Today we made the trip down to Atlanta with Uncle George and Thip to see some classic Atlanta attractions, namely the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola. We'll start with the Coke Museum first because Maddie hasn't been there before - we spent a few hours there, actually!
We usually don't get these posed shots at the entrances to various tourist places, but today we were in the mood to get them, so sure enough we purchased a few printed shots, and of course scanned them when we got home.
I have no idea what's going on here with this background. It's so crazy! Other backgrounds had huge looming coke bottles and polar bears just behind us. I think we actually got the "all downloads" package, which is the same two shots of the family with about twelve different backgrounds. I'll have to post those later. But first, the museum.
Firstly, we went in there because a timer was telling us the show was about to start, so we sort of went in a spot and waited for a bit until a lady with a face mask started to tell us things about this room of wonders, where various important Coca Cola artifacts were. I was having trouble understanding her because of the mask, but there was a bicycle that delivered the soda, and then other objects like the first Coke Machine, and all kinds of marketing that goes back two centuries.
Next we were all ushered into this room so that we could see this movie that followed various stories of people who had moments to celebrate, and of course they were all emotional, and of course at the end there were celebrations with Coca-Cola.
Here's where the movie ended, and we all were entering the museum itself, and where pretty much the entire theater goes into this small compressed area called "The Vault." In retrospect, this would have been good to visit last. But anyway, this crowded area was where we learned a lot of various things about the history of Coca-Cola, and got to see a few more objects of historical significance. It was interesting going from spot to spot reading, although there were quite a few people in there. At one point, a good number of us went into this circular room and the doors closed on us. I announced to the room as a joke, "There are no windows and no doors. Which offers you this chilling challenge. To find a way out!" The host told us to look around at all the screens surrounding us, and if we were just looking in one direction, we were doing it wrong, and then we watched yet another movie, and this one was fun with a lot of old marketing campaigns and energy. Then a door opened, and there it was: a vault. This vault has within it the secret formula for making Coca-Cola. And there were alarms that would go off and bars would come crashing down if someone passed a certain line and tried to open it. Sadly, no one tried!
Anyway, we posed for some pictures there, and went on from there to see a few more areas after that. We went to an experimental area where we created our own flavors and tastes for a carbonated beverage. The area looked bright and white, with computerized displays here or there. One involved a Kinect-style game where we used our arms to carbonate a beverage with the right sized bubbles and of course fill the glass up to the appropriate proportions. Then we mixed different flavors on a screen and got a formula - Mom got a "SPICED 5" and I got a "SPICED 1" which features a bit of ginger ale. Later on, we'd use that code to get the drink we concocted, and actually give it a taste. But in the meantime, here at this level we were trying a new flavor they were giving us for Coca-Cola, which was not bad!
So we left there and went upstairs after this, going to a floor where it just so happened the Polar Mascot was there waiting for us in one room. We posed for some photos with him, including a selfie! And after that, we were checking out a place that emphasized different smells and fragrances of ingredients, where a speaker was talking to us about including those in carbonated beverages.
And after that... the tasting room! This is pretty much why you come to the Coca-Cola museum. All around this room are various tasting stations with many, many drink dispensers that provide you tastes of various sodas from all over the world. We loved a Tanzanian ginger ale, and there were some great beverages from Thailand with a light fruity flavor to them. Some of the carbonated waters had some watermelon flavors and other unique tastes. We were all over the place with our cups, sampling all of them. And then the big moment: everyone who knows this place knows about Beverly. This is not a person. This is a hideously bitter surprise drink from Italy. I think its only function is to generate conversation about how awful it is. I did something I did some time ago, creating an "international suicide." The drink is where you combine all the drinks together, or at least as many as you can. The funny thing about the international suicide is that you can still taste the Beverly in there. Maddie knew about this drink ahead of time - I've told her stories of its legendary taste. So yes, I was there to record the moment she first tried it. I was not disappointed! And yes, I was sampling it too!
