (we always like to check out the local zoological parks anytime we visit a new place), the Fernbank Natural History Museum looks very interesting, the World of Coca Cola is next to the aquarium, the botanical garden is within walking distance of the hotel (I walked near there when I was in Atlanta last year) and there are plenty of other museums and historical sites to explore. I don't think we'll have any shortage of things to see and do. Shoot, the way we travel any more, my bet is that we'll spend most all day looking at one place in detail then go in search of a good local beer and call it a day.
I also made some suggestions for dinner near our hotel, again based on my experience from my previous trip. Alma Cocina is a southwest/Mexican place that is walking distance from the hotel and I thought was very good. Lynn likes that flavor of food and we just can't find a good Mexican place around Cleveland, so she's in. My other recommendation was Max Lager's, which was even closer to the hotel, just across the street. Great beer and excellent wood-fired pizzas. That also met with Lynn's approval. While searching the things to do in Atlanta, I stumbled upon Agatha's, a dinner-theater which was just around the corner from the Hyatt. They specialize in mystery-comedy shows, that include audience participation (not sure how I feel about that point, being a rather introverted engineer). The reviews all read very positively and it sounds like they serve a good dinner. Again Lynn was in for this so I booked tickets for Saturday night. OK, the plan is really coming together. |
About ten days ahead of the trip I started checking the weather. Walking and outdoor stuff was a big part of the plan, so I was hoping that we would stay dry. Rain was not the issue. Nope, looks like Hotlanta will be living up to its name as the predicted temperatures for our weekend are in the low 90s F. The real bummer was that this is a spike in temperature as the preceding few days listed highs right around 80 F. Hey, you pays your money and you takes your chances! As we got closer to the trip, the forecasted highs moderated a few degrees but were still in the mid- to upper 80s. No worries, we've been living with those kind of conditions in northern Ohio this summer so we can cope. Just means I'll be packing shorts and tee-shirts.
Since we were traveling light for this weekend trip, I suggested to Lynn that we go minimalistic on the camera equipment, not that we carry that much anyway. But for Atlanta we'll leave the bigger bridge cameras at home and just reply on the pocketable devices, my phone and the SX710 HS. It's not like we'll be taking a lot of photos anyway since this is not a hiking trip with lots of pretty rocks, more likely snapshots of zoo critters and probably some beer selfies. We'll make do and keep it simple.
Since we were traveling light for this weekend trip, I suggested to Lynn that we go minimalistic on the camera equipment, not that we carry that much anyway. But for Atlanta we'll leave the bigger bridge cameras at home and just reply on the pocketable devices, my phone and the SX710 HS. It's not like we'll be taking a lot of photos anyway since this is not a hiking trip with lots of pretty rocks, more likely snapshots of zoo critters and probably some beer selfies. We'll make do and keep it simple.
Friday, September 20, 2019 - Going to Georgia. More or less a standard morning getting ready for a day at work. Just a few minor trip prep chores and packing to wrap up. We were a little slower than usual, but still on the base by 0830, so we'll get in most of the day. An amazingly productive day at work with no travel day debacles to deal with. Kamana was our Tres Amigos Taxi driver this afternoon, cruising us over to Hopkins in her new Palisade. Nice ride with all the bells and whistles. We left the base at 3:00 and were through security at 3:29. Now that is quick. It was too early for check in at the gate so we went to the new bar at the head of B concourse, Embers Fie and Ice Lounge, and had a White Rajah. Now that's a good IPA. We strolled back to the gate about 4:20 and got our seat assignments. Not surprised that we are in the back of the bus, but a little shocked that we were seated together. We did have one errand to run as we were low on toothpaste (so much travel this year that we used up the travel-sized tubes). Well, as long as we're buying stuff I grabbed a snack, a bag of dark chocolate dusted almonds with roasted coconut. Not bad.
We could not understand a thing the gate agent was saying over the intercom, but we knew we were in the final group so it did not matter that much. Lynn commented about the indecipherable babble to the other agent checking boarding passes. That agent just rolled her eyes and gave Lynn the "I know, I can't do anything with this guy" shake of the head. No worries, we finally boarded and found our seat in the back of the bus. We're on a prehistoric MD-88, with 2-3 seating configuration in coach, and we got a two-seat set to ourselves in the next to last row. No view from my window seat, well other than the aft fuselage mounted starboard engine nacelle. Well, that's what you get with the cheap seats. Once seated I remembered the dinner reservation for this evening and quickly called up the website on my phone and grabbed a table for three at 9:15, which was the earliest available time without being overly rushed. That's later than I like to eat, but who knows what time we will actually get there based on flights, traffic, etc.
Crap, I got Recliner Guy in front of me. Lost most of my already limited space. Fortunately this is a short hop. The flight was listed at just under two hours, but the Captain stated that the flight time is only 1:18. Now that seems to really be padding the estimate to me. Maybe I heard wrong, but the time was still much less than advertised. The flight was fine as I zoned out to my tunes beneath my noise-canceling headphones and worked the puzzles in the Delta magazine. A previous flyer had already unsuccessfully attempted the easy Sudoku. I ran out of time on the hard version, but completed the brain teasers and the kenken puzzles. Well, I'll take another whack at the sudokus on the flight home.
We were on the ground in Atlanta ahead of schedule. After taxiing for what seemed longer than Sherman's march to the sea, we were at the gate about 20 minutes early. Yep, the airlines are really padding schedules. It took a while to get off the plane, which was expected, but since we limited ourselves to carry-on bags only there will be no wait at baggage claim. Overall, I think the cheap seat experiment on Delta worked out well. Lisa was already waiting at our gate. The gang is all here.
Shades of Morgantown as we took the PRT-esque train to the main terminal. We then followed the signs through the labyrinth that is Atlanta airport to the designated rideshare pick-up point. I quickly had Jamal and his black Camry on the way to get us. Twenty-minute ride through crazy traffic to the Hyatt Regency on Peachtree Street in downtown. Well, there you go, planes, trains and automobiles to get from Medina to Atlanta. But the trip went without a hitch and we were at hotel by 7:40. We quickly checked-in and then checked-out our rooms on the 23rd floor on the International Tower. Almost at the top but the view was nothing special. We were looking north and Lisa was across the tower so looking north but there was not much to interest to see.
We could not understand a thing the gate agent was saying over the intercom, but we knew we were in the final group so it did not matter that much. Lynn commented about the indecipherable babble to the other agent checking boarding passes. That agent just rolled her eyes and gave Lynn the "I know, I can't do anything with this guy" shake of the head. No worries, we finally boarded and found our seat in the back of the bus. We're on a prehistoric MD-88, with 2-3 seating configuration in coach, and we got a two-seat set to ourselves in the next to last row. No view from my window seat, well other than the aft fuselage mounted starboard engine nacelle. Well, that's what you get with the cheap seats. Once seated I remembered the dinner reservation for this evening and quickly called up the website on my phone and grabbed a table for three at 9:15, which was the earliest available time without being overly rushed. That's later than I like to eat, but who knows what time we will actually get there based on flights, traffic, etc.
Crap, I got Recliner Guy in front of me. Lost most of my already limited space. Fortunately this is a short hop. The flight was listed at just under two hours, but the Captain stated that the flight time is only 1:18. Now that seems to really be padding the estimate to me. Maybe I heard wrong, but the time was still much less than advertised. The flight was fine as I zoned out to my tunes beneath my noise-canceling headphones and worked the puzzles in the Delta magazine. A previous flyer had already unsuccessfully attempted the easy Sudoku. I ran out of time on the hard version, but completed the brain teasers and the kenken puzzles. Well, I'll take another whack at the sudokus on the flight home.
We were on the ground in Atlanta ahead of schedule. After taxiing for what seemed longer than Sherman's march to the sea, we were at the gate about 20 minutes early. Yep, the airlines are really padding schedules. It took a while to get off the plane, which was expected, but since we limited ourselves to carry-on bags only there will be no wait at baggage claim. Overall, I think the cheap seat experiment on Delta worked out well. Lisa was already waiting at our gate. The gang is all here.
Shades of Morgantown as we took the PRT-esque train to the main terminal. We then followed the signs through the labyrinth that is Atlanta airport to the designated rideshare pick-up point. I quickly had Jamal and his black Camry on the way to get us. Twenty-minute ride through crazy traffic to the Hyatt Regency on Peachtree Street in downtown. Well, there you go, planes, trains and automobiles to get from Medina to Atlanta. But the trip went without a hitch and we were at hotel by 7:40. We quickly checked-in and then checked-out our rooms on the 23rd floor on the International Tower. Almost at the top but the view was nothing special. We were looking north and Lisa was across the tower so looking north but there was not much to interest to see.
I guess I could have tried to get an earlier dinner reservation after all, as we now had some time to kill. We opted for the hotel bar, Twenty Two Stories, for a drink to officially kick-off the weekend with Lisa. Not a great selection of beers. The best I could find for an IPA was the Hopsecutioner from Terrapin, but it was just a ho-hum beer and too malty for my taste. But it was still good to sit and chill for a bit. We hung out in the bar until time to walk to dinner.
Peachtree Street was busy on Friday night with plenty of folks out for dinner or bar-hopping. The sidewalks were packed with tourists, diners and several homeless folks as well. It was a bit of a mob scene as we picked our way through the crowd to Alma Cocina. But the walk to the restaurant was the easy park. The dinner experience became a comedy of errors.
We arrived at 9:00 so 15 minutes before our reservation. I checked in with the hostess and she said they were clearing our table and would have us seated in just a few minutes. She suggested that we wait out in the adjacent lobby-bar area. OK, that will work. There was a big party seated out there, looked like a wedding rehearsal dinner. Folks were dressed festively and there were plenty of photos being taken. Yep, definitely a wedding party as the young couple were new getting a few candid shots taken. We could also see the activity along Peach Tree Street. There were a couple of horse-drawn carriages out making the rounds with big draft horses for motive power. I'm not sure if they are trained to do this or if that's just the way they like to stand, but when the carriages are parked the horses stand with their front feet on the sidewalk.
Well, we watched the wedding party and the ponies until 9:15, when I figured I should check on our table since it was not officially our reservation time. Nope, still a few more minutes. Well, I'm in no great rush, but it is getting to be late by my standards. I waited five more minutes and checked again. Nope, still no table. I mentioned that I had a 9:15 reservation. Ding-ding-ding! The hostess had us confused with some other folks waiting for a table. She apologized profusely and led us to our table.
Our server was quickly over to the table. I big, friendly guy, with plenty of personality, but not quite enough volume to his voice as he was hard to hear in the crowded and rather loud dining room. I got most of the spiel but really had to pay attention to get the details of the specials. The wild boar tacos sound interesting. But we started with the guac and salsa sampler and drinks while we studied the menu. The girls had margaritas but I'm a beer guy to a fault and went with the DIPA from Orpheus Brewing. Lynn reported that the margs were quite good. My beer? Not so such. Sort of odd with an interesting aroma. Maybe clove? One and done for this beer. The salsas and guacs were good, but not a lot of heat in the salsas. I'm not a fan of guacamole. I typically refer to it as "Soylent Green." The consistency tends to through me off, but the taste is not high on my list either. I relented this evening and sampled the trio. Yeah, still not a fan. But Lynn and Lisa really thought they were great. We needed a second basket of chips to finish the sampler. I think we all concurred that we should have stopped at this point since it was late and we were already getting full, but the dinner menu really sounded great.
