When I first planned out the Disney World trip that I took with Erin and her kids in July, I had wanted to start out in Atlanta before moving on to Plains, Georgia. However, after we added an additional day at Disney and realized we could get started until late morning on our first Saturday, we nixed the visit to Atlanta. Then I had hoped to take my fifth and final vacation in Charleston where Erin lived, and take a side excursion up to Atlanta. But when we broke up, that fell through. But I didn’t let the Atlanta dream die…
I decided to plan a whole new trip that would include a re-visit to Florida and Georgia. This time I’d take Ashleigh with me as her going-away present before she headed up to Ohio State. The nature of this trip changed as well when she announced that she was pregnant and would be staying home. Still, it ended up being a nice getaway for her and some bonding time for both of us. So that’s the evolution of this final week-long vacation of the year. I hope you’re all the better for knowing it now.
It began on Tuesday, September 14, 2010. I worked that day, so we couldn’t leave until late afternoon. Mom brought Ashleigh up to my work a little bit after 3pm and we headed out in my new Acura, making it’s Catsafterme road trip debut. We made a pit stop at the Kroger in Hebron to check out the new scan tunnels (and saw my friend Misty). I changed out of my work clothes in the car and we were on our way.
The intention was to stop in Lexington for dinner at Sam’s Hot Dog Stand, where I had previously enjoyed their culinary delights last year when I traveled through there with Christi. However, I was hit with a rude awakening when we arrived and I found out that they were only open on the weekdays 10:30am – 4pm. This was quite the disappointment. We traveled southward for another hour.
We eventually stopped at a Cracker Barrel in London, Kentucky, for our eats. I was quickly learning that traveling with a pregnant girl would not be pretty when it came to finding the exact right restaurant at the exact right time. There was a bonus to the chicken friend chicken I enjoyed though. There was a welcome center to the area right next to the Cracker Barrel and out front was what they claimed as the “World’s Largest Stainless Steel Skillet”. Guess what? I took a picture with it.
It was worth the price of the trip just to see this giant frying skillet
Good times and good eats at Cracker Barrel. Look at how much food Yaht has.
We moved on southward for about 90 miles and arrived out our lodging for the night, a Super 8 motel that smelled like smoke, but it had a internet access so I was happy. It was about a three-and-a-half hour drive from Knoxville to Atlanta, so we got a fairly early start on Wednesday morning, mostly just snacking along the way. We saw a wretched traffic jam going the other way that had been precipitated by an overturned Budweiser truck. It was about noon when we arrived at our first destination of the day: Turner Field to see an Atlanta Braves game.
Arrival in Atlanta, host of the 1996 Olympics
My friend Bob had got me started on the ball fields, but we often just do a tour of it or pop in for a few innings just to check out the facility. This time Ashleigh and I stayed for the entire game and I frankly had a great time watching. They had some $1 tickets available, but I decided to spurge and go for the $9 tickets. Our seats were perfectly fine, behind home plate slightly to the right in one of the upper sections. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the Braves win the game, as they fell 2 to 4 to the Washington Nationals.
Entering Turner Field…or “The Ted”
Brad and Ted’s excellent adventure
I was happy with a hot dog as per usual. Ashleigh and I scoured three floors for a sub sandwich, before she settled for some pizza. Preggos.
I had orginally planned to see the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum the next day, but we got out of the baseball game by 3pm, so I figured we could get through it in 45 minutes, which we did with no problem whatsoever. The only bad thing was that they had stopped showing the introductory movie. The Library had been remodeled in 2009, so this was my first time seeing the new and improved museum. Further details of the museum can be found here.
Ashleigh returns to the Carter Presidential Library
Ash and me in the Oval Office reproduction
It was about 4:45pm by the time we got out of there and headed to the nearby Martin Luther King historic district. Ashleigh and I had briefly touched on these locations when we visited in 2006 with my friend Bob. Even though everything was closing up, we still got to see more this time than we did back then. We checked out the Visitor Center museum, the Martin Luther King grave and eternal flame, and the exteriors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church and Martin Luther King birthplace. Ashleigh and I replicated the photo with the grave that we had taken four years earlier.
The entire block was designated as the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site. Parking was free, which was the most impressive of all.
This wagon used in old time prayer meetings carried the casket of Martin Luther King through Atlanta for the funeral procession. Donated by Cook’s Antique Store in Atlanta, it symbolized King’s work with the poor.
Martin Luther King’s eternal flame located across from his final resting place
Martin Luther King’s widow Coretta Scott had already passed away the year that we visited the gravesite in 2006 (see the corresponding photo here), but she had not been added to the tomb at that time
Martin Luther King regularly pastored at the Ebenezer baptist church in the 50’s and 60’s. The last time I was here I got to go inside, but not this time.
Martin Luther King was born in this house on January 15, 1929, and lived here until 1941
We weren’t all that far from the Hard Rock Cafe at this point…which I learned about an hour later. It seems that there are n inordinate amount of streets in Atlanta using the name “Peachtree” – Peachtree Lane, Peachtree Avenue, Peachtree Circle, Peachtree Drive, Peachtree Plaza, Peachtree Way…I kid you not.
We were looking for Peachtree Street, but ended up six miles away on Peachtree Road, where there was nothing next to us when my GPS proudly stated “you have arrived!” And by the way, six miles in downtown Atlanta takes about 30 minutes at best. So we had to go back the same six miles, and a 30 more minutes later, we were about back where we started – and at the my 29th Hard Rock Cafe enjoying a Hickory BBQ Bacon Burger and the limited amount of Big 7 memorabilia.
My ninth Hard Rock Cafe of the year, 29th overall
The last BBQ Bacon burger of the year…maybe
John Lennon wore this tuxedo jacket while signing Bag One lithographs in Canada in 1969
Elvis Presley purchased this motorcycle in 1976 from Harley-Davidson West in Marina del Rey, California
Our lodging for the night was at the completely vacant Knights Inn (that still had the Super 8 sign on it) about ten miles outside the city. It was across from the nudie bars and had one dead cockroach on the air conditioner, but I was okay with it since it had wireless internet.
We had gotten more done in Atlanta than I had expected, but there were still a couple of things left to see in Atlanta on Thursday, before moving southward.
The trip will continue…
Bypass the trip and continue with 2010…
REALLY cool Brad!
: )
Jamie
February 22nd, 2011