First of all, I want to thank Joey’s parents for inviting us out with them and Joey’s family for housing us! We had such a fun filled weekend. As I’m sitting home now putting this together, I’m just now realizing how much we did in such a short amount of time!

Joey and I arrived in Atlanta at around 7:35 pm local time (which is 3 hours ahead of California). From that moment we really hit the ground running. A driver picked us up and drove us to Joey’s family’s house, where we stayed, and we were met with the most delicious home cooked meal. We hung out, chit chat, took a tour of their stunning home, and then it was up to bed we went; we were pretty exhausted after all the traveling.

Saturday was the real busy day. We had so many things we wanted to see and do; we left the house around 11:30 after spending time eating a big southern breakfast with everyone. The weather in Georgia was nice, but with the wind there was some REAL chill for sure, needless to say we were all bundled up.

Our first stop was to the CNN Center to take the studio tour. The tour lasted about an hour and thankfully it was indoors so we had some time to warm up. It was really cool to see all the different studios and to learn how a news station runs, in addition to how many people it takes to run one! I would definetly recommend stopping by if you’re in the area! Especially if you have little to no idea how the whole “news world” works (raising my hand to that one!) Either way it’s really interesting to learn about and see the whole machine in action.

Lucky for us, all the museums and stops we planned on making were all in the center of Downton Atlanta, so we parked in a single lot and were able to walk to each place. On our way from the CNN studios, we walked straight through Centennial Olympic Park. The park was built as a place for visitors and spectators to enjoy and use as they watched the 1996 Summer Olympic games.

Next stop was to the Coca- Cola factory. Now to be honest with you; I don’t drink soda. Like at all. I stick purely to water, sparkling water, coffee, and teas, but I was still super interested to learn about how the brand came to be such a power house in most American homes. Upon entering the factory you get a complimentary coke of your choice and I did indulge, it was a vacation right? Below are a few of the most interesting things I learned walking throughout the building. @BEXoxoBlog it’s worth it and you have to go when you’re in ATL!

Some interesting facts I learned visiting the World of Coca-Cola:

• Coca-Cola was founded in 1886 by an Atlanta pharmacist, John Pemberton.
• The very first servings of Coca-Cola were sold for 5 cents.
•  The soda’s name stems from two of it’s original ingredients; kola nuts ( the source of caffiene) and cocoa leaves.
• Coca-Cola, the company, denies their product having ever contained any amount of the drug cocaine. However, there are those in the industry who believe that historically, there is evidence to suggest that Coca-Cola did contain at least 9 milligrams of the drug in it’s early releases. At the time, the drug was used as a substitute to alcohol, used as a medicine, and completely legal. Any trace amounts of cocaine were removed from the soda in 1929 when the public opinion about cocaine changed and the company began using caffeine in the drink instead.
• When it was first released, the soda was advertised as a “nerve tonic” that “relieves exhaustion.”
• The current Coca-Cola formula remains top secret although there are others who have claimed to have recreated the recipe. At the World of Coca-Cola museum, you can walk through a “vault” where you can read all the fradulent claims and rumors regarding the soda throughout the years. Some of which are pretty outrageous! At the end of the vault, you don’t really learn the actual recipe though.
• There are over 100 different Coca-Cola owned drinks and you will taste the most popular flavors around the world (Asia, North America, South America, Europe, and Africa) and you will without a doubt feel sick afterwards (or at least I did, but you can’t stop the fun!)

Last but not least, we ended our Saturday at the Georgia Aquarium and this was honestly my favorite place. The aquarium itself is HUGE and absolutely beautiful. I loved how interactive each themed area was; you can grab a “map” of the animals you’ll see throughout the exhibit and learn a little bit more about the species homeland, diet, etc. For those of you who have read any of my posts before, I’m a BIG TIME reader and love reading every little sign about literally anything in any museum, park, etc. So much so that it actually annoys that boyfriend of mine, ooopppsss. But what can I say, ya girl likes to be informed!

Like most aquariums, we clearly saw a TON of fish, sea otters, seals, sea lions, dolphins, sting rays (that we could touch!) starfish, and penguins, Unlike any aquarium that I’d ever been too, the Georgia Aquarium had whale sharks AND manta rays. These were pretty amazing to see! I am working on a highlight video of our trip in which you’ll see some of the awesome footage we got of them!

^^^ me, forever wishing I was a mermaid.

All day Sunday was spent at Mecedes-Benz stadium, watching the Dallas Cowboys play the Atlanta Falcons! If you keep up with football or saw the game; obviously it was a pretty big bummer for Cowboy fans, but none the less we were so excited to be there and had the absolute best time!

Also- HUGE thank you to @BEXoxoBlog for recommending some of the best nachos I’ve ever had! Found the vendor at the stadium and was full football fan snacking on my nachos watching the game! They were SO good!

Monday morning we were off on a plane and headed back home to a week full of packing! Becaaauuuusssemeee guess what?!?! Tomorrow we are moving AGAIN! Only this time, a very small move, only about 5 miles away from where we are now! Wish us luck!

A video with some (better) video of our adventures is coming soon!

xoxo,

Amanda