When our jolly server returned with our second basket of chips he took our diner orders. I did go with the wild boar tacos; he said it was a great choice and that they were likely to make this a regular item on the menu because it has been so popular. Lynn had the scallops and Lisa a vegetarian dish that included cauliflower and an egg (is it still vegetarian with an egg?). Good thing we had the extra chips as it seemed to take a while for the food to come out. And when our order did arrive, well, it was not exactly our order. I got the wild boar tacos, so that was correct. They brought Lynn a chicken dish, so that was immediately sent back as the incorrect dish. Lisa got a bowl with a lot of cauliflower in it, but after sampling it she was wondering if she got the right thing as she noted there was no egg in there. Sure enough, they brought here a side of cauliflower, not the entrée. Well, one out of three ain't bad. Wait, yes it is. Again, the apologies flowed freely, from our server, the hostess and the manager and they quickly had the correct meals delivered. It was worth the wait and the hassle as the food was delish! And there was a lot of it! We quickly concurred that we can sleep in on Saturday as there would be no need for breakfast in the morning after this huge meal so late in the evening.
Now you would think that after fouling up on not one but two dinner orders that they would pay special attention to the check. They did not. I knew it was going to be an expensive dinner but the total still seemed very high, so I checked the itemized receipt. They still had all the stuff that we ordered AND the stuff that they brought us by mistake. Well, that explains why the bill was so large. I pointed this out to the server. Again, very happy to correct the error and very apologetic. We quickly had it all sorted out. That was just a crazy night in a restaurant. Hopefully the rest of the weekend will run a bit more smoothly.
It was now right about 11:00 as we walked back to the Hyatt. Still a fair number of folks out tonight. I noted to Lynn that I did not see the sign for McDonalds that had popped up on Google maps. That was going to be a possible option for a quick breakfast, not that we'll need it tomorrow. We'll just scope out other options for Sunday morning. We were back in the hotel just after 11:00 and called it a night.
Saturday, September 21, 2019 - Georgia Aquarium. Slept in this morning since it was way past my bedtime by the time we turned out the lights last night. We were finally up and getting ready for the day about 0630. As expected, no one is hungry this morning. Following that large, late-night dinner, breakfast is certainly superfluous at present. So we just had a relaxed morning and at 8:30 walked over and knocked on Lisa's door. Time to go to the aquarium.
The Georgia Aquarium is only a couple blocks west of the Hyatt, in an area that has a number of tourist attractions, including the World of Coca-Cola, the Olympic Centennial Park and the College Football Hall of Fame. I figured that we would at least walk through Centennial Park at some point, but the other two held minimal interest for the most part (I used to drink a lot of Coke but those days are long gone; still if there is time and the cost is not too high it might be an interesting diversion).
Peachtree Street and the downtown area in general are certainly a lot quieter on Saturday morning compared to Friday night. There were a few tourists out but as usual we were ahead of the majority of the crowd. It was a fairly quiet walk to the aquarium. We chatted with a couple from Houston who were also here for a long weekend and were on their way to the aquarium. Somehow we got on to the cliché topic of the weather (I guess it is true, folks just talk about the weather). They mentioned that Houston was getting hit hard at present with the tropical storms, with some huge amount of rain, I think they said 40 inches! But the comment was that the news stations all report from the same area that always floods when it rains and recedes as soon as the rain stops. His theory was that it must make for good television but really does not portray the reality of the situation.
We continued to chat with the Texans as we neared the aquarium. Looks like there is construction around our destination so we had to pay close attention to the signage to find our way in. Due to the work on the aquarium, the entrance is different than when I visited last summer, but we quickly found the way to the ticket sales. The Texans had their tickets already and headed on to the entrance. We were early enough that there was no line for tickets, just one family in front of us. We still had a few minutes to wait. Fortunately there was a young lady stationed outside the ticket sales to start answering questions. She was quite helpful with the timing of the events during the day and regarding the "behind the seas" tour, which was highly recommended. So getting there a bit early gave us an opportunity to work out a plan of attack for the aquarium. Given the timing of the shows that were included in the general admission cost and the schedule for the behind the seas tour, we figured that we could hit the first sea lion show, followed directly by the dolphin show and then the behind the seas, selecting the 12:30 time for the tour. This was what the young lady had suggested as well, so it should be a good plan. She suggested this approach as the earlier shows are not as crowded so the lines are not as long and the wait time are less. Still, she suggested being in line about 20 minutes ahead of the sea lion show and closer to 30 minutes early for the dolphins. The way the show were scheduled, we would just go directly from the sea lion show to the dolphin show, then have some time to look around before the behind the seas tour. The sea lion show started at 10:30, so we had an hour, give or take, to explore once we got inside.
Getting there early was certainly an advantage with no line at the ticket sales, the security check or the obligatory team photo station as we entered the facility. We have learned that as long as there is no wait for the team picture it is simplest just to let the kids take the photo and move along. Only takes a few seconds. We’re not going to buy it but is just easier to let the kids do their job. Once inside the massive main hall we got ourselves oriented. There were several volunteers there all waiting to provide helpful hints and directions. There were maps of the aquarium posted in several locations, each with a scan code to load the map on your phone. It took a moment for my phone to read the code but it did eventually load (not that I really used it much with the other posted maps being so handy).
Peachtree Street was busy on Friday night with plenty of folks out for dinner or bar-hopping. The sidewalks were packed with tourists, diners and several homeless folks as well. It was a bit of a mob scene as we picked our way through the crowd to Alma Cocina. But the walk to the restaurant was the easy park. The dinner experience became a comedy of errors.
We arrived at 9:00 so 15 minutes before our reservation. I checked in with the hostess and she said they were clearing our table and would have us seated in just a few minutes. She suggested that we wait out in the adjacent lobby-bar area. OK, that will work. There was a big party seated out there, looked like a wedding rehearsal dinner. Folks were dressed festively and there were plenty of photos being taken. Yep, definitely a wedding party as the young couple were new getting a few candid shots taken. We could also see the activity along Peach Tree Street. There were a couple of horse-drawn carriages out making the rounds with big draft horses for motive power. I'm not sure if they are trained to do this or if that's just the way they like to stand, but when the carriages are parked the horses stand with their front feet on the sidewalk.
Well, we watched the wedding party and the ponies until 9:15, when I figured I should check on our table since it was not officially our reservation time. Nope, still a few more minutes. Well, I'm in no great rush, but it is getting to be late by my standards. I waited five more minutes and checked again. Nope, still no table. I mentioned that I had a 9:15 reservation. Ding-ding-ding! The hostess had us confused with some other folks waiting for a table. She apologized profusely and led us to our table.
Our server was quickly over to the table. I big, friendly guy, with plenty of personality, but not quite enough volume to his voice as he was hard to hear in the crowded and rather loud dining room. I got most of the spiel but really had to pay attention to get the details of the specials. The wild boar tacos sound interesting. But we started with the guac and salsa sampler and drinks while we studied the menu. The girls had margaritas but I'm a beer guy to a fault and went with the DIPA from Orpheus Brewing. Lynn reported that the margs were quite good. My beer? Not so such. Sort of odd with an interesting aroma. Maybe clove? One and done for this beer. The salsas and guacs were good, but not a lot of heat in the salsas. I'm not a fan of guacamole. I typically refer to it as "Soylent Green." The consistency tends to through me off, but the taste is not high on my list either. I relented this evening and sampled the trio. Yeah, still not a fan. But Lynn and Lisa really thought they were great. We needed a second basket of chips to finish the sampler. I think we all concurred that we should have stopped at this point since it was late and we were already getting full, but the dinner menu really sounded great.
When our jolly server returned with our second basket of chips he took our diner orders. I did go with the wild boar tacos; he said it was a great choice and that they were likely to make this a regular item on the menu because it has been so popular. Lynn had the scallops and Lisa a vegetarian dish that included cauliflower and an egg (is it still vegetarian with an egg?). Good thing we had the extra chips as it seemed to take a while for the food to come out. And when our order did arrive, well, it was not exactly our order. I got the wild boar tacos, so that was correct. They brought Lynn a chicken dish, so that was immediately sent back as the incorrect dish. Lisa got a bowl with a lot of cauliflower in it, but after sampling it she was wondering if she got the right thing as she noted there was no egg in there. Sure enough, they brought here a side of cauliflower, not the entrée. Well, one out of three ain't bad. Wait, yes it is. Again, the apologies flowed freely, from our server, the hostess and the manager and they quickly had the correct meals delivered. It was worth the wait and the hassle as the food was delish! And there was a lot of it! We quickly concurred that we can sleep in on Saturday as there would be no need for breakfast in the morning after this huge meal so late in the evening.
Now you would think that after fouling up on not one but two dinner orders that they would pay special attention to the check. They did not. I knew it was going to be an expensive dinner but the total still seemed very high, so I checked the itemized receipt. They still had all the stuff that we ordered AND the stuff that they brought us by mistake. Well, that explains why the bill was so large. I pointed this out to the server. Again, very happy to correct the error and very apologetic. We quickly had it all sorted out. That was just a crazy night in a restaurant. Hopefully the rest of the weekend will run a bit more smoothly.
It was now right about 11:00 as we walked back to the Hyatt. Still a fair number of folks out tonight. I noted to Lynn that I did not see the sign for McDonalds that had popped up on Google maps. That was going to be a possible option for a quick breakfast, not that we'll need it tomorrow. We'll just scope out other options for Sunday morning. We were back in the hotel just after 11:00 and called it a night.
Saturday, September 21, 2019 - Georgia Aquarium. Slept in this morning since it was way past my bedtime by the time we turned out the lights last night. We were finally up and getting ready for the day about 0630. As expected, no one is hungry this morning. Following that large, late-night dinner, breakfast is certainly superfluous at present. So we just had a relaxed morning and at 8:30 walked over and knocked on Lisa's door. Time to go to the aquarium.
The Georgia Aquarium is only a couple blocks west of the Hyatt, in an area that has a number of tourist attractions, including the World of Coca-Cola, the Olympic Centennial Park and the College Football Hall of Fame. I figured that we would at least walk through Centennial Park at some point, but the other two held minimal interest for the most part (I used to drink a lot of Coke but those days are long gone; still if there is time and the cost is not too high it might be an interesting diversion).
Peachtree Street and the downtown area in general are certainly a lot quieter on Saturday morning compared to Friday night. There were a few tourists out but as usual we were ahead of the majority of the crowd. It was a fairly quiet walk to the aquarium. We chatted with a couple from Houston who were also here for a long weekend and were on their way to the aquarium. Somehow we got on to the cliché topic of the weather (I guess it is true, folks just talk about the weather). They mentioned that Houston was getting hit hard at present with the tropical storms, with some huge amount of rain, I think they said 40 inches! But the comment was that the news stations all report from the same area that always floods when it rains and recedes as soon as the rain stops. His theory was that it must make for good television but really does not portray the reality of the situation.
