Jan 28th to 30th - SF to Atlanta

Pre-Trip 

Heading to Atlanta was filled with mixed emotions.  It was exciting to start traveling again, but leaving family and friends gave a stronger tug at my heart than usual.



The good news is that the Elwood's were there to meet me in ATL, so Ward and Marie played a little afternoon hooky, the girls were freed from daycare/school, and we all headed to the World of CocaCola.

(Marie, Ward, Kierie, and Ashlyn)

Marketing icons were everywhere, but we didn't mind this syrupy sweet guy.

The "Secret Formula 4-D Theatre" was a literally moving experience, complete with jostling seats and spraying water.  (Worth the price of admission... thanks Ward.)  Kierie was kind enough to sport the glasses for a post movie photo-op.

After wandering through over 100 years of exhibits, we made it to the hi-light, otherwise known as the "tasting room".   We tried round after round of honestly nasty tasting concoctions, literally leaving a bad taste in our mouths and taste bud memories, e.g. Beverly Soda.  

The point of personal excitement was that they had Stoney Tanagawizi from Tanzania!  Awesome that should cleanse the pallet.  It ends up that Stoney is just as hard to find here as in Tanzania and all we received was a blast of soda water.  Oh well, on to the warm coke varieties.  Coke has some real opportunities for impression improvement here, but the highlight was watching the girls and their faces with each new tasting.  Their facial expressions were hilarious and very entertaining. 

We toured the Olympic Park and then headed to a much anticipated barbecue dinner, which in northeastern 'Bama we call "Bubbacue".  The pit was impressive, with everything cooked to a carnitas moisture level.

(Self explanatory.)

For lunch the next day we decided to give real southern wet barbecue a try at the Swallow in the Hallow.

Now this was awesome, with choices of smokey brown, yellow Georgia style, or vinegar based Carolina sauces.  The Georgia and smokey brown sauces won the day.

And of course no true southern barbecue experience would be complete without either fried okra or these delicious fried green tomatoes... perfect!

Ward, Marie and the girls were exceptional Southern transplants, extending their natural hospitality, which was the perfect boost before catching the red-eye flight to Santiago!