Today I was reminded why I don't like air travel that originates in big cities. Our flight was to leave at 10:50 AM which in Fargo would mean leaving home at about 9:30 driving or 8:30 walking. Our hotel was about 12 miles from the airport, so we needed to figure bad case traffic on the freeway or alternate route; bad case rental car return and tram ride to the check-in terminal, bad case luggage check and TSA security lines, then the tram ride to the terminal. The result was a 7:30ish AM departure from the hotel across the street from Georgia Tech.
The good news is that things weren't bad at all. The 6 lanes-each-direction freeway was moving normally leaving midtown for the airport, unlike the lanes coming into Atlanta. There was almost no wait for car return, tram, and check-in. Thus we got to the gate with plenty of time to spare. The flight to MSP was a little late, but we still had time to grab lunch in Minneapolis and got into Grand Forks about 15 minutes early. I-29 from Grand Forks to Fargo was great. It was really nice to be driving on a lighty trafficed, 75 mph road again. It also felt a bit odd to have it warmer on our arrival in North Dakota than when we left the hotel in Atlanta.
It was nice to be home, but it was a good trip.
BACKSTORY ETC
We chose Georgia because of the desire to do a campus visit for Georgia Tech. We had considered President's Day weekend, but since that was several days after a big Atlanta snow/ice storm, it's just as well that didn't work out. March is wetter in Georgia than April, but we had only a short sprinkle in our week. Shoulder season was nice for reduced crowds, but April seems to be when the grass greens up and more flowers are in bloom. In the mountains, we did have better views without leaves on the trees.
Due to spring break demand, tickets from Fargo to Atlanta were expensive. The 75 minute drive to the Grand Forks airport gave us a 50% airfare price savings and we were fortunate that the weather cooperated. Less than a week after we returned, a blizzard closed I-29 between Fargo and Grand Forks and numerous flights were cancelled. The drive from Fargo to Atlanta is about 20 hours, excluding stops.
Our "sampler" of destinations was suggested by daughter Lily. I then used TripAdvisor and Georgia tourism materials as a primary resources to work out details. In recent year's, I've liked to use Frommers guides, but when Google briefly owned them, the printed books took a back seat and there wasn't a recent one for Georgia. I'm also liking the crowd-source aspects of TripAdvisor over the single expert-opinion of Frommers.
In future trips, we would like to spend more time at Savannah and the coastal islands. Maybe 4-7 days at each. The Blue Ridge Mountains were nice to visit, but other than being a bit higher, didn't offer much more than the hills along the North Shore of Lake Superior. We also don't need to hurry back to Okefenokee, but if we did, we would want to visit Steven Foster State Park on the west side for some variety. It would also allow us to visit the town of Fargo, GA. There is more to explore in Atlanta, but those things are not as compelling as the coast.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Georgia Sampler Day 6 : Atlanta (3/25/2014)
What's a vacation trip to Atlanta without a visit to the Center for Disease Control?
The center is located about 5 miles from Georgia Tech and adjacent to the campus of Emory University. We had to sign in with photo ID and go through a metal detector before entering the museum. The upper level had a special exhibit on I'll call "health and economic/education/race/etc" which shared statistics and case studies of how addressing people's needs has a positive impact on their health. The lower level featured the permanent history of the CDC including displays on its present role as well as past work with malaria in the US (which is why it ended up in Atlanta when founded in 1946), polio, smoking, smallpox, ebola, Legionaires, HIV, and more. I found the two hour visit time well spent.
Lunch was at the famous Varsity Drive-In, billed as the world's largest drive-in. I don't know of any that's larger, having, for example, a two level parking ramp. The interior was pretty basic with fixed tables and hard bench seating. Our order was placed at a long counter with at least a dozen poeple calling out a signature "Waddah yah have? Waddah yah have?", taking orders, and then filling them. We sampled the menu including a chili hot dog, bacon cheese burger, fries, onion rings, Varsity orange drink, and an orange frosted shake. I found the food good, but not exceptional. The environment was certainly unique and historic.
