Thankfully my brain was not on school time this morning and I was able to sleep until 8. Kelly, Ann Marie, and Sabrina had already left for their VIP tour of CNN. The rest of the group met downstairs in the lobby for the continental and then hopped onto the Marta. As we were going through the day I said we would be 'jumping on Marta' and Jess expressed a hope that Marta was not in fact a person. She soon found out the loveliness that is Marta as we rode it three stops to the Peachtree Center. Then, typical of Atlanta, we had to walk a mile to get to the Georgia Aquarium. It was a bit chilly this morning for wearing shorts, but I powered through.
We had our group shot done outside and then wandered in to feel the stingrays and sharks. Two fingers please, no poking. Kristen almost got attacked by a feisty little number who liked to wave on top of the water. I think what saved her was definitely her sailor inspired garb; she was simply too cute to maim so the stingray floated away.
The group moved en masse through the circuit of the aquarium, stopping to ooh and ahh over the lion fish and oggle the electric eel, as well as snap pictures of the albino alligators. We had to hold Jana back when she discovered that the penguin exhibit was closed for maintenance. But she was placated by the super adorable sea otters who showed off for us. Then it was onto the belugas before lunch.
We spent an entire block of time just simply enjoying the Whale Shark exhibit. The soft lighting, the cool blues of the tank, the serene music all combined to make it a wonderful experience. If we had had some hot chocolate and a blanket, we could have stayed in there all day. The manta rays were having a ball inside the tank. We all wanted to join them as they did back flip after back flip. Jess provided voices for each and every fish that floated by. It was totally hysterical as she provided running commentary for the manta ray, "Away!"
After the aquarium, the group split up with half onto the World of Coca-Cola and the others to head back to the hotel. I hadn't been back to the World of Coke since they opened up the new location so it was all new to me. With Kelly's suggestion us GA residents were able to secure two entries for $20 and got everyone in. We could have done without the little entry video with crazy weird characters apparently living inside the Coke machines, of which I'm now a little afraid to approach. But we did enjoy the bottling plant and the vault. Very few of us, okay me, was brave enough to sample all of the drinks. Even the 'Beverly' from Italy. Uck! All hopped up on caffeine we walked back to Marta.
Dinner was going to be tight if the whole group was to meet, eat, and then head out to our prospective movies. We had planned on attending the IMAX and martinis showing at 9 called the Hidden Galaxy, while Jess and her crew went to watch Sandra Bullock being assaulted for 90 minutes. I tried getting reservations for 16 at Mary Mac's Tea Room but they wouldn't take them on the weekend and said their space was large enough we wouldn't have a problem. However when we did arrive, they said the wait would be 45 minutes. Crushed, we had to juggle the opportunity costs of the evening. IMAX was let go as we opted for a nice calm dinner with the group.
That was before we realized that Mary Mac's would LOAD us up with tons of food. We each got to try some Pot Likker (try saying that without a Southern Accent). Then they placed bread baskets full of yeast rolls and cornbread on the tables. THEN they bring out the baskets of the tastiest cinnamon rolls ever. Unfortunately, food arrived after this and it was all so good we had to eat it! Did I mention we each ordered desserts? Uh huh, I had to force myself to down that Peanut Butter Pie. It was horrible.
Tired, fat, and happy we all headed back to bed.
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