Atlanta - Part 4

The latter half of our Atlanta trip was a busy one. We took in the Aquarium, the New World of Coca Cola and attended the game day festivities before the actual game for which we were in Atlanta for in the first place.







The Aquarium had a great variety of exhibits and I'm glad we went but at the same time I could have skipped it. There were sooo many people there when we went. You couldn't really take time to watch any of the animals because you were surrounded by people everywhere you went that were waiting their turn to see whatever it was. And my camera battery died halfway through. So I don't have any pictures of the 22 foot whale shark that we got to see or its smaller counterparts (and by smaller I mean, they were ONLY 17 or 18 feet long). That exhibit was probably the coolest and we were there during feeding time. I now have a better idea of how Noah was swallowed by the whale. Heck, he could have been eaten by a whale shark by the looks of things. When that whale shark opened his mouth to take in the food, it was like a vacuum sucking in everything within 10-15 feet of it. It was pretty cool. Unfortunately the exhibit for the Beluga whale was closed for maintenance so I would like to go back to the Aquarium some time when that exhibit is open and there are fewer people.

That night DJ and I were invited to a dinner hosted by a medical group in town that always hosts the medical teams of both teams during the Chick-Fil-A bowl. We took a big comfy bus with everyone from the UT medical staff and Virginia Tech medical staff to Maggiano's Little Italy where we were fed appetizers, salads, entrees, desserts and as much drink as you wanted. The food was delicious and DJ made some new contacts that will hopefully become useful one day.











On Wednesday we headed to the New World of Coca Cola, which was a tour of everything Coca Cola. It covered everything from the history of Coke to an animated movie of what happens when you deposit your quarter in the Coke machine to a 4D movie about Coke around the world to sampling Coca Cola-made beverages from all the continents to the impact of Coke on our culture. And at the end of the tour, we each got to take a bottle of Coke home with us that we had personally seen bottled. It was a great tour, especially for someone like myself that loves the Coke commercials and the marketing strategy of Coke. They really are marketing geniuses.

Finally Thursday came. Game day. At times, I forgot why we were even in Atlanta! But not on game day. There was a new feel in the air. People had arrived to the hotels and things were bustling. Don and Lorraine had arrived the evening before and we were ready to see the Vols kick some Hokie butt! But first we went to a parade that morning.





















The parade got us pumped up and then we headed to the hotel to warm up. Could you tell it was freezing?? In an effort to be as in the spirit as possible, we decided it was absolutely necessary to drink some Fuzzy Navels before the game. The Chick-Fil-A bowl used to be the Peach Bowl so it was absolutely necessary to drink Peach Schnapps before we headed out to the game. Oh and we ate Chick-Fil-A for lunch.

The next part of the saga can be summed up in two words. We. Lost.

Nothing more can be said. It was incredibly disappointing and I will share only one picture. A picture that shows the hope we still had before the game began.



To be honest, I don't think it even mattered to Don and Lorraine that we lost. I mean they definitely wanted the Vols to win but more than anything I could tell they were so proud to see their son on the field working hard and taking care of his team. If I would have taken their picture after the game, they probably would have still looked all happy. It was so much fun to finally watch a game with them in person!

Ok so that was more than two words about the game and I just have to talk about two other things. They had soap clouds that wafted to the ceiling during the game. They clouds were in different shapes appropriate for the game, like the Vols sign and the VT sign and the Chick-Fil-A symbol. And right before the game started, little stuffed Chick-Fil-A cows started parachuting from the ceiling for like 5 minutes. That was the best part of the whole night, even though I didn't catch one.

After the game Don, Lorraine and I (DJ had to finish up at the stadium) took the metro back to the hotel (best idea we ever had - it only took us 15 minutes to get back to our hotel whereas, if we had driven, it could easily have taken us over an hour). We were back just in time to ring in the New Year. We turned on the t.v. to watch the ball drop in NY, poured some more Fuzzy Navels, got text messages ready to send out at the stroke of 12 and started to count down! And just as it reached midnight, wouldn't you know, fireworks started to go off right outside our window?! Directly across from us was a fireworks show that actually was really good! We couldn't believe our luck! It was the perfect thing to make us forget the Bowl loss and really focus on the joy of a new year.

And that is the Atlanta saga. The end.