Atlanta

Wells absolutely loves aquariums; he is obsessed with sharks and has been for years. After watching “The Aquarium” on Disney+, I knew we had to take him to Atlanta to see the Georgia Aquarium. Chris had zero interest in a trip to Georgia so I had to a bit of convincing to get him on board.

My key points:

Atlanta is less than an eight hour drive; if we left before breakfast, we could be there by dinner.

We had a goal before Millie was born to take her to as many states as possible before her 18th birthday and none of us had ever experienced GA (other than flight layovers).

There is more to do than just the Aquarium, (which btw is no. 1 in the nation) Olympic Park, a Children’s Museum, the Chattahoochee River, The Coca Cola Museum, etc…

Basically, he wasn’t thrilled about the trip to Atlanta but he surely didn’t want to be left behind. Spring break 2024 was when we booked our trip. Wells counted down the days until our vacation. “Saturday, Sunday, A-wanta!”

Chris’ grandfather was in poor health, had fallen, and was hospitalized two days before our trip to Atlanta. Grandpa was unresponsive when we left. Unfortunately, while we were driving to Georgia, he passed away. I read chapters of his memoir out loud while Chris drove into the night. There was a full moon. It was a very tearful drive.

We didn’t know we had entered the state of Georgia until we stopped at a rest stop and the floor mat said, “Welcome to Georgia, Y’all!” We needed gas so we stopped at the infamous, “Buck-ees” and we were amazed at the store. There were beavers everywhere; on bathing suits, hats, tee-shirts, fanny packs, athletic shorts, travel pillows, even onesies. Crosby was not thrilled about being placed in a pile of Buck-ee stuffies for a photo op. The workers yelled encouraging call-and-response anecdotes to each other working behind the counters. Chris was super impressed with his veggie burrito.

The Atlanta skyline was so bright and long; the city seemed like it went on forever. Our hotel was right off the freeway and our room faced the Georgia Aquarium’s parking deck that had a huge image of a whale shark. Wells was disappointed that we weren’t going to the aquarium right then (it was after 9pm).

The hotel room had a sliding door to the bathroom and Mill pinched her finger; thankfully, the ice machine down the hall fixed the tears. Millie and Wells slept on the hide-away bed with lots of extra pillows. We watched an episode of Bluey, the kids requested it and even though we explained we didn’t have streaming on the hotel TV and couldn’t guarantee Bluey was going to be playing, it indeed was. Our point was mute and they still don’t understand cable television.

We woke up and ate the complimentary hotel breakfast; nothing special but the bigs liked going down with Daddy to get the food (although Chris said Wells was more of a hindrance than a help). We loaded up the double stroller, that has a platform on the back for Mill to stand on, and left for the Atlanta Children’s Museum just a few blocks away. I guess I assumed since I was on spring break, everyone else was too however, there were many elementary field trip groups at the Children’s Museum so we had to navigate through lots of kids, teachers, and parents. Millie and Wells enjoyed painting on the walls, doing nature yoga (Wells broke out of his pose to dance and Mill all but tackled him down to the ground and said he was embarrassing her.) Millie and Chris built a butterfly house together out of recycled materials, and Wells dug for fossils in the sand. Crosby and I hung out in the baby section crawling around and watching the big kids play.

Thankfully, I struck up a conversation with a mom in the baby section about the Georgia Aquarium and how that was our next adventure. She mentioned that she and her daughter were there the day before and the dolphin show was their favorite part. She showed me how to reserve tickets for the dolphin show, which proved to be amazing. It was fully reserved by the time we arrived so I was grateful for the advice.

After the kids had tried all the things at the Children’s Museum, we walked through Olympic park to get to the Georgia Aquarium. Along the way, we stopped at a playground for the kids to climb and enjoy the fresh air. Crosby liked crawling in the tube. It was drizzling and Millie slipped trying to climb on the equipment; thankfully, she wasn’t hurt. Once the rain started to pick up, we made our way to our next destination.