We continued to chat with the Texans as we neared the aquarium. Looks like there is construction around our destination so we had to pay close attention to the signage to find our way in. Due to the work on the aquarium, the entrance is different than when I visited last summer, but we quickly found the way to the ticket sales. The Texans had their tickets already and headed on to the entrance. We were early enough that there was no line for tickets, just one family in front of us. We still had a few minutes to wait. Fortunately there was a young lady stationed outside the ticket sales to start answering questions. She was quite helpful with the timing of the events during the day and regarding the "behind the seas" tour, which was highly recommended. So getting there a bit early gave us an opportunity to work out a plan of attack for the aquarium. Given the timing of the shows that were included in the general admission cost and the schedule for the behind the seas tour, we figured that we could hit the first sea lion show, followed directly by the dolphin show and then the behind the seas, selecting the 12:30 time for the tour. This was what the young lady had suggested as well, so it should be a good plan. She suggested this approach as the earlier shows are not as crowded so the lines are not as long and the wait time are less. Still, she suggested being in line about 20 minutes ahead of the sea lion show and closer to 30 minutes early for the dolphins. The way the show were scheduled, we would just go directly from the sea lion show to the dolphin show, then have some time to look around before the behind the seas tour. The sea lion show started at 10:30, so we had an hour, give or take, to explore once we got inside.
Getting there early was certainly an advantage with no line at the ticket sales, the security check or the obligatory team photo station as we entered the facility. We have learned that as long as there is no wait for the team picture it is simplest just to let the kids take the photo and move along. Only takes a few seconds. We’re not going to buy it but is just easier to let the kids do their job. Once inside the massive main hall we got ourselves oriented. There were several volunteers there all waiting to provide helpful hints and directions. There were maps of the aquarium posted in several locations, each with a scan code to load the map on your phone. It took a moment for my phone to read the code but it did eventually load (not that I really used it much with the other posted maps being so handy).
Once we were properly oriented, we started exploring the exhibit areas. Our first stop was the Tropical Diver area which started with a very subtle display. Sort of a plain tank with a flat, open floor and a few sticks poking up through the gravelly bottom. Except these were not sticks or sparsely spaced blades of underwater grass, they were eels, the ones with stripes were splendid garden eels and the spotted ones were spotted garden eels. I'm not sure that I would have really noticed them if there were lots of other fish in the tank with them as they were just hanging out there on the bottom. Next were tanks with lionfish (beautiful but stay away) and eels. Around the corner were the tanks with the jellies (not jellyfish). Quite beautiful and rather abstract, particularly the ones with the long tentacles and pulsating bodies, just floating there against the blue backdrop of tank. The highlight of this area, and one of the best attractions within the aquarium, was the huge living reef wall. It was massive, colorful and fascinating. So many fish and such a dazzling display. Arriving early is good as there was not a throng of folks blocking our view and with such a small group it was easy for us all to move about and share this lovely scene. The docent there was very informative and answered all of our questions about the types of fish and other sea life. He also suggested stopping by at 10:00 as that is feeding time. That might be tight with the schedule we have in place. Perhaps some rethinking is needed. There will be more on the reef wall during our behinds the seas tour.
After exiting the Tropical Diver path, we continued to our right to the Ocean Voyager. In a building full of amazing sights and engineering marvels, this one maybe the most impressive of all. It is certainly the one that made the biggest impression on me from my previous visit and one of the places I was really looking forward to viewing again. I was not disappointed with the return.
When you first approach this area there is a big viewing window that spans the height of the huge tank but does not have a very big area for folks to stand, so you take in the view, get your first "oohs" and "aahs" and move along to let the next visitors have a turn. But by now you have seen the stars of this huge tank, the whale sharks and the manta rays. Appetite properly whetted, it is off to see what other treasures await. Next we walked along a hallway that slopes downhill past a couple smaller, kid-height windows until you come to the moving walkway that runs under the giant tank, through a transparent tunnel that lets you see into and almost be a part of the environment. I reckon this is the view that you would have as a diver. The tunnel is wide enough to accommodate both the moving walkway and a walking path. We walked as the conveyer was packed and it also moved really slowly, while there were only a couple folks on the walking path. Plus the walking path let us pause and study some of the inhabitants of the tank. That is a really nice setup and a great way to experience the underwater world, but the best is yet to come.
Continuing around there are a couple other displays and viewing windows, but the best stop is at the huge viewing window that looks into the whale sharks' domain. Here there is a huge area for the visitors to sit or stand and gaze in wonder at the ocean scene in front of them. Since we were early in the day, the area was not very crowded and there were not throngs of folks crowded along the window so the view was great. We stood towards the back along the railing on the high ground with a great view over the other visitors and just took it all in. Not long after we arrived, a docent came out and provided an overview of the exhibit and introduced us to some of the inhabitants, focusing on the four whale sharks. He gave us a very good overview of the tank design and some of the interesting design features and pointed out the four whale sharks by name and gender (two girls and two boys). The only name I remember is Trixie, the larger of the two females. Some of what the decent told us was also listed on the Georgia Aquarium website, so here's the website info:
The Ocean Voyager gallery, built by The Home Depot is home to four whale sharks, four manta rays and thousands of other fascinating fish. As one of the largest single aquatic exhibits in the world, Ocean Voyager features an acrylic tunnel for guests to view thousands of marine creatures on all sides, as well as a giant acrylic viewing window to explore our oceans like never before.
This exhibit was specially designed to house whale sharks, the largest fish species in the world. Schools of predatory trevally jacks, squadrons of small and large stingrays, enormous goliath grouper and several sharks all ply the waters of this ocean habitat. With 4,574 square feet of viewing windows, a 100-foot-long underwater tunnel, 185 tons of acrylic windows and one of the largest viewing windows in the world at 23 feet tall by 61 feet wide and 2 feet thick, visitors will have multiple opportunities to view all of these magnificent animals.
When you first approach this area there is a big viewing window that spans the height of the huge tank but does not have a very big area for folks to stand, so you take in the view, get your first "oohs" and "aahs" and move along to let the next visitors have a turn. But by now you have seen the stars of this huge tank, the whale sharks and the manta rays. Appetite properly whetted, it is off to see what other treasures await. Next we walked along a hallway that slopes downhill past a couple smaller, kid-height windows until you come to the moving walkway that runs under the giant tank, through a transparent tunnel that lets you see into and almost be a part of the environment. I reckon this is the view that you would have as a diver. The tunnel is wide enough to accommodate both the moving walkway and a walking path. We walked as the conveyer was packed and it also moved really slowly, while there were only a couple folks on the walking path. Plus the walking path let us pause and study some of the inhabitants of the tank. That is a really nice setup and a great way to experience the underwater world, but the best is yet to come.
Continuing around there are a couple other displays and viewing windows, but the best stop is at the huge viewing window that looks into the whale sharks' domain. Here there is a huge area for the visitors to sit or stand and gaze in wonder at the ocean scene in front of them. Since we were early in the day, the area was not very crowded and there were not throngs of folks crowded along the window so the view was great. We stood towards the back along the railing on the high ground with a great view over the other visitors and just took it all in. Not long after we arrived, a docent came out and provided an overview of the exhibit and introduced us to some of the inhabitants, focusing on the four whale sharks. He gave us a very good overview of the tank design and some of the interesting design features and pointed out the four whale sharks by name and gender (two girls and two boys). The only name I remember is Trixie, the larger of the two females. Some of what the decent told us was also listed on the Georgia Aquarium website, so here's the website info:
The Ocean Voyager gallery, built by The Home Depot is home to four whale sharks, four manta rays and thousands of other fascinating fish. As one of the largest single aquatic exhibits in the world, Ocean Voyager features an acrylic tunnel for guests to view thousands of marine creatures on all sides, as well as a giant acrylic viewing window to explore our oceans like never before.
This exhibit was specially designed to house whale sharks, the largest fish species in the world. Schools of predatory trevally jacks, squadrons of small and large stingrays, enormous goliath grouper and several sharks all ply the waters of this ocean habitat. With 4,574 square feet of viewing windows, a 100-foot-long underwater tunnel, 185 tons of acrylic windows and one of the largest viewing windows in the world at 23 feet tall by 61 feet wide and 2 feet thick, visitors will have multiple opportunities to view all of these magnificent animals.
The docent also stated that it took 36 hours to fill the giant tank. For comparison he said 15 days would have been required to fill it with a garden hose.
The whale sharks were all in the 20-25 foot long range so they were quite impressive. These fish were all rescues and were brought over from Southeast Asia. While these are the biggest fish species, they have tiny throats, only the size of a quarter. Because of this, they only eat little stuff like zooplankton, specifically sergestid shrimps and fish eggs as well as krill, jellies, copepods, coral spawn, and small fishes (sardines, anchovies, etc).
We also got some intel on the construction going on at the aquarium. They are expanding the facility to include a very large habitat for sharks. I think they said that will open in 2020. Sounds like it will be quite the exhibit. Well, maybe we'll have to come back and check that out once it is up and running.
The docent also mentioned that one of his favorite events would be happening soon, the penguin waddle, where the birds are walked through on of the hallways. Unfortunately, the waddle, the feeding at the reef wall and the sea lion show all happen at about the same time so there is probably no way to see everything without rushing about. None of us are fans of rushing about. We decided to stick with our original plan and see the 10:45 Sea lion show so we headed out to get queued up a little after 10:00. Yeah, from a timing perspective maybe we could have squeezed in one of the other events but by the time we got over to the Pier 25 area the line was already forming, and it got to be quite long as folks piled in behind us. We did not have to stand in line long as the doors to the Pier 25 area were soon opened to get all of us tourists seated in a reasonable time.
The whale sharks were all in the 20-25 foot long range so they were quite impressive. These fish were all rescues and were brought over from Southeast Asia. While these are the biggest fish species, they have tiny throats, only the size of a quarter. Because of this, they only eat little stuff like zooplankton, specifically sergestid shrimps and fish eggs as well as krill, jellies, copepods, coral spawn, and small fishes (sardines, anchovies, etc).
We also got some intel on the construction going on at the aquarium. They are expanding the facility to include a very large habitat for sharks. I think they said that will open in 2020. Sounds like it will be quite the exhibit. Well, maybe we'll have to come back and check that out once it is up and running.
The docent also mentioned that one of his favorite events would be happening soon, the penguin waddle, where the birds are walked through on of the hallways. Unfortunately, the waddle, the feeding at the reef wall and the sea lion show all happen at about the same time so there is probably no way to see everything without rushing about. None of us are fans of rushing about. We decided to stick with our original plan and see the 10:45 Sea lion show so we headed out to get queued up a little after 10:00. Yeah, from a timing perspective maybe we could have squeezed in one of the other events but by the time we got over to the Pier 25 area the line was already forming, and it got to be quite long as folks piled in behind us. We did not have to stand in line long as the doors to the Pier 25 area were soon opened to get all of us tourists seated in a reasonable time.
