Day 8 - Commerce, GA to Atlanta, GA

After yesterday's long drive, today was a very short one.

We started with a free hotel breakfast and headed to Athens, home to the University of Georgia.  We drove through the campus, but surprisingly didn't take any pictures.  The campus is huge, but I didn't find it as impressive as Virginia.

I met an old college friend for coffee at 11am.  He moved to Athens 2 days ago to start his PhD program, so it was quite the coincidence.

We headed towards Atlanta to go to one of my old standby restaurants from when I worked in midtown.  Mary Mac's Tea Room hasn't changed at all.

I documented Erin documenting the bread.

Erin has her usual veggie plate.

I have salmon croquettes, hoppin' john, and potlikker.  (Mustard greens mainly.)

Glad to see it's still around.

Inside the same "Goodwill Ambassador" from three years ago walked around chatting with everyone and giving backrubs.  You also order by writing on an order card.  It is very much from a bygone era.

While certainly worth the trip, I have to say it doesn't compare to Mert's in Charlotte.  Both Erin and I agree that Mert's remains the best meal of the trip so far.

After lunch we headed over to visit one of Atlanta's two main companies.  Since I refuse to do business with Delta, that meant we were headed to...

The World of Coca-Cola!

Some less familiar Coca-Cola products.

The bear gave me a fist-bump.  Very hip bear.

They were all out of order.  :(

You forget just how many brands Coke has.

Some other products originally sold by Coke.

After the tour of history and artifacts, we moved on to the most exciting part of the day.

A few African Coca-Cola products.  There were around 40 kinds to try.

Beverly might be the grossest beverage intended for human consumption to ever enter my mouth.

The tasty area was pretty popular.  It features many children on a sugar rush.

Looking very stylish in our 4D movie glasses.  (4D is where they spray you with water and rock your chair.)

The actual vault with the secret Coca-Cola formula.

On the way out, we were given a bottle of Coke right off the assembly line which we had viewed earlier.  Fun!  I guess this means we have to visit New Bern, NC on the way back to New York to see the Pepsi museum.

After leaving Coke behind, we went to Georgia's most famous cemetery, Oakmont.  That might sound morbid, but it's actually a state park and rated as a romantic location.  If nothing else, it certainly has a wide variety of interesting people buried there.

2003 gravestone of Atlanta's first black mayor.

And a few quite older than 2003.

Resting place of the Vice President of the Confederacy.

Wow.  Must be a very large family.  (Or they just wanted their space.)

On to a more traditional tourist site.  The Olympics!

Still looks nice 18 years later.

Children playing in the rings.

We'll have to ride it next time.

He's a bit taller than me.

Olympians.

We ended our day with a very special Atlanta attraction that only Chick-fil-a fans will appreciate.  I present the Chick-fil-a Dwarf House.

This is the birthplace of the pressure-cooked chicken sandwich.

See that tiny door behind Erin and Mr. Cathy?

It's the entrance.

Full-service with a menu you can hold.

Notice that beef is an option?  Do the cows know about this?

Breakfast all day long too.

I'll have my Chick-fil-a without the bun and with collard greens and field peas.

Isn't that exciting?  They still have a drive-thru and the regular menu as well.  Plus, you don't have to get full service and tip if you don't want to.  There is an overhead menu as well.

After the exciting dinner, it was time to head to the hotel.  (Erin had a baked potato.)

Back to the car!

Atlanta also features a special warning.

I guess this is a common problem?

Tomorrow we head to Montgomery, AL, a relatively quick jaunt down the interstate.  Let's hope Atlanta traffic plays nice.