This weekend we decided to spend Josh's one day off in Atlanta! The drive there was so beautiful! The flowers and trees are really starting to bloom :)
It is a little over 2 hours away, so we left around 8 in order to make it there in time to attend the 11:00 church service at Atlanta's Most Historic Church: The Catholic Shrine of The Immaculate Conception. It was amazing! It was the most traditional yet unique Catholic church we have ever been to. They were the most accepting, progressive congregation I have ever met. We were accepted with open arms from all colors, shapes, and sizes :) It makes me so happy to know that such a historical church (built in 1847) is accepting the trends of today's society. There was absolutely no sign of prejudice what so ever! In fact, I loved this experience so much I am going to dedicate a post to it :)
After church we grabbed some lunch at the Waffle House! They are everywhere here, but we had yet to venture into one. They truly are the best waffles! We were in a pretty sketchy part of Atlanta, so the "scenery" was an experience in and of itself. (Yikes! We don't EVER want to live in the city!!!)
Next stop... the Coca-Cola Factory!!! We had no idea Coca-Cola world was in Atlanta until we started asking around for things to do. It was the best suggestion! We had a blast :) We planned to spend an hour or so there before heading to a giant park.... 3 1/2 hours later we walked out with a caffeine buzz and a tummy ache :) Not really, but we did try over 60 flavors of soda! Some were pretty nasty, but we discovered a few new ones we wouldn't mind drinking either!
Apart from trying all of the soda, it is quite the attraction! We started out watching/listening to a little history while looking at old and new artifacts.
We then watched a short video before going into a theatre to watch Coke's new campaign Moments of Happiness. It was a very neat movie on a 2 story big screen. They showed clips of all different happy moments in every day life. After watching the video, the screen raised up to let us enter "The Hub".
We were free to explore at our leisure. There were different rooms to explore on two levels.
The Vault of the Secret Formula is supposedly where the only written copy of Coke's formula is... they don't actually let you see it, so I am still skeptical ;)
The Milestones of Refreshment room tells the story of how the company evolved with many different ad campaigns displayed. Coca-Cola truly is a brand, not just a drink!
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| Coke campaigns with Santa Claus |
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| Olympic Torches |
Next is Bottle Works where they show you an actual "bottling factory". They have the machines slowed down to show the process, producing 20 bottles of coke per minute. Most factories produce 2,300 bottles per minute! Josh's favorite, the Fizz Bot, was in this room. Slave Labor haha! We forgot to take pictures in this room! :( Oops!! Here are a few other "bottle" pictures from another room :)
Upstairs was a 4D movie. This was Josh's first and my second 4D movie experience. The video, Search for the Secret Formula, was in 3D, and our seats moved, we got poked in the back, and water was shot in our face. Kinda different but fun!
Also on this level, the pop culture gallery showcasing how fans have made the brand an icon, Perfect Pauses Theatre showing TV advertising for Coca-Cola throughout the years, and the Taste It room!
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| The syrup was originally made in a copper bowl and stirred with a wooden paddle |
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| The syrup was then added to a dispenser. Fill cup with soda water & add syrup! |
Inside the Taste It room, the soda flavors are dived into continents. There were flavors from Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and North America. They also had all of the typical Coca-Cola flavors well known in the U.S., including Powerade and Dasani flavored water. We would taste one continent, then tour a room, taste another continent, tour another room, so on and so forth. It was really fun!
The Melon Frosty was really strong! The next one over tastes like carbonated carrot juice :( Our favorite here was Smart on the end!
Beverly on the right is nasty!! It tasted like grapefruit peel ground up in soda water! We liked the Mezzo Mix and Fanta pineapple. The bonaqa was basically flavored, carbonated water. AquArius Libre wasn't very good either.
The Stoney was gross! Both of the Bibo's were basically carbonated juice. We liked the BonBon Anglais the best.
Here Josh liked the Inca Kola from Peru. I liked Manzana Lift from Chile (it is apple flavored!)
We also had our picture taken with the Coca-Cola Polar Bear!
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| You get a bottle of coke to-go! |
We tried to tour CNN, but it was closing right when we got there :(
Coca-Cola world wore us out, so after we grabbed some dinner at The Flying Biscuit. No, the biscuits didn't actually fly like on TV :( We were kind of disappointed, but the food was good! Josh had school this morning, so we headed home right after. It was a fun little day trip getaway! Well needed, and well worth it :)
