Atlanta: Part I

Seth and I just got back from our most recent adventure...a trip to Atlanta.  Our birthdays and Valentine's all fall within 3 weeks.  We decided to celebrate these events all at once with a little getaway.  We hoped in the car Thursday afternoon when I got home from work.   After about an hour of driving we were back to 3 lanes freeway and about a half hour after that we started to hit the traffic of Atlanta 

After checking into our hotel we went to dinner at The Highlander a bar which was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  We shared a bowl of their famous Jamaican Jerk Chili...wow was it spicy.  It came with three jalapeno corn fritters...basically a corn and jalapeno flavored doughnut.  We also tried a couple sandwiches.  We ventured to downtown to get our bearings for our next day. 

Friday morning we headed out really early.  We found a sweet parking spot downtown and were some of the first people to walk through Centennial Olympic Park.  Yes it was just us and the homeless people.  Slightly terrifying but I knew Seth would protect me.  Seth favorite sculpture was the one pictured below.

 

We made an attempt to imitate this work of art... 

After dinking around in the park we headed across the street to CNN.  We started it by taking the escalator on the right up eight flights.  This escalator just has supports at the very bottom and the very top. We visited a simulated control room to see how the producers line-up feeds and keep the show going.  We also visited a sample studio to see a TelePrompter and green screen in action.  We watched a live broadcast and saw the production room where reporters were preparing upcoming stories.  I couldn't help but think of my sister-in-law Mary, who works in broadcasting.  I can just imagine her producing one of these shows.  She would have definitely loved the tour. 

 

Seth found a penny machine...it made a Ben 10 cartoon penny.  Ben 10 happens to be his favorite cartoon besides Phineas and Ferb.  Oh the simple joys in life.