The show was very entertaining. The host was a frenetic young fellow taking on the role of a radio announcer with part of the stich being the "big wave" that was heading to Pier 25, with periodic weather updates on this impending disaster. We were soon introduced to the stars of the shows, the sea lions and their handler/trainers. All of the animals are rescues. Most were found as youngsters when they could not fend for themselves due to the increased distances they had to travel to find food. The largest and I think oldest of the group was Diego who is 15 years old. I think they said he was found under a police car. They then went through a series of skits and acrobatic maneuvers as well as showed off the voices of each sea lion. They are rather loud critters! The showed off the speed of the sea lions in the water; they are faster than the dolphins. Finally the "big wave" was imminent. The crowd in the front were ready for a good soaking. Then the sea lions and trainers just waved to the crowd! It got a good laugh.
The sea lion show was only about 20 minutes, so we were out just in time to go get in line for the first showing of the day for the Dolphin Celebration. We were in plenty of time for the 11:30 show. The good news was that we did not have to even stand in line as the audience was already being seated. It was already getting packed. We ended up in the upper level, but near the front and toward the center so nice seats. There was again an announcer working the crowd to keep folks entertained while the auditorium filled. She threw out some trivia questions about dolphins and the Georgia Aquarium facility. The one that I remembers was about the tank and the water. The tank holds 10 million gallons of salt water, but they make their sea water by mixing city water and salt. So the question was, how much salt? Turns out that they use 2.5 million gallons of salt for this tank.
The Dolphin Celebration was excellent (however, no photography is allowed during the shows as it is distracting to the critters). These are bottlenose dolphins are extremely intelligent and amazingly athletic. It was very impressive to see them interact with the trainers. The aerial acrobatics were amazing, with the height that the dolphins can achieve launching out of the tank and the flips they make. Like the sea lions, the dolphins are also very charismatic and really play up to the crowd.
The sea lion show was only about 20 minutes, so we were out just in time to go get in line for the first showing of the day for the Dolphin Celebration. We were in plenty of time for the 11:30 show. The good news was that we did not have to even stand in line as the audience was already being seated. It was already getting packed. We ended up in the upper level, but near the front and toward the center so nice seats. There was again an announcer working the crowd to keep folks entertained while the auditorium filled. She threw out some trivia questions about dolphins and the Georgia Aquarium facility. The one that I remembers was about the tank and the water. The tank holds 10 million gallons of salt water, but they make their sea water by mixing city water and salt. So the question was, how much salt? Turns out that they use 2.5 million gallons of salt for this tank.
The Dolphin Celebration was excellent (however, no photography is allowed during the shows as it is distracting to the critters). These are bottlenose dolphins are extremely intelligent and amazingly athletic. It was very impressive to see them interact with the trainers. The aerial acrobatics were amazing, with the height that the dolphins can achieve launching out of the tank and the flips they make. Like the sea lions, the dolphins are also very charismatic and really play up to the crowd.
Following the dolphin show we still had some time for exploring before our 12:30 tour, so we walked through the Cold Water Quest. This is a fun set of exhibits, featuring the beluga whales as well as otters and penguins. The otters were frolicking, just big furry bundles of energy. The penguins on the other hand were rather stoic and stationary. They seemed happy just to watch the tourists and the keepers who were busy hosing down the habitat. Penguins are messy. This is a two-floor area to provide different perspective in some of the tanks particularly the whales. These big, white mammals seems like ghosts gliding through the murky blue water. Still, I recall being able to see the beluga whales from surface level. We'll find that later as it was now time for our Behind the Seas tour.
We were the first to arrive at the upper level gathering location for the tour, but soon the rest of our group rolled in. We got our souvenir passes and the required rules and safety brief from our guide and soon were off. The first stop was just past the doors separating the public access area of the aquarium from the inner workings. This is where we got a few more safety rules, like staying together, listening to the guide, moving out of the way when staff were coming through (as they were working and had places to be!) and stay inside the lines painted on the floor. But take all the pictures you want, so that's a bonus.
We were the first to arrive at the upper level gathering location for the tour, but soon the rest of our group rolled in. We got our souvenir passes and the required rules and safety brief from our guide and soon were off. The first stop was just past the doors separating the public access area of the aquarium from the inner workings. This is where we got a few more safety rules, like staying together, listening to the guide, moving out of the way when staff were coming through (as they were working and had places to be!) and stay inside the lines painted on the floor. But take all the pictures you want, so that's a bonus.
There were about 18 folks on the tour, including a couple with a young boy. I reckon he was about four years old. The good news was he was a happy kid with a big smile but the bad news was he was just yammering away with kiddy gibberish, so much so that we could not hear the tour guide. The parents tried a couple things to distract junior and keep him quiet, to no avail, so they just let the guide know that they were stepping out of the tour. That was nice to see them being considerate to the rest of the group since they knew the youngster would detract from the tour. Before moving on from this first stop, the guide went to check on the young family, but they had moved along. Looks like we are down to 15 for the remainder of the tour.
The tour had us going into areas containing the inner workings of the aquarium. We were all over the place, up and down stairs and the tour lasted right about an hour and we were moving that entire time. It was quite thorough. Here are some of the highlights that I recall from the tour.
The aquarium was made possible in large part by the philanthropic contributions from Bernie Marcus, the founder of The Home Depot. Marcus and his wife donated $250 million to fund the aquarium and worked to finds other donors who added tens of millions to the funding. The land that the aquarium sits on was donated by Coca-Cola. I think the guide said it was 14 acres, which would also be worth a big truck load of money considering the location in the heart of Atlanta. Due to all the contributions and fund raising efforts, the Georgia Aquarium was debt free when it opened in 2005.
The first stop was the area above the Tropical Diver reef wall. We could see the operations for the reef wall as well as some of the research efforts taking place. A sign here listed some interesting "Reef Wall Facts:"
In addition to the reef wall support equipment, there was also work on growing mangroves and in reproduction of some of the fish and other animal species. One tank here at the upper level had young rays that were featured recently on the TV show about the Georgia Aquarium. These shallow tanks contained several smartly patterned rays and several beautifully colored tropical fish.
The tour had us going into areas containing the inner workings of the aquarium. We were all over the place, up and down stairs and the tour lasted right about an hour and we were moving that entire time. It was quite thorough. Here are some of the highlights that I recall from the tour.
The aquarium was made possible in large part by the philanthropic contributions from Bernie Marcus, the founder of The Home Depot. Marcus and his wife donated $250 million to fund the aquarium and worked to finds other donors who added tens of millions to the funding. The land that the aquarium sits on was donated by Coca-Cola. I think the guide said it was 14 acres, which would also be worth a big truck load of money considering the location in the heart of Atlanta. Due to all the contributions and fund raising efforts, the Georgia Aquarium was debt free when it opened in 2005.
The first stop was the area above the Tropical Diver reef wall. We could see the operations for the reef wall as well as some of the research efforts taking place. A sign here listed some interesting "Reef Wall Facts:"
- The reef wall habitat is inspired by the Solomon Island reef wall and contains animals from the Indo-Pacific region.
- This exhibit contains 164,000 gallons of artificial seawater making it one of the largest indoor coral reef habitats in the world.
- More than 4,000 animals live in the reef wall habitat. Over 3,000 of those animal are fish, and the rest are coral and other invertebrates.
- More than 30 percent of the reef wall is live coral, some of which has been in human care for decades.
- The wave machine dumps more than 1,500 gallons of water into the habitat during every two-minute cycle (the guide said 1,700 gallons, as I recall).
- The skylight overhead is the largest at the Georgia Aquarium and is designed to allow sunlight to reach the corals in the reef wall.
- This skylight uses ultra -clear, low iron glass that allows UV light through.
- The lights above the habitat are a combination of metal halide and LED lights.
- The exhibit's lights are programmed to automatically dim when it is sunny, and additional lighting around the exhibit is designed to mimic moon phases during the night.
In addition to the reef wall support equipment, there was also work on growing mangroves and in reproduction of some of the fish and other animal species. One tank here at the upper level had young rays that were featured recently on the TV show about the Georgia Aquarium. These shallow tanks contained several smartly patterned rays and several beautifully colored tropical fish.
Lynn and I were both impressed with the neat and clean condition of the equipment used to make the aquarium work, the pumps and filters and the miles of piping running overhead. Granted the facility is not quite 15 years old, having opened to the public in November 2015, but still it was tidy, neat and everything looked brand new. Maybe we're just used to the 50 to 70-year old and usually neglected equipment that we deal with back at the base. I think I'm going to recommend that our maintenance engineers make contact with the operations and maintenance folks here to exchange notes.
The guide pointed out the huge bags of salt, labeled "Instant Ocean." I think these were one-ton bags and there were dozens of them but they have to make and circulate a lot of sea water to keep all the fishies swimming.
There are over 600 employees and volunteers who run the aquarium. Our guide pointed out that some employee and volunteers arrive very early in the morning to ensure that the food for the animals is ready each day. There are also staff on site 24/7, mostly security but also maintenance and operations personnel to ensure the equipment is functioning properly and to be there in case of an issue with the operations. Also, staff will be onsite for off-shift animal care when needed for new born or sick critters that need the additional care.
Another interesting factoid was that UPS transported the whale sharks from Taiwan to Atlanta with a fuel stop in Anchorage. The fish were smaller then, in the 14-foot range. They timed the trip so that the 747 arrived in Atlanta late at night so that the over the road trip from the airport to the aquarium would be faster by avoiding traffic issues. While this was a huge effort and certainly was an expensive endeavor, UPS shipped the big fish at no cost to the aquarium.
The last stop was at the upper level of the Ocean Voyager tank, the water level. From this position the tank looked like a huge swimming pool, but on an industrial scale with the massive girders and support equipment. There were a couple of staff folks in one corner feeding some of the smaller rays that live in the giant tank. Our guide pointed out the lines that divided the pool into four long areas, like very long and side swim lanes. These were the feeding areas for the whale sharks and each of the big fish and their own assigned area. They did this so that they could monitor how much each animal is eating and to do health checks. Overall a very coordinated effort that requires a lot of training and discipline for both the animals and the keepers.
The guide pointed out the huge bags of salt, labeled "Instant Ocean." I think these were one-ton bags and there were dozens of them but they have to make and circulate a lot of sea water to keep all the fishies swimming.
There are over 600 employees and volunteers who run the aquarium. Our guide pointed out that some employee and volunteers arrive very early in the morning to ensure that the food for the animals is ready each day. There are also staff on site 24/7, mostly security but also maintenance and operations personnel to ensure the equipment is functioning properly and to be there in case of an issue with the operations. Also, staff will be onsite for off-shift animal care when needed for new born or sick critters that need the additional care.
Another interesting factoid was that UPS transported the whale sharks from Taiwan to Atlanta with a fuel stop in Anchorage. The fish were smaller then, in the 14-foot range. They timed the trip so that the 747 arrived in Atlanta late at night so that the over the road trip from the airport to the aquarium would be faster by avoiding traffic issues. While this was a huge effort and certainly was an expensive endeavor, UPS shipped the big fish at no cost to the aquarium.
The last stop was at the upper level of the Ocean Voyager tank, the water level. From this position the tank looked like a huge swimming pool, but on an industrial scale with the massive girders and support equipment. There were a couple of staff folks in one corner feeding some of the smaller rays that live in the giant tank. Our guide pointed out the lines that divided the pool into four long areas, like very long and side swim lanes. These were the feeding areas for the whale sharks and each of the big fish and their own assigned area. They did this so that they could monitor how much each animal is eating and to do health checks. Overall a very coordinated effort that requires a lot of training and discipline for both the animals and the keepers.