Entering the aquarium looked like an atrium of a shopping mall and it was crowded. We were all hungry so the first thing we did was order lunch at the cafe; they had a delicious, vegan burger and fries. The dining area was super busy but we were able to find a table in the back corner so I could nurse Crosby inconspicuously. A family was waiting for our table while we were wrapping up our meal so we quickly cleaned up and went exploring. We checked out some crocodiles and frogs and passed a window that showed the top of the largest tank in the aquarium. It was the first time we saw a whale shark and it was amazing; the size of the fish was unreal.

When it was time for our scheduled dolphin show, we, as well as hundreds of other people, were escorted into a large theater where instead of a stage, was a large tank. We found seats close to the front but upon closer inspection the back of the chairs read, “soak zone”. We prepared the kids for the inevitable dolphin splash as best as we could however, Millie was freaking out about it. She was bringing up getting splashed every ten seconds (maybe every 8 seconds) When the dolphins swam and jumped high into the air, they were spectacular. The trainers said that dolphins feel like wet hotdogs and that stuck with Wells. Of course, we got soaked by the flick of a dolphins tail; Crosby cried but the big kids thought it was funny. It was a fin-tastic show (Chris would appreciate the pun.)

After the dolphin show, we went to see the crown jewel of the Georgia Aquarium, the Ocean Voyager exhibit. This tank has over six-millions gallons of water and home to not one, but two whale sharks! This aquarium was breathtaking. I truly do not have the words to describe how it felt to look under the oceans surface. The manta ray was majestic. The rare, beaked stingrays were fascinating. But the whale sharks stole the show; their size, their spotted backs, and their wide mouths were just outstanding. We could have sat at this exhibit all day; we watched the fish for a long time while Crosby got out of the stroller and crawled around.

I gave Wells my phone and let him take pictures. He said, “You have to send those to Aunt Mollie right now.” We had visited our Aunt Mollie just two weeks prior to this trip when she was placed in hospice care and she told Wells how much she loved the ocean and sea turtles. It was so sweet that Wells remembered that on his own and wanted her to experience the aquarium too.

We explored the Arctic exhibit and it was the first time we saw beluga whales! (Raffi’s Baby Beluga song is one that I would sing to the kids). The whales were so entertaining; it was cool to see them in real life after watching them on TV. The four belugas took turns swimming toward the glass, flipping and swimming upside down. Their body shape and muscle structure looked so interesting – Chris said it looked like a person in a white suit swimming around. They looked so happy to be swimming together.

The shark tank was absolutely terrifying. There were 19+ sharks swimming around including giant hammerheads swimming in tanks above our heads. Wells was watching the sharks when he let out a loud fart. I was so embarrassed and of course everyone around us just chuckled, including Wells. Chris pulled him aside and told him that wasn’t polite. We checked out the coral reef tank that held really beautiful, colorful fish. We ended our aquarium adventure at the gift shop where we let each babe pick out a stuffy; Millie chose a purple, sparkly dolphin, Wells picked a blue, tiger-striped shark, and we got a whale shark, “Yushawn” for Crosby. I picked out a Christmas ornament and $500 dollars later (not actually 500 but a lot of money was spent) we left the Georgia Aquarium and headed back to our hotel.

We napped at the hotel and when we woke up, we were all hungry. We checked out this completely vegan restaurant called, Cafe Sunflower in Buckhead- maybe a 15 minute drive from our hotel. The area was super “hip” and we were so impressed by the menu options. Chris and I couldn’t believe we could eat everything on the menu; we felt normal for once! We got potstickers and brussel sprouts for appetizers – delicious. Wells ordered noodles, Millie had a cheese quesadilla, Chris had sesame chick’n, and I had chick’n parm. The food was unbelievable. The kids were well behaved during dinner; we played Micky Mouse on the phone for Crosby. For dessert, Chris and the kids ate a decadent chocolate cake (Wells and Mill practically licked the plate) and I ordered the carrot cake. We told the host, which happened to be the owner, that it was the best dinner we’ve had in six years. He said, “Every culture has vegan dishes, I just put them all on one menu.” We were so impressed.

When we went back to the hotel, the bar was showing the Ohio State vs Georgia men’s basketball game on the big screen. The game was in Columbus and here we were in GA, but there were other Buckeye fans at the bar. The Buckeyes took a loss but we struck up a conversation with the bartender who took a liking to the kids and she gave us some suggestions of fun things to do with them in Atlanta.

