2008 Road Trip (Day 5) - Atlanta, Georgia

24th Dec, 2008

We had our breakfast and went to Atlanta Botanical Garden. This was reasonably good, even in winter. We spent nearly 2 hours there. There was a kids 'discovery' area in the park. I believe, the Garden would be at its best in Spring/Summer. There is also a small train ride ($2 charge). The conservatory had a number of tropical and desert plants.

We had our lunch and went to Atlanta downtown. The downtown was quite busy and a bit more spacious than other downtowns. We parked our car for $10 in the Georgia World Congress Center. There were cheaper parking areas available closer to the Centennial Olympic Park. We walked to the CNN Center. The CNN tour was closed for that day. We were disappointed. The CNN Center was HUGE and beautiful. I wish we were allowed to take the tour. There is a food mart in the first floor and many folks were sipping their coffee and watching news on the huge flat screen.

We then spent some time in the Centennial Olympic Park. They had a very tall Christmas Tree in the center of the park. There was a also skating area in the park, that was quite busy. They had a musical water fountain which was a attraction for kids. We spent about an hour in the park and went to World of Coca Cola.

You should learn from Coca Cola about how to charge people for advertising your brand. World of Coca Cola is a brand building center for Coca Cola. They had a number of age-old Coca Cola advertising posters and artifacts. There is also a demo of Coke manufacturing process. You get to taste 65 different varieties of Coke products across the globe. It was quite amazing to see that Coke has THAT many flavors. You can also carry a complimentary Coke bottle to home, at the end of the self-guided tour. We spent nearly 1.5 hours there.

We headed to Birmingham for our night stay. We stayed in the same hotel that we stayed on the 22nd night.

2008 Road Trip (Day 6) - Memphis, Tennessee

25th Dec, 2008

This is a day full of drive. We started at about 8 am from the hotel. There was a 6 hours drive from Birmingham to Little Rock, Arkansas. On the way to Arkansas, we stopped in Memphis to see THE PYRAMID. We stopped at Elvis Presley famous Sun Studio, but it was closed for XMas. So, we skipped the Civil Rights Museum also (assuming that it will also be closed). We took a number of breaks during the drive.

I was surprised to see almost all the shops closed on Christmas. Normally, I've seen that the shops will open in the evening during holidays. There were no open shops in the evening too. The roads were also completely deserted. You hardly see any people walking on the streets during Christmas. We made several trips to Grocery stores and were disappointed every time. It was unique experience. Fortunately, Walgreens was open. We could buy some milk there.

We watched movie and had dinner in the hotel room.

2008 Road Trip (Day 4) - Birmingham, Alabama

23rd Dec, 2008

We had a good sleep. It was very windy and cold in Birmingham. We got ready, had our breakfast and left hotel by 8.30 am. We also washed our clothes in the hotel laundry facility. We went to the Temple of Sibyl in Vestavia Hills. It looks like this is a replica of the Sibyl Temple in Rome, Italy. We spent a few minutes there and went to the Vulcan Park. Vulcan Park is a nice and calm place in the busy city. We spent about an hour there, learning about Birmingham's history. From the top of the Vulcan building, you can get a glimpse of the whole city. It looks like the Iron Industry was so popular during the WWII times.

We then went to the Civil Rights Museum and learned about the atrocities that the black has gone through in America. The treatment of black people was quite similar to the treatment of the 'untouchables' in India. They've renovated the museum and the artifacts are really good. We also spent sometime in the park opposite to the Civil Rights Museum.

We then had our lunch and went to Desota Caverns Park. It was about an hour drive from Birmingham. There were hardly any people there. They had lots of play structures too. They charged about $18 per person. It is a very old cave and most of the cavern formations are dormant. But, the cavern was HUGE. They had a musical light/water show about Jesus Christ inside the cavern (after turning-off all the lights). That was well done. The chocolate fudge served in the visitor shop was delighting. We, in fact, bought 1/4 pound of fudge and I ate most of it :)

We drove to Atlanta, Georgia for our night stay.