The behind the seas tour was well worth the fifteen bucks as we got to see some of the inner workings of the aquarium and learned a bit about the operation.
Once back from the tour we noted a major change out in the main hall. The place was packed! I reckon early afternoon is when the majority of the tourists arrive. I'm glad that we had already looked through most of the exhibits areas and had seen the two shows as the lines will certainly be longer now. We did have one more area to checkout, the River Scout. We made the tour through both levels, pausing outside the entrance to the upper level to take in the ray touch tank. They were in a no-touch period when we arrived in order to give the critters a break, which was fine with me as I just like to look at the interesting patterns and colors on these flat fish. The tanks in the River Scout area just proved that the reefs are not the only place with a myriad of colorful as these exhibits covered the entire spectrum of hues. Unfortunately it is hard to get a decent photo due to the lighting, shooting through the glass (or acrylic) of the tanks and just the motion of the fish. Of course carrying a simple camera and not being a studious photographer are also drawbacks to the quality of the images.
Once back from the tour we noted a major change out in the main hall. The place was packed! I reckon early afternoon is when the majority of the tourists arrive. I'm glad that we had already looked through most of the exhibits areas and had seen the two shows as the lines will certainly be longer now. We did have one more area to checkout, the River Scout. We made the tour through both levels, pausing outside the entrance to the upper level to take in the ray touch tank. They were in a no-touch period when we arrived in order to give the critters a break, which was fine with me as I just like to look at the interesting patterns and colors on these flat fish. The tanks in the River Scout area just proved that the reefs are not the only place with a myriad of colorful as these exhibits covered the entire spectrum of hues. Unfortunately it is hard to get a decent photo due to the lighting, shooting through the glass (or acrylic) of the tanks and just the motion of the fish. Of course carrying a simple camera and not being a studious photographer are also drawbacks to the quality of the images.
After the River Scout area, we continued on along the hallway checking out the displays and animal habitats. Ah-ha! Here it is. I knew there was a viewing area at surface level of the Beluga whale tank. And our timing was perfect as the keepers were just coming out to feed and work with the white beasties. So before I get into the working with the whales, here are a couple of observations on the staff at the Georgia Aquarium. I think that everyone we saw working directly with the animals were on the young side and almost all were women (the exception being two or three guys at the dolphin show). There seven or eight keepers with the Beluga whales and they were all young women. I guess this profession just appeals more to women. Just an observation. The keepers were spread out around the edge of the tank and each had one or two whales in front of them. The keepers were giving commands for the whales to do specific things that allowed the keepers to check them over and then there was a reward of fish. I am guessing this is at least a daily exercise just to keep the whales in a routine.
One of the last displays that we walked past provided some insight into the depths of the ocean defining the various ocean zones and the pressure encountered at different depths. The deepest point in the ocean in the Mariana Trench at 36,000 feet or 6.8 miles below the surface. Animals here live in complete darkness and under extreme pressure.
The first thought was Twenty Two Stories at the Hyatt. Lisa was interested in a pretzel. My concern was that their beer selection is lackluster at best. I did a quick check on the phone to confirm that Max Lager's would be good option for a quick bite (I already knew that Max was a great option for dinner). The menu indicated that it was and the beer list was looking very interesting. Plus there is wine for Lisa. The girls concurred with my assessment so we adjusted course. Actually reversed course as we were already across Peach Tree Street and almost back to the Hyatt. Lisa commented that we looked like lost tourists going back and forth across the road. I reckon maybe we did. |
Max Lager's was pretty darn quiet in the middle of a Saturday afternoon, so we had our pick of places to sit. Lisa asked if they had outdoor seating. Turns out that the do have a covered patio off the back of the building that provided a nice cool, shaded place to hang-out. Good call, Lisa! The bonus was that there was only one other table occupied on the patio. The bad news was the two guys were loud talkers. But they did not stay long and soon it was peaceful.
The first order of business was to figure out what we were drinking. As I recalled, they have some really good beer. I checked my Untappd.com check-ins from last summer and confirmed that thought. The Hopslosion!!! IPA in particular was very good and I gave it a high rating (4.5 out of 5). My comment on it at the time was "WINNER!" Lynn opted for that brew. But now they have a DIPA on the menu, while the Cat's Away. If their IPA is that good, let's see how their double is. My appraisal on Untappd sums it up: "Nice! Really smooth for a DIPA. Nice aroma, great taste. All about the hops!" I rated it 4.5. This is really good. It is my new favorite Atlanta beer.
We were hungry but did not want a huge meal since we expected a big feed at Agatha's tonight. So we decided to split a couple of items and ordered a quesadilla with chicken and a rustica pizza the share. The pizza had pepperoni, sweet Italian sausage, applewood bacon, and mozzarella and parmesan cheese. It was very good. A very nice change of pace since Lynn and I typically get veggie pizza. Going carnivore on occasion is a good thing.
I asked our server if he had any recommendations on the Atlanta beer scene or just interesting things to see. He provided insight on more beer options. His first choice was a new place that a friend of his opened just this week called Best End Brewery (1036 White Street). He thought this was going to be a really special place. Next on the list was Ponce City Market and specifically the roof top. This has been recommended by others as a “don't miss” spot for the views, the three bars and the amusement park games and miniature golf. Lastly was Krug Street Market which has beer, food and shopping. Ok, more options for Atlanta.
We finally left Max Lager's at 4:00. Since we had plenty of time before our next adventure, we decided to take a lap around Centennial Park. The area was hopping with folks still coming and going from the aquarium and the other surrounding attractions. We started by walking along the water features then swung back out along the periphery of the park. We checked out a few statues and plaques along the way. There was a big event gearing up that had the south end of the park closed to us common folk. It looked like it was going to be a grand soirée. After complete our lap around the park, we made a pass by the World of Coca-Cola. It was nearly closing time, so this is really not an option today. Honestly, none of us were that interested is going inside, particularly at $17 per head. Although it would have been interesting to see if there was any mention of Coke and peanuts (if you are from southern West Virginia, you will know what I'm talking about).
We were hungry but did not want a huge meal since we expected a big feed at Agatha's tonight. So we decided to split a couple of items and ordered a quesadilla with chicken and a rustica pizza the share. The pizza had pepperoni, sweet Italian sausage, applewood bacon, and mozzarella and parmesan cheese. It was very good. A very nice change of pace since Lynn and I typically get veggie pizza. Going carnivore on occasion is a good thing.
I asked our server if he had any recommendations on the Atlanta beer scene or just interesting things to see. He provided insight on more beer options. His first choice was a new place that a friend of his opened just this week called Best End Brewery (1036 White Street). He thought this was going to be a really special place. Next on the list was Ponce City Market and specifically the roof top. This has been recommended by others as a “don't miss” spot for the views, the three bars and the amusement park games and miniature golf. Lastly was Krug Street Market which has beer, food and shopping. Ok, more options for Atlanta.
We finally left Max Lager's at 4:00. Since we had plenty of time before our next adventure, we decided to take a lap around Centennial Park. The area was hopping with folks still coming and going from the aquarium and the other surrounding attractions. We started by walking along the water features then swung back out along the periphery of the park. We checked out a few statues and plaques along the way. There was a big event gearing up that had the south end of the park closed to us common folk. It looked like it was going to be a grand soirée. After complete our lap around the park, we made a pass by the World of Coca-Cola. It was nearly closing time, so this is really not an option today. Honestly, none of us were that interested is going inside, particularly at $17 per head. Although it would have been interesting to see if there was any mention of Coke and peanuts (if you are from southern West Virginia, you will know what I'm talking about).
We were back at the Hyatt about 5:00 and looked around the hotel lobby and adjacent food court just to see what was around. The pool area looks really nice, but I'm not a pool guy. There's an Irish pub over in the food court but more importantly some of the fast food places offer breakfast, which might be needed tomorrow morning, depending on how much they feed us at Agatha's tonight. My guess is that we will be well fed. Besides, Lynn already has her eye on the bakery across the street as our breakfast option. In the room around 5:30. We had plenty of time to get cleaned up before dinner, since we did not need to leave until about 6:45 for the short walk to Agatha's.
We were on the road per plan, walking south along lively Peachtree Street then east a block to Agatha's. The evening again brought out the crowds looking for dinner and entertainment. I'm glad we stayed nearby and were walking as finding parking may have been a challenge. Of course we would have taken an Uber or Lyft if this was outside walking distance. But other patrons at Agatha's were suffering parking woes. Just as I was opening the door for Lynn and Lisa and another couple walking in, a lady called out from the passenger window of a car asking where we had parked. Since both the other couple and we had walked we had to tell her that we of no help in their search for parking.
We were on the road per plan, walking south along lively Peachtree Street then east a block to Agatha's. The evening again brought out the crowds looking for dinner and entertainment. I'm glad we stayed nearby and were walking as finding parking may have been a challenge. Of course we would have taken an Uber or Lyft if this was outside walking distance. But other patrons at Agatha's were suffering parking woes. Just as I was opening the door for Lynn and Lisa and another couple walking in, a lady called out from the passenger window of a car asking where we had parked. Since both the other couple and we had walked we had to tell her that we of no help in their search for parking.
Agatha's was a hoot! The full name is Agatha's a Taste of Mystery, and is billed as "a comedy murder mystery dinner theater." Well the name makes perfect sense for a place offering dinner and a show. When we walked in the door we were welcomed by the actor; sort of over-the-top characters sporting costumes somewhere between Harry Potter and Doctor Who (the Tom Baker Doctor, with the long scarf) and matching British accents. We arrived with a few other guests and we all got the ground rules at the same time. And our speaking parts. Wait, what? Yep, everyone gets some sort of role in this production. The group that entered ahead of us selected the birthday girl to get the role assigned to them. Turns out she will be the customs agent and has the first lines from the dinner guests. We were next in line. The girls both quickly answered "not me" when asked for a volunteer for the thespian from our group. OK, I guess I'll be Delta the Raptor. But they did not escape completely. All of the rest of the guests are part of the chorus and will be singing during the show. Oh, boy, this is going to be….interesting.
Once we had that settled, we were pointed toward the appetizers and the bar. The food was very good with a nice variety of noshes. The bar was underwhelming due to the very limited beer selection. The Sweetwater 420 IPA was the best I could find. I had a Guinness later in the evening since this place certainly had an Irish pub feel to it. Lisa came to the bar with me to help with the drinks while Lynn went find our seats. There was a half-sheet of peach-colored paper at my seat with my lines for the show. Rats, I guess they were serious about a speaking part. That's part of the fun, I reckon. We enjoyed our drinks and appetizers while the rest of the guests filed in. Under the heading of it's a small world, the couple who was asking for parking advice when we entered Agatha's ended up sitting next to us. Nice folks and a lot of fun. The walls of the dining room were covered with photos of actors from the early days of Hollywood through today. We spent some time between acts trying to identify the faces or the movies in those images.