We took her advice and went to the Museum of Illusion the next morning. The museum was on the second floor of an outdoor shopping mall; it was a beautiful location. Educators got in the museum for free and both kids were under age limit for a ticket so we were able to experience this activity for the cost of Chris’ admission (everything’s expensive so it was nice to get a cost break). We walked through the exhibits and took pictures in different poses. The kids really liked the peg board that you could imprint your body behind and it would show up on the front side. They tried to spell out O-H-I-O but Millie’s belly got poked and it actually broke the skin.

We ate lunch at the mall but of course everyone wanted different things; I made a delicious salad at Salata, Chris got Indian food, and the kids got Asian noodles. We ate outside at a picnic table. Wells picked a beautiful flower for me from a nearby bush. We stumbled upon a “fairy door” heading back to our car, which we found out were placed all around Atlanta. You scanned the QR code next to the small door and Instagram showed you what it would look like to “open” the door. This door had bright butterflies flying out. Millie loved this and as luck would have it, we’d find two more doors on our trip.

Thankfully, our Columbus Zoo membership has reciprocity at many other zoos in the nation and the Atlanta Zoo was one of them. It only cost us $36 dollars for our family to get in. We saw a baby rhino (we participated in a naming bracket for weeks post-visit and our favorite name was chosen, Zuri!) and met a family from Miami vacationing in Atlanta to get away from the “spring-breakers”. We saw African elephants (we have only ever seen Asian elephants) their ears were much larger and they were more orange in color versus the grey we were used to seeing. We saw the biggest owls we have ever seen; they were as tall as my leg. There was an awesome jungle- gym play area that the kids got to explore. We were too late for the rope obstacle course but maybe next time we visit we can add that to our adventure list.

Our highlight of the zoo was seeing the pandas. There were three that we could see and two were awake! Yang-Yang, the oldest panda at 27, had an orange tint to his back. The keepers explained it was because he loves the taste and smell of hot sauce so sometimes they give him some and he rolls around in it. Wells and Mill both got little panda stuffies that hugged a lollipop (Millie’s is now affixed to her backpack strap – the stuffy, not the lollipop).

When we were viewing the giraffes, Wells realized he had forgotten his sunglasses in a pretend birds nest in the bird enclosure we had just left. Wells and I raced back to the exhibit and unfortunately, his glasses weren’t there. I said, “Sorry bud, someone must have picked them up.” And a man with his son who was standing behind us said, “Are these what you’re looking for?” Wells was so happy to have his sunglasses back – the little boy who found them was not so happy to give them back.

We stopped to rest on a bench so I could feed Crosby and a large carpenter bee kept hovering over us. Chris was irritated with it and he swatted it out of the sky with his hand. The bee fell to the ground, we presumed it died, and the kids thought it was hysterical. Then, we were all freaked out because after we had a good laugh, the bee was gone!

We left the Atlanta Zoo and took a walk through Olympic park. The kids played duck, duck, goose with a group of kids outside the Coca-Cola museum. Wells’ laugh was incredible. We were proud of our kids for picking each other during the game so that neither one felt left out. Mill proceeded to tell another mom how she thought she had pink eye (she didn’t, she was just oversharing).

We continued our adventure to the fountains and watched as a lady posed to take pictures inside the water display. When the water went down, Wells ran into the fountain and copied the lady’s poses. It was fantastic; even the lady laughed. Millie wanted to get into the fountain so we told her that when the water went down, she was to run in so she didn’t get wet. Of course, Mill and Wells ran at the same time and collided into each other. They got soaked when they were laid out on the pavement and the fountains splashed back up. No one was hurt but they were both wet and cold.

We could’ve turned around and went back to the hotel but we were hungry and weren’t ready for the night to end. The Atlanta Margaritaville was .1 miles away. I got the bigs new, dry shirts and Crosby a mimicking parrot from the gift shop. The kids ate French fries and veggies (not a whole lot for us to eat there) and Chris had black bean tacos. We all got colorful drinks and took fun pictures. We were absolutely exhausted walking back to the hotel; Crosby fell asleep in the stroller.