After lunch we headed to the Georgia Aquarium where we spent the afternoon. I was a bit disappointed with the lack of description in the permanent exhibits. Typically there was about a sentence per species. By the end of the day, I figured out that I could satisfy my cognitive thirst by getting additional information from Wikipedia. The 30 minutes dolphin show was kind of a musical with special effects (lighting, strobes, water canons). The dolphins were well trained and their trainers played key roles in some of the tricks. It was entertaining, but had close to zero educational value.
There was a special exhibit which I would call a "Body Worlds of the Sea". There were a number of disected and plasticized sea creatures using processes that looked the same as those used with humans etc in Body Worlds. Interpretive text was more plentiful than in the permanent displays. The most interesting one to me was a female shark prepared to show the embryonic sharks inside her.
The aquarium is set up for families with younger kids who won't miss the lack of display information, but will enjoy seeing the fish, buluga whales, rays, penguins, otters, whale sharks, etc. There were probably half a dozen touch tanks. Between the aquariums In Duluth, Mall of America, and Minnesota Zoo, I felt that the local offerings were as good if not better. The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago is probably a level above what Minnesota and Atlanta have.
After the aquarium, we went across the street to a fast Mexican restaurant for burritos and chips before heading back to our hotel where we have been reading and planning our return trip home tomorrow.
View of downtown Atlanta from our hotel window.
The center is located about 5 miles from Georgia Tech and adjacent to the campus of Emory University. We had to sign in with photo ID and go through a metal detector before entering the museum. The upper level had a special exhibit on I'll call "health and economic/education/race/etc" which shared statistics and case studies of how addressing people's needs has a positive impact on their health. The lower level featured the permanent history of the CDC including displays on its present role as well as past work with malaria in the US (which is why it ended up in Atlanta when founded in 1946), polio, smoking, smallpox, ebola, Legionaires, HIV, and more. I found the two hour visit time well spent.
Lunch was at the famous Varsity Drive-In, billed as the world's largest drive-in. I don't know of any that's larger, having, for example, a two level parking ramp. The interior was pretty basic with fixed tables and hard bench seating. Our order was placed at a long counter with at least a dozen poeple calling out a signature "Waddah yah have? Waddah yah have?", taking orders, and then filling them. We sampled the menu including a chili hot dog, bacon cheese burger, fries, onion rings, Varsity orange drink, and an orange frosted shake. I found the food good, but not exceptional. The environment was certainly unique and historic.
After lunch we headed to the Georgia Aquarium where we spent the afternoon. I was a bit disappointed with the lack of description in the permanent exhibits. Typically there was about a sentence per species. By the end of the day, I figured out that I could satisfy my cognitive thirst by getting additional information from Wikipedia. The 30 minutes dolphin show was kind of a musical with special effects (lighting, strobes, water canons). The dolphins were well trained and their trainers played key roles in some of the tricks. It was entertaining, but had close to zero educational value.
There was a special exhibit which I would call a "Body Worlds of the Sea". There were a number of disected and plasticized sea creatures using processes that looked the same as those used with humans etc in Body Worlds. Interpretive text was more plentiful than in the permanent displays. The most interesting one to me was a female shark prepared to show the embryonic sharks inside her.
The aquarium is set up for families with younger kids who won't miss the lack of display information, but will enjoy seeing the fish, buluga whales, rays, penguins, otters, whale sharks, etc. There were probably half a dozen touch tanks. Between the aquariums In Duluth, Mall of America, and Minnesota Zoo, I felt that the local offerings were as good if not better. The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago is probably a level above what Minnesota and Atlanta have.
After the aquarium, we went across the street to a fast Mexican restaurant for burritos and chips before heading back to our hotel where we have been reading and planning our return trip home tomorrow.
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