The show was mostly a mash-up of popular movies and TV. Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Game of Thrones and others. The characters were more charactitures. But it was hilarious, even though the mystery part of the show was a bit loosely woven. Don't even ask me what the plot of the story was, if there was one. This was more about the moment and the spoofs that the two actors carried out during the evening. It was hilarious and made even more so by the wide variety of talent brought to bear by the dinner guests with speaking parts. The customs agent completely missed her cue. It took the actors several tries to get her up and talking but eventually the show moved along. I survived my part which was in the second act, so I had time for another beer before. It was fun, but I prefer to stay out of the spotlight.
The show was mostly a mash-up of popular movies and TV. Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Game of Thrones and others. The characters were more charactitures. But it was hilarious, even though the mystery part of the show was a bit loosely woven. Don't even ask me what the plot of the story was, if there was one. This was more about the moment and the spoofs that the two actors carried out during the evening. It was hilarious and made even more so by the wide variety of talent brought to bear by the dinner guests with speaking parts. The customs agent completely missed her cue. It took the actors several tries to get her up and talking but eventually the show moved along. I survived my part which was in the second act, so I had time for another beer before. It was fun, but I prefer to stay out of the spotlight.
The guy sitting next to me also had a lines and he was great. There were a couple other folks from our table with lines and they all did very well. I think that our table won the Oscar for the night (no thanks to me, but the others all did very nicely). Overall it was a very entertaining and enjoyable evening. The show was fun, the food was great and the other guests at our table were very good company and all got into the spirit of the evening. Lynn said the show made her laugh and I reckon that was the whole point.
Downtown was still busy when we walked back to the Hyatt just before 10:00. Once about at the hotel we just said good night to Lisa and headed to the room. We crashed by 10:20. We had a very good day in Hotlanta.
Sunday, September 22, 2019 - Zoo Atlanta. No rush again this morning, just leisurely getting ready for the day. We had already planned to meet Lisa at 0830 to find a quick bite for breakfast. The original plan was to try the bakery across the street from the Hyatt. We are now oh-for-two on breakfast options as the bakery is closed on Sunday. Ok, plan bravo. We'll check out the food court adjacent to the Hyatt. There has to be something edible there for breakfast. There was. Actually it was not bad at all and there was a nice variety. We just tried a random sandwich shop. Lynn had pancakes, Lisa had an egg platter and I got a ham, egg and cheese biscuit. Good enough to get the day rolling, quick and pretty tasty.
Downtown was still busy when we walked back to the Hyatt just before 10:00. Once about at the hotel we just said good night to Lisa and headed to the room. We crashed by 10:20. We had a very good day in Hotlanta.
Sunday, September 22, 2019 - Zoo Atlanta. No rush again this morning, just leisurely getting ready for the day. We had already planned to meet Lisa at 0830 to find a quick bite for breakfast. The original plan was to try the bakery across the street from the Hyatt. We are now oh-for-two on breakfast options as the bakery is closed on Sunday. Ok, plan bravo. We'll check out the food court adjacent to the Hyatt. There has to be something edible there for breakfast. There was. Actually it was not bad at all and there was a nice variety. We just tried a random sandwich shop. Lynn had pancakes, Lisa had an egg platter and I got a ham, egg and cheese biscuit. Good enough to get the day rolling, quick and pretty tasty.
We were done by about 9:00 and figured that we might as well get rolling. I ordered up an Uber to meet us at the front of the Hyatt. Cool, a Tesla and a red one at that. First time in one of Elon's electric rides. Quite the little spaceship with all the bells and whistles and fancy displays. Our driver, Sky, was a nice kid. He kept us entertained with the description of his young family's impromptu western road trip. They covered a lot of areas that Lynn and I enjoy exploring out in the Grand Circle. He also gave us a few ideas for things to see and do in Atlanta; he also highly recommended the Ponce City Market roof top as well as just walking the trails in the park that surrounds the zoo, Grant Park. Sky had us at the zoo by 9:20, so we had a short wait for the ticket windows to open. Once our turn in line came (and it was a very short wait to get our turn), the young lady asked if I was a zoo member. Well, not here but I do have my Cleveland zoo membership card, which she took and studied for a minute then reported that they do honor that membership which got us a 50% discount. Now that is a bonus! I should have asked about discount at the aquarium!
Zoo Atlanta is small but it is a great little zoo. Seems like there were a lot of recent and ongoing renovations. The elephant enclosure and barn seemed to be brand new. The enclosure for other African critters, like zebras and giraffes, was so new that the signage indicated the animals were still being acclimated to the area so not all were out yet. We only saw the zebras today. They are also working on a new rhino exhibit that looks to be good size. That's all good; we all have to do our part to save the chubby unicorns!
Zoo Atlanta is small but it is a great little zoo. Seems like there were a lot of recent and ongoing renovations. The elephant enclosure and barn seemed to be brand new. The enclosure for other African critters, like zebras and giraffes, was so new that the signage indicated the animals were still being acclimated to the area so not all were out yet. We only saw the zebras today. They are also working on a new rhino exhibit that looks to be good size. That's all good; we all have to do our part to save the chubby unicorns!
After walking down to the elephant barn and back along their large enclosure, we continued clockwise along the main path through the zoo and checked-out each side trail so that we saw all of the exhibits. Here are the highlights and some factoids I collected:
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"The story is placed at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall by the Video Arcade. Ivan, the gorilla, has lived in captivity at the Big Top Mall for 9,855 days by his own tally. He lives in his domain, and is generally content with his life. He watches television, eats bananas and makes artwork that is sold by the owner. Along with Ivan, Stella, an elephant, and Bob, a stray dog live at the mall. Stella is an older elephant who has a chronic injury in one leg and regularly performs in the daily shows. Unlike Ivan, Stella has a long memory and can remember living in other places, like the circus where she was taught many of her tricks. However, Stella would like to live in a zoo, because they have much wider spaces for their domains. Stella believes that zoos are how humans make amends.
"When Ruby, a baby elephant is brought to the Big Top Mall to live with Stella and learn new tricks, things begin to change. Stella's old injury causes her to get sick. Just before Stella succumbs to her illness and passes away, she asks Ivan to take care of Ruby and find her a better place. Ivan promises he will take care of Ruby, even though he does not know how he will manage to do it. After Stella's death Ivan begins to remember his life before the Big Top Mall and what it was like to have freedom, if only to have stories to tell to Ruby. While Mack, the owner of the Big Top Mall is trying to train Ruby to do tricks, Ivan witnesses first-hand the abuse to which she is subjected and starts to decide how to keep his promise to Stella.
When Julia, the custodian's daughter gives Ivan some finger paints, he begins to get an idea of how to help Ruby. He also changes his opinion of the Big Top Mall. He no longer thinks of his area as his domain but as a cage. Ivan uses his art to make a large picture of a zoo. George and Julia help him by putting it on the billboard outside of the Big Top Mall. When people see the new signs they begin to protest the treatment of the animals. Investigators are sent to the Big Top Mall and eventually it is closed down. Ivan, Ruby and the other animals are taken away to a zoo. Ivan and Ruby are both adopted by the same zoo. Ivan was tested if he really was a silverback at the new zoo. The story ends with Ivan and Ruby adapting to their new habitats and the other animals they will live with."
"When Ruby, a baby elephant is brought to the Big Top Mall to live with Stella and learn new tricks, things begin to change. Stella's old injury causes her to get sick. Just before Stella succumbs to her illness and passes away, she asks Ivan to take care of Ruby and find her a better place. Ivan promises he will take care of Ruby, even though he does not know how he will manage to do it. After Stella's death Ivan begins to remember his life before the Big Top Mall and what it was like to have freedom, if only to have stories to tell to Ruby. While Mack, the owner of the Big Top Mall is trying to train Ruby to do tricks, Ivan witnesses first-hand the abuse to which she is subjected and starts to decide how to keep his promise to Stella.
When Julia, the custodian's daughter gives Ivan some finger paints, he begins to get an idea of how to help Ruby. He also changes his opinion of the Big Top Mall. He no longer thinks of his area as his domain but as a cage. Ivan uses his art to make a large picture of a zoo. George and Julia help him by putting it on the billboard outside of the Big Top Mall. When people see the new signs they begin to protest the treatment of the animals. Investigators are sent to the Big Top Mall and eventually it is closed down. Ivan, Ruby and the other animals are taken away to a zoo. Ivan and Ruby are both adopted by the same zoo. Ivan was tested if he really was a silverback at the new zoo. The story ends with Ivan and Ruby adapting to their new habitats and the other animals they will live with."
- We watched the colorful birds in the aviary for a while. The bright blue and red-breast of the Superb Starling of eastern Africa made it one of the most striking feathery inhabitants. Between the birds and the ruffed lemurs this was quite the entertaining exhibit.
- The orangutans also had a very large habitat that provided multiple areas for them to hang-out. No really, hang-out as there were several elevated platform connected with ropes. The youngsters were taking full advantage of the situation. Their ability to climb and swing about is amazing; they make it look easy as then nonchalantly move about. Sort of an odd mix of awkward and graceful.
- The red panda had a really cool enclosure, a rambling treehouse with several ramps and little pavilions.
- Zoo Atlanta still has giant pandas. They too have a nice outdoor habitat but they were lounging inside today. The San Diego zoo had to send their giant pandas back to China earlier this year as there load agreement had expired. According to the keeper (the same one we talked to earlier; I think she's stalking us), Zoo Atlanta will have their giant pandas for a couple more years.
- There was an interesting exhibit showing the location and status of tigers and bears in the wild. Sadly the tigers are not doing well, with three species listed as recently extinct and the rest at least endangered. The bears are doing better, but there are still concerns for some species.
Tigers of the World
Recently EXTINCT
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Bears of the World
Endangered
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- The big cats also had sizable enclosures. The tiger was behaving like a typical cat, just napping in the shade. The clouded leopard was active though, stalking through its area.
I could not get any decent photos of the cat in motion as the battery on the SX710 was low (odd as I had just put a fresh one in yesterday and did not use it that much) and my phone camera seems to be geared to still life shots. The gallery below has a few images from our time at the zoo. Click on an image to get into slideshow mode.
While it was a hot day but not too bad, trails were very shady which was a big plus and made for a comfortable walk through the zoo.
About a third of the zoo is the Kidzone, which was one of the nicest activity areas I have seen in a zoo. We walked through it just to see the animals, which were mostly petting zoo critters. There was typical playground equipment, of course, but they also had an extensive climbing area for the older kids and parents. Nothing that we wanted to partake in but still a very nice set up. There were also a couple of old school classics, like a train ride that circled the area and a merry-go-round with zoo animals instead of usual painted horses.
We completed our walk through the zoo and made the final stop in the gift shop. I think we all walked out with a t-shirt and I found a zoo logo pin for our collection. Our Cleveland zoo membership card again got us a small discount. The one downside to Zoo Atlanta was that there was no interesting food options (there are plenty of food places, just more of a fast-food flare) and no adult beverages that we could find, so we had not stopped for even a snack. Well, it is now 1:00, so time for lunch. What are the options? We've heard about the Ponce City Market from several folks this weekend and it was highly ranked in my internet research so there must be something good there. We decided to give that a shot.