We went to another area that I spotted after this, and to begin with I thought it wasn't going to be much more than a few little more artifacts, but it turned out to be a highlight of our visit here. Firstly, there were hallways with a few more international objects and all kinds of adds and objects from many, many years ago. Pretty awesome stuff. But then we rounded a corner, and we were in a whole new world. They built a city block indoors, and it was amazing. Inside was a delivery truck for Coca-Cola, and early example perfectly preserved. And all around there were the old pharmacy buildings that sold sodas, and one place where we could convert our images via AI into something more from that time period. For the most part, they turned out really well! Another location showed an ad for Coca-Cola, and invited people to pose for a more artistic shot, more of a painting. These turned out pretty well too, mostly!
So afterwards, we were ready to go through the tasting room one more time, grabbing a few more samples, and ultimately getting some straight Coca-Cola because it tastes best probably there in the museum. And after that, we made our way to the gift shop area, which was pretty big! We stayed there for a good bit, looking around, and had a great time there. Here are a few pictures from today's visit!
Our first destination today was the Georgia Aquarium, which we of course have a season pass for. I think everyone has a season pass to the Aquarium, but despite this, it wasn't so crowded in there today. In fact, we got to see pretty much everything, except for the dolphin show, which was closed for maintenance. That was okay - we did see the sea lion show, and we had incredible seats for that. We were taking a risk in the "splash zone," but I remembered not much splash in this splash zone, and in fact, we wound up with some great close-up experiences with a pretty large sea lion right there in front of us.
We got there in about an hour, so the drive was good today. We started out with one of those group pictures, and of course we got that one too. This one wasn't so bad actually. Usually these are a little tacky or just thrown together. It was funny because you could choose the background, and some of the backgrounds are really weird, like a large alligator or an oversized beluga whale.
The first stop for us was the Oceans Explorer area, because our visitors hadn't been here before and that's the thing not to miss. We went through the tunnel and you could tell George and Thip were already impressed. Whale sharks drifted overhead, along with large mantas and sharks. We saw a few more places where you could see into this ginormous tank, but of course the big moment was when we went into that theater. We spent a good while in there, just watching the fish drift by, so many of them of all different shapes and sizes. It's a nice place. I could spend longer there!
But we did leave, and the next area was the Cold Water Quest. Things were so crowded last time we were here that we missed this area. But we sure made up for it now. We spend a long time with the beluga whales, and a really long time with the otters in the River Scout area too. We were there for the other fish too, and the puffins were pretty active. Maddie, George and Thip were crawling through certain areas to get close-up looks at the penguins, and we were all just like kids going through that place!
Afterwards, we were over to the sharks area, and that was pretty cool because we got there just as they were feeding the hammerhead sharks! We got to see that a good while, watching the hammerheads chase around a ball up on the surface of the water. Each got a turn getting their food, and we were pretty happy to get there at that time. We got to see all the other sharks as well in that large tank, a really neat exhibit.
Next, it was time to grab a bite to eat. Unlike the previous visit, we got food fairly quickly and were able to find a seat easily. We ate a bit, and then next went off to see the Sea Lion show. That was pretty short, but it was really fun, and we had such favor with our seating. We were right there with that sea lion, Demarco. Fun show. You scan something ahead of time and can help determine the music played at the end of the show, and the dance moves the seals put on for you! We chose country, and were pleased to see more people doing that one.
There were still some other things to see afterwards. We went to see the bayou area afterwards, the one with the alligators, including those albinos just sitting there soaking in the lamplight. There were plenty of unique fish there too, and those electric eels. Maddie remembered that joke I pulled on her last time, where she had her hands on a spot that I told her to feel for a little buzz when the eels released a charge. Of course I snuck up from behind and shook her suddenly, causing her to jump! She wasn't going to fall for that trick this time!
We went through a few more areas after this, the Tropical Diver area which features so many colorful fish in creative tanks. Not as many people here at this point, so we got to see so much, including eels and all the tropical fish you see in "Finding Nemo." It was a nice visit.
The day was growing later, and we knew we needed time for that visit to the Coca-Cola Museum, so that was that for today at the aquarium. I'm pretty sure we're coming back soon though - maybe in two months!
But we got home late, and everyone was zonked. Time to get some sleep. It was a really nice day.
No comments:
Post a Comment