ATL on the cheap

Thanks to some really great friends (thanks Durkin fam) we were able to have a great 3 day family vacation.  We had a complimentary two night stay at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Atlanta, four passes to the World of Coca-Cola, and four passes to Zoo Atlanta (not to mention a trusty restaurant.com gift certificate for Baja Fresh while in Atlanta). So for the price of gas and three dinners out we had a fantastic pre-holidays vacation.

The "Red Room" with thousands of original Coke signs

Watching the bottle works in action

The World of Coke of course has memorabilia from around the world like this truck

and this commerative Keady Court bottle from Purdue (and the whole German national team on cans)

The coolest part was "Taste It". The unending supply of product samples from continents around the world. Latin America was muy delicioso, especially the sour apple flavors.

 Africa was, as they say in Zimbabwe, blah. Everything seemed a little bitter tasting.

Asia had a few really odd tastes sponsored by anime looking characters.

I think everyone enjoyed the taste testing. Savannah and Isaiah really loved the fruity flavors. Not so much the few colas they tried.

Another big hit were the 3D glasses. Unfortunately the 4D movie experience was a bit overwhelming.

After the World of Coke we played in Centennial Olympic Park for a while before heading to dinner.

 For the kids, the highlight of every family trip we take always is the hotel.  They love sleeping in their own beds and waking up to morning cartoons together.  Of course the like snuggling before bed together too.

On Saturday we got out early and headed for the Zoo in Grant Park, which both the park and the neighborhood by the same name are worth a visit on their own.  The zoo is not overly large for what might be expected of a city Atlanta's size. However, the November crowd was no problem at all and we spent a good 4-5 hours at the zoo at a casual pace including lunch. 

Zoo Atlanta is widely known as one of the few U.S. homes of Giant Pandas. Hence the Chinese doorway.

Isaiah's favorite was the giraffes (and Lily the baby)

Savannah really liked the meerkats. So much so that we joined their family.

The parakeet house was really cool and a must see. It was a fairly small space with up close and personal contact with the birds. Especially when they all started flying and swooping through the house past our heads.

The tigers received lots of attention. Everyone enjoyed the family cuddle and watching the cubs wrestle together (kind of like a couple kids we know).

Savannah also enjoyed petting and brushing the goats and sheep and did a great job.

After the zoo we drove through Grant Park and headed north towards Piedmont Park in midtown Atlanta.  This gave enough time for nap time in the car and a fueled a second wind once we got to the park. We of course found a playground and since the weather was so great we spent the rest of the afternoon there. 

Savannah was trying to smile until the Muscovy duck started walking down the pier towards her (she's seen some aggressive geese at our local parks).  With no where to run Daddy set a pick so she and Mommy could get back to solid ground.

Sunday morning we woke up to breakfast in our room before heading a short distance to worship at Blueprint Church.  While working through Psalm 73 I love that the pastor stated, "All of our emotions are theological statements".  It certainly was true of Asaph who wrote of his envy and bitterness. At first his envy seems directed towards the ungodly, but in fact it was revealed that his bitter attitude was towards God. In the end he remembers that God is faithful to his people and there is nothing on earth that we should desire above God.  Now that is something worth remembering this week.

All in all we had a great trip and cannot thank the Durkins enough for letting us get out of town for the weekend.  Happy Thanksgiving!