We had a short wait for our Uber to arrive, but there was plenty of shade at the zoo entrance so we just watched the people come and go. Our driver was trying to be stealthy as the car was listed as blue, but it sure looked grey to me. Whatever, it was the correct make, model and license plate number plus the photo of the driver matched the guy behind the wheel. When I mentioned the hue of his car he said it was "steel blue" or something. Still looks gray to me. Whatever. We got a nice tour of the local neighborhoods as we went along. In the area we drove through, all the houses had the same design for their house number sign, sort of a sunburst or sunrise motif. The drive said it was probably just a neighborhood pride thing. This guy was not nearly as talkative as Sky, but he was another fan of Ponce City Market and also recommended the roof top as something fun to experience. Well, I guess we'll just have to see it for ourselves since everyone who has mentioned the Ponce City and its rooftop playground says it is the best thing since sliced bread.
I reckon it was about 1:30 when we arrived at the Ponce City Market. This is pretty cool setting in an old industrial setting. The building is huge. I pick-up some history on the place from internet research, the signage here and just talking to folks. Here's what I pieced together:
The building was built on the site on Ponce de Leon amusement park which was previously Ponce de Leon Springs. The structure is 2,100,000 square feet, making it one of the largest by volume in the southeast United States. It was used by Sears, Roebuck and Co. as retail space, warehouse and regional offices from 1926 to 1987. The next occupant of the building was the City of Atlanta. The building housed police, fire and administrative personnel there from about 1990 to 2010 when it was again closed. The building was sold to developers in 2011 and opened as the Ponce City Market in 2014. Ponce City Market is a mixed-use development that includes retail space, restaurants, a food hall, boutiques and offices, and residential units. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
The place is a little overwhelming for the first time visitor, as there are plenty of people moving about the shops and eateries, it is a huge place so your trying to figure out where you need to go and the signage was not the best although we did finally figure it out. We did finally get to where we wanted to be, the elevator to the fabled roof top. Ten dollars for access to the roof and another 15 to an all-you-want-to-play pass to the games, rides and miniature golf. OK, we'll take the ride to the roof, but we'll hold off on the games until we check it out.
About a third of the zoo is the Kidzone, which was one of the nicest activity areas I have seen in a zoo. We walked through it just to see the animals, which were mostly petting zoo critters. There was typical playground equipment, of course, but they also had an extensive climbing area for the older kids and parents. Nothing that we wanted to partake in but still a very nice set up. There were also a couple of old school classics, like a train ride that circled the area and a merry-go-round with zoo animals instead of usual painted horses.
We completed our walk through the zoo and made the final stop in the gift shop. I think we all walked out with a t-shirt and I found a zoo logo pin for our collection. Our Cleveland zoo membership card again got us a small discount. The one downside to Zoo Atlanta was that there was no interesting food options (there are plenty of food places, just more of a fast-food flare) and no adult beverages that we could find, so we had not stopped for even a snack. Well, it is now 1:00, so time for lunch. What are the options? We've heard about the Ponce City Market from several folks this weekend and it was highly ranked in my internet research so there must be something good there. We decided to give that a shot.
We had a short wait for our Uber to arrive, but there was plenty of shade at the zoo entrance so we just watched the people come and go. Our driver was trying to be stealthy as the car was listed as blue, but it sure looked grey to me. Whatever, it was the correct make, model and license plate number plus the photo of the driver matched the guy behind the wheel. When I mentioned the hue of his car he said it was "steel blue" or something. Still looks gray to me. Whatever. We got a nice tour of the local neighborhoods as we went along. In the area we drove through, all the houses had the same design for their house number sign, sort of a sunburst or sunrise motif. The drive said it was probably just a neighborhood pride thing. This guy was not nearly as talkative as Sky, but he was another fan of Ponce City Market and also recommended the roof top as something fun to experience. Well, I guess we'll just have to see it for ourselves since everyone who has mentioned the Ponce City and its rooftop playground says it is the best thing since sliced bread.
I reckon it was about 1:30 when we arrived at the Ponce City Market. This is pretty cool setting in an old industrial setting. The building is huge. I pick-up some history on the place from internet research, the signage here and just talking to folks. Here's what I pieced together:
The building was built on the site on Ponce de Leon amusement park which was previously Ponce de Leon Springs. The structure is 2,100,000 square feet, making it one of the largest by volume in the southeast United States. It was used by Sears, Roebuck and Co. as retail space, warehouse and regional offices from 1926 to 1987. The next occupant of the building was the City of Atlanta. The building housed police, fire and administrative personnel there from about 1990 to 2010 when it was again closed. The building was sold to developers in 2011 and opened as the Ponce City Market in 2014. Ponce City Market is a mixed-use development that includes retail space, restaurants, a food hall, boutiques and offices, and residential units. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
The place is a little overwhelming for the first time visitor, as there are plenty of people moving about the shops and eateries, it is a huge place so your trying to figure out where you need to go and the signage was not the best although we did finally figure it out. We did finally get to where we wanted to be, the elevator to the fabled roof top. Ten dollars for access to the roof and another 15 to an all-you-want-to-play pass to the games, rides and miniature golf. OK, we'll take the ride to the roof, but we'll hold off on the games until we check it out.
The ride up was in the old freight elevator. The operator provided the historical highlights of the building. Man, he talks fast! But a caught a couple of his points that I included above. Once off the elevator we explored the area to see what we wanted to do up here. Directly across from the elevator and still inside is one of the bars, but it did not seem to be open at present. The doors were open and there were a couple employees inside but no patrons. Maybe they open later on Sunday?
We strolled outside to check out the amusement park. OK, this is sort of what I expected. Sort of a county fair set up with a row of booths for games, a big sliding board, a rotating swing ride and a pretty cool looking miniature golf course. It was putt-putt, but not the standard Astro-turf with 2-by-4 bumpers. It was still a putting game but the course had contour to it. In all fairness, I would have played a round on the miniature golf course, but the girls were not interested. I get it, as it was steamy up there with no cover under the blazing hot sun.
The second bar was an outdoor stand that serviced folks playing the games and riding the rides. Good set-up there. But not a lot of variety. I probably could have found a beer worth drinking but we were in search of food as well. So we continued on to the end of the roof top area to see what was what at the restaurant. There was a good crown inside, but no wait. We asked if there were any outside tables in the shade and got a positive response. But the table we were given was only partially in the shade. Lisa volunteered to take the spot in the sun but she would soon be baking. The menu was on the table, which was good as there was not a server to be found. As we reviewed the menu it was apparent that there were no beers of interest. Not a single IPA on the list, not that it was an extensive list to start with. The food choices were mundane and also limited. I guess they were banking on the fact that there was a nice view and the guests would be less interested in the variety of the food and drink. I don't remember who said it first, but we all quickly concurred that there must be better places to eat downstairs, so, we left. We did walk over to the railing to take in the view before leaving. There was a swarm of yellow jackets at the first point we stopped (I guess that is an appropriate insect since Georgia Tech is in Atlanta), so we quickly moved to an uninfested vantage point.
We strolled outside to check out the amusement park. OK, this is sort of what I expected. Sort of a county fair set up with a row of booths for games, a big sliding board, a rotating swing ride and a pretty cool looking miniature golf course. It was putt-putt, but not the standard Astro-turf with 2-by-4 bumpers. It was still a putting game but the course had contour to it. In all fairness, I would have played a round on the miniature golf course, but the girls were not interested. I get it, as it was steamy up there with no cover under the blazing hot sun.
The second bar was an outdoor stand that serviced folks playing the games and riding the rides. Good set-up there. But not a lot of variety. I probably could have found a beer worth drinking but we were in search of food as well. So we continued on to the end of the roof top area to see what was what at the restaurant. There was a good crown inside, but no wait. We asked if there were any outside tables in the shade and got a positive response. But the table we were given was only partially in the shade. Lisa volunteered to take the spot in the sun but she would soon be baking. The menu was on the table, which was good as there was not a server to be found. As we reviewed the menu it was apparent that there were no beers of interest. Not a single IPA on the list, not that it was an extensive list to start with. The food choices were mundane and also limited. I guess they were banking on the fact that there was a nice view and the guests would be less interested in the variety of the food and drink. I don't remember who said it first, but we all quickly concurred that there must be better places to eat downstairs, so, we left. We did walk over to the railing to take in the view before leaving. There was a swarm of yellow jackets at the first point we stopped (I guess that is an appropriate insect since Georgia Tech is in Atlanta), so we quickly moved to an uninfested vantage point.
I reckon we were disappointed with the roof top, except for the view. It looked like a fun place for a group but it just was not what we were looking for. And to charge $10 just to get access seemed like a bit of a rip-off. But live and learn. We made one more lap around the roof top before taking the elevator back down. We checked out a couple options in the food court area. Lynn had already noticed a Mexican place when we first arrived so we decided to give that a whirl. Place called Minero. As I learned from the menu once seated, the restaurant is "named after the Spanish word for “miner”, Minero represents the storied history of the taco, which supposes that Mexican silver miners named the dish in the 18th century. The word “taco” referred to the dynamite miners used to excavate the ore in the mines, which was made of pieces of paper wrapped around gunpowder and inserted into the holes carved in the rock face." Whatever the history, the place is pretty darn good. Our server, Angela, was not the most expedient, but she was thorough and very friendly. Besides, we were in no hurry as it was now after 2:00 so we did not really have time to have lunch and still make it to another attraction this afternoon. I guess we will save the Fernbank Museum for the next trip.
We were seated outside which was covered so very pleasant. We had a good vantage point for people watching and there were plenty of interesting subjects wandering about between the food court and the retail shops. We started with a round of drinks and chips and salsa. The girls had margs but I stuck with beer, trying the Sunshine City IPA from Green Bench Brewing. Not bad, a good summer beer as it was on the lighter side. I rated it at 3.75 on Untappd. For lunch, Lisa went with a salad, while Lynn and I both had the steak Burrito. Lynn had hers as a bowl so no tortilla wrap, but I went big. And it was big. And quite tasty. This would give Chipotle a run for its money.
We took our time at lunch and had a second round of drinks before finally wandering off at a little after 3:00 to look around Ponce City Market a bit. Turns out that the Belt Line runs right by the market so we thought we should use that as a way to walk off lunch. We had heard about the Belt Line from a couple folks this weekend, including one of the young ladies at our table at Agatha's last night. The Belt Line is a trail system around Atlanta that has repurposed the old railroad right of ways to create urban hiking and walking paths. There are supposed to be shops, dining, breweries and apartments lining the route. A stretch of the legs would be a good thing. We were on the trail about 3:30 heading south.
This section of the Belt Line is very active. Fortunately it is also pretty wide and in very good shape. There were folks out enjoying the day and using all sort of conveyances, from shoes to scooters to bikes. While the trail was wide, we walked single-file and along the right edge of the track just to stay out of the way. There were very nice apartment buildings and residential areas lining the trail. We did pass by New Realm Brewing not long after starting our walk, but having just finished a couple drinks at lunch we opted just to keep going. It was a hopping place on a Sunday afternoon. Something else to keep in mind for a future visit. I checked the map on my phone and it looks like there is a walking route that will get us back to the hotel in short order and keeps mostly to trails and parks. Only about two miles. We'll do that to get a little exercise. Traffic should not be too bad on a Sunday afternoon, particularly since the Falcons are on the road this week. The only problem with this plan was that Lisa was in the lead most of the time and she set an excruciatingly slow pace. We need to work on that. As Guy said on The Croods, I'll take a shamble at this point.