The next morning we packed up the jeep (we would be staying at a different hotel that night) and headed to the Georgia Museum of Natural History. The humongous dinosaur skeletons in the atrium were outstanding. In the spider exhibit, the bigs enjoyed playing a large, bug eating game similar to Hungry, Hungry, Hippos. They were talking so encouraging to each other it made my mama heart happy.

We saw an amazing seashell exhibit and Millie found some shells she just knew were assembled by mermaids. I tried to put Crosby in a 300lb clam shell for a quick pic but Chris would not let me. Anytime Crosby saw a taxidermied animal he’d say, “og” really loud. I’m pretty sure he was trying to say dog and it was adorable. The kids loved the outdoor playground and elevated pathways. While the kids played, I struck up a conversation with another mom who told me about other adventures we could explore the next time we go to Georgia; the Lego museum, the balloon museum, and the ventriloquist museum (probably would skip that one). Once bigger kids started taking over the playground, we continued on our way.

Along the path, we found another fairy door and when you scanned this one, dinosaurs walked out. There was an obstacle course with climbing parts that the bigs went through with Chris (he had to turn around when he found he couldn’t fit through the tunnel). Before we left the Natural History Museum, we stopped at the gift shop and found swords on sale (what luck!) so we bought two in preparation for that nights activity, Medieval Times. Heading back to the car I asked the kids, “If we come back to Georgia, who should we bring with us?” Wells quickly replied, “Definitely Grandma”.

We checked into our hotel room and took a nap before the show. The outside of Medieval Times looked just like a castle even though it was attached to a shopping mall. The woman at the ticket counter sat us in the “yellow knights” section and Chris asked her if it was okay to switch us to the “blue” knight for Wells; she said the seats would be further up but we didn’t care. Wells wouldn’t have accepted any other color but blue and Millie was okay with it because pink wasn’t an option.

Wells was devastated that his sword that we bought from the museum did not light up like the swords they were selling at Medieval Times. As we waited to be seated, we got the kids water in light up cups that looked that a castle tower but the lights ended up being too bright for Wells’ eyes. Chris and I were both irritated with how often people walked around trying to sell us things for the kids; roses, swords, light up wands, etc. (of course the kids wanted everything and had mini meltdowns every time we said no).

The vegan options at Medical Times were delicious; hummus plate, corn on the cob, bean soup, and Italian ice. The kids enjoyed watching the horses, the swords spark when the knights fought, but their favorite part was the falcon flight around the theatre. The blue knight did not win but Wells didn’t seem to mind. Chris was so happy the kids were into it – this was his addition for the trip. As we were leaving, we checked out the picture they took of our family and to my surprise, it was awesome (it can be difficult getting three kids to look in the same direction) so we bought the picture as a souvenir.

The next morning, we packed up our things and ate Dunkin’ Doughnuts for breakfast. Our final stop was the Chattahoochee River. We had been singing, “Way down yonder at the Chattahoochee” for weeks before our trip (the lyrics are pretty inappropriate, we didn’t let the kids listen to the actual song, just our ‘made up’ version). Crosby was asleep by the time we arrived so Chris stayed in the car with him while I got the bigs into their rain boots and experienced the “muddy water”.

The kids danced and jumped in the water. We laughed when I had to dump half the river out of Wells’ rain boots. The kids laughed when I said, “You have the Chattahoochee in your boots!” We saw people in row boats, ducks, people walking their dogs, and others eating lunch by the water. We walked down to a dock and walked the length of it. The water was really high and fast moving. Millie wanted to walk back through the water and while she was trying to step over a tree root she fell into the Chattahoochee. Thankfully, I was able to grab her up quickly and she wasn’t hurt, just soaked. We changed Wells’ socks and Mills entire outfit before getting back on the road.

The ride through Georgia was stunning, which was nice while we sat in the notorious Atlanta traffic. Purple wisteria was in bloom all through the trees along the highway. I was stabbed in my head, neck, and shoulders many times by the swords of my knights from the backseat. Wells said, “I wish we could live here.” I told him that, that was a sign of a good trip; when you don’t want to leave. We have plenty more exploring to do in Georgia and will definitely be vacationing back there again.