Our route took us south on the Belt Line to the Freedom Park Trail and finally along Highland Ave back into downtown. Most of this was through parks or residential areas so not much to worry about in terms of traffic and when we did return to city streets, we continued to have next to no traffic. I guess Sunday afternoon just is not a busy time for the big city. Once off the Belt Line a lot of our route was shaded with made for a pleasant walk. One interesting site was at the corner of Highland and Randolph. Columns of cinder blocks. Obviously some sort of artwork, although it looked like am abandoned construction site to me. Fortunately there was a sign there to explain the artwork to us less illuminated:
We took our time at lunch and had a second round of drinks before finally wandering off at a little after 3:00 to look around Ponce City Market a bit. Turns out that the Belt Line runs right by the market so we thought we should use that as a way to walk off lunch. We had heard about the Belt Line from a couple folks this weekend, including one of the young ladies at our table at Agatha's last night. The Belt Line is a trail system around Atlanta that has repurposed the old railroad right of ways to create urban hiking and walking paths. There are supposed to be shops, dining, breweries and apartments lining the route. A stretch of the legs would be a good thing. We were on the trail about 3:30 heading south.
This section of the Belt Line is very active. Fortunately it is also pretty wide and in very good shape. There were folks out enjoying the day and using all sort of conveyances, from shoes to scooters to bikes. While the trail was wide, we walked single-file and along the right edge of the track just to stay out of the way. There were very nice apartment buildings and residential areas lining the trail. We did pass by New Realm Brewing not long after starting our walk, but having just finished a couple drinks at lunch we opted just to keep going. It was a hopping place on a Sunday afternoon. Something else to keep in mind for a future visit. I checked the map on my phone and it looks like there is a walking route that will get us back to the hotel in short order and keeps mostly to trails and parks. Only about two miles. We'll do that to get a little exercise. Traffic should not be too bad on a Sunday afternoon, particularly since the Falcons are on the road this week. The only problem with this plan was that Lisa was in the lead most of the time and she set an excruciatingly slow pace. We need to work on that. As Guy said on The Croods, I'll take a shamble at this point.
Our route took us south on the Belt Line to the Freedom Park Trail and finally along Highland Ave back into downtown. Most of this was through parks or residential areas so not much to worry about in terms of traffic and when we did return to city streets, we continued to have next to no traffic. I guess Sunday afternoon just is not a busy time for the big city. Once off the Belt Line a lot of our route was shaded with made for a pleasant walk. One interesting site was at the corner of Highland and Randolph. Columns of cinder blocks. Obviously some sort of artwork, although it looked like am abandoned construction site to me. Fortunately there was a sign there to explain the artwork to us less illuminated:
54 Columns, a public art project designed by renowned artist Sol LeWitt, is comprised of 54 concreter pillars ranging in height from 10 to 20 feet and arranged in a triangular layout approximately 112 x 176 feet. The minimalist sculpture, like much of LeWitt's work, integrates art and architecture. The piece makes reference to its urban environment through repeated lines and geometric forms. With their varying heights, the pillars echo the city's skyline that is visible on the site's western horizon.
Our walk was about 2.6 miles from the market back to the Hyatt. Just right for an after lunch meander. And while the Belt Line was very popular and fairly packed, there was hardly anyone out on the Freedom Park Trail or on the city streets. Next trip to Atlanta I’ll have to research the Belt Line a bit to see if there is a good pub crawl option along any stretch of the trail. We were back in the room by 4:45. We decided that we would get cleaned up and head over to Max Lager's about 6:30 for a drink and a snack (if we were even hungry; no doubt that I'll be thirsty).
Our walk was about 2.6 miles from the market back to the Hyatt. Just right for an after lunch meander. And while the Belt Line was very popular and fairly packed, there was hardly anyone out on the Freedom Park Trail or on the city streets. Next trip to Atlanta I’ll have to research the Belt Line a bit to see if there is a good pub crawl option along any stretch of the trail. We were back in the room by 4:45. We decided that we would get cleaned up and head over to Max Lager's about 6:30 for a drink and a snack (if we were even hungry; no doubt that I'll be thirsty).
At 6:30 we made our way over to Max Lager's. I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of the crowd, but Sunday afternoon without a football game was pretty quiet. The same for Max Lager's. We had our choice of where to sit. We again selected the covered patio. I think there was only one other table occupied when we arrived. Our server tonight was J and she was fantastic. Very friendly, helpful and above all else, speedy. She had my While the Cat's Away DIPA out to me in no time. This is certainly the best beer that I have found in Atlanta too date. Even though we had a big lunch and ate a little late, I guess the walking helped us work us a little bit of an appetite. We shared a chicken flatbread and pizza margarita. Both were very tasty and neither lasted very long. As it was peaceful here on the back patio, we decided to have another round and we just chilled here for the evening.
Monday, September 23, 2019 - Flying Home. Up at 0455, ready at 0535. We are well ahead of schedule but there is no need to sit around the hotel. Besides, who knows what awaits us with traffic and the lines at the airport. I texted Lisa. She's ready as well. OK, then, let's go. We had a short wait at the front desk as there were no agents available. Usually I would just go with the automated check-out but we wanted to make sure the room charges were split up correctly. But we finally tracked someone down and got on the road. The Uber to the airport only took 20 minutes, so that was not too long. We were already checked-in for our flights, having done that little chore after our final beer at Max Lager's . We hit the security line about 0620. And what a line! It went on forever. Shoot where we queued up was no where near the start of the actually security area. They need air traffic control just for all the people trying to get through security! The airport people wranglers were splitting us into multiple lines just to make us fit inside the building before necking us back into one line. It was quite the controlled chaos. Just before entering the formal security checkpoint area (which still had a very long line), we had merged back down to two lines running on either side of a set of escalators so the lines were alternating entering the final security queue. Somehow the people herders lost track of which line was next and motioned to the line that had just moved up to move up again. Our side in unison yelled "THIS SIDE!" I guess that worked as we were quickly directed to come on forward. While the line was long, there was not a lot of grumping even given the early hour. There were only a couple of line cutters, but it is not worth the effort to call them on it as a scene would get everyone ejected from the game. Alas, I did here a couple of people lamenting that they were short on time to make their flights. I felt bad for them, but the lines the potential for schedule SNAFUs at this airport are well known.
We were finally putting our shoes back on at 7:16. So almost an hour to get through the line. All things considered, not too bad. Lisa was heading to another gate so we said our farewells before getting on the train for the various concourses. Once off the trail we headed off to find some breakfast. There were plenty of options, but not as many as I would have expected in such a busy airport. But there were muffin at one of the food court areas and that worked just fine.
As we finished our breakfast, we reviewed the trip. Definitely worth coming to Atlanta for the weekend to see the aquarium the aquarium. The zoo was also great. Small but very nice with the huge enclosures and recent renovations. No need to go through the children's part. Don't get me wrong it is a very nice playground, but for an adult excursion there is not much to see. The roof top at Ponce City was oversold, but Minero made up for it. And Agatha's was a hoot. Lynn says it made her laugh so mission accomplished.
No rush to get to the gate. Lynn read and I approved timecards through the phone. At about 8:15 we thought we would take a walk to kill some time but the concourse was a mass of humanity so we quickly gave up on that and just opted to slog our way to gate B32. At least the crowd thinned out by the time we got to that end of the concourse. Well, a little dead time but not too bad. That's just part of traveling through a big airport. The security line this morning convinced Lynn to apply for TSA PreCheck. I had done that just last week and got the approval notice email yesterday morning. While it did not help this trip, at least I am set for the next five years.
We were finally putting our shoes back on at 7:16. So almost an hour to get through the line. All things considered, not too bad. Lisa was heading to another gate so we said our farewells before getting on the train for the various concourses. Once off the trail we headed off to find some breakfast. There were plenty of options, but not as many as I would have expected in such a busy airport. But there were muffin at one of the food court areas and that worked just fine.
As we finished our breakfast, we reviewed the trip. Definitely worth coming to Atlanta for the weekend to see the aquarium the aquarium. The zoo was also great. Small but very nice with the huge enclosures and recent renovations. No need to go through the children's part. Don't get me wrong it is a very nice playground, but for an adult excursion there is not much to see. The roof top at Ponce City was oversold, but Minero made up for it. And Agatha's was a hoot. Lynn says it made her laugh so mission accomplished.
No rush to get to the gate. Lynn read and I approved timecards through the phone. At about 8:15 we thought we would take a walk to kill some time but the concourse was a mass of humanity so we quickly gave up on that and just opted to slog our way to gate B32. At least the crowd thinned out by the time we got to that end of the concourse. Well, a little dead time but not too bad. That's just part of traveling through a big airport. The security line this morning convinced Lynn to apply for TSA PreCheck. I had done that just last week and got the approval notice email yesterday morning. While it did not help this trip, at least I am set for the next five years.
On time boarding but with a last second seat reassignment as we filed on to the gangway. I moved up three rows but was now in the middle seat with Lynn right behind me. Well, pluses and minuses. I expected this both flights so not a big deal. We are on schedule and that is more important. No issues with the flight. I got another shot at the puzzles in the airline magazine. The sodukus were tough, in part due to the small print size, but I solved both as well as redoing the other puzzles before we got to CLE. Once on the ground at Hopkins, I texted Ed but told him we were at the back of the plane so it will be a few minutes before we are at the pick-up area. He texted back about 10 minutes later saying he was almost at the airport, ETA 2 minutes. "Dude, we are still on the friggin' aircraft!" We eventually made it to the curb and Ed was waiting with the Edge, so it all worked out. We headed back to the base to finish out the day.
That’s All Folks! That worked out really well. No issues with the travel logistics and we picked some fun things to see in Atlanta. We’ve done a couple short weekend excursions before (like Cincy last spring), but this was really our first quick-trip that included flying. I think this experiment was a smashing success. We’ll have to see where else we can use this weekend formula for a quick getaway. Certainly a return to Atlanta would work (let’s see what the aquarium looks like after the shark additional is complete, plus we can check out Fernbank and see what other great IPAs Max Lager’s might have created). Probably the next opportunity for a fly to weekend getaway might be DC for the cherry blossoms next spring. Hopefully the timing will work out.
That’s All Folks! That worked out really well. No issues with the travel logistics and we picked some fun things to see in Atlanta. We’ve done a couple short weekend excursions before (like Cincy last spring), but this was really our first quick-trip that included flying. I think this experiment was a smashing success. We’ll have to see where else we can use this weekend formula for a quick getaway. Certainly a return to Atlanta would work (let’s see what the aquarium looks like after the shark additional is complete, plus we can check out Fernbank and see what other great IPAs Max Lager’s might have created). Probably the next opportunity for a fly to weekend getaway might be DC for the cherry blossoms next spring. Hopefully the timing will work out.