Day two in Atlanta was full of fun and memories!!! We awoke, got bundled, and headed downtown. We also played kissy face while getting ready :)
THis is the view from our hotel. Green Atlanta.
All bundled and ready to downtown!
We were such tourists!! As Michael drove (in Team Oakley, Michael always drives) Beka took pictures of anythign and everything that she could!
We had many things that we were wanting to do in ATL, and we knew that we were going to have to prioratize what we wanted to do. BEing that ATL is only four hours away, we knew that we would come again, and that made it easier to let go of things we knew we really wanted to do, but we knew that we were not going to have time to.
One thing we knew we HAD to do fist was (and this makes sense if you really know Michael Oakley)....THE WORLD OF COKE!!!
Michael was beside himself with excitement the closer and closer we got.
Beka thought that he was going to pee his pants he was so hyper and excited! and this is with no coke yet!
The venue where the coke factory was really cool. It was in a central downtown area where you can walk to it, the aquarium, the olympic park, and other fun touristy things. The world of coke was the only thing that we could afford, but we are going to go to all the others ones in the future! stay posted :)
See...expensive :)
But exciting!
Here is the Atlanta sky line! We felt so urban and fun.
Everything was themed out! Here is Beka standing by a coke trash
We felt like we were boarding a ride at disneyland!
Two tickets to paradise in Michael's mind
We were very impressed with the inside. Everything was thought out. Everything was clean, had a purpose, and had a clean and clear cohesive message throughout. It was very impressive. They had larger than life replicas of some of the coke bottles they had used in different parts of the world.
They Timed groups so that it was not chaotic when you actually got inside the world of coke. When it was our time, we lined up, Michael squealed a bit, and we were let into the wild wonderland :) You could almost hear angles as the double doors entered and our tour guide greeted us in many different languages. Welcome to the world of coke...
It was coke everything! THis room had items spanning over the last 100 years, and from over 50 countries! Beka showed her Vanna White skills in displaying some of her favorite things in the room. Yes, coke Fashion.
After you got your fill of the first room, you were ushered into a theatre! We were treated to a 7 min making of a coke commercial. It was pretty visually fantastic.
After we were stunned by the movie, the screen lifts up to reveal the door to the actual world of coke! We were not even there yet!
Once revealed, our group made our way into the lobby of the pristine world of coke, which was festivally dressed for the holidays.
This was a really cool feature of the world of coke. You could pick up a phone and listen to a story of how someone was impacted positively by the coke company through a job opportunity, or scholarship, ect. Can you find Michael?
Beka was wearing red....It just felt appropriate
The rest of our time in the Wonderful World of Coke was self guided. There were many different rooms and things to do and cool things to see. The only rule they gave us was not to go through a certain room, because that was the exit, and there was no re-entry from there....see the problem with this was Team Oakley was all too excited to go and do everything, that they only hear "or there is no re-entry from that point", but we did not hear what room that was. So before we went in any of them, we had to find an employee and ask if this was the point of no return. Everyone was super helpful, and we made lots of old ladies laugh. Mission accomplished.
Beard friends!
Beka REALLY loved seeing all the 20s-40s ads with pretty ladies in fun outfits.
This was so cool! It was a bunch of the different torches that were used in the opening ceremonies for the Olympic games!
These are bottles from the different companies that Coke owns...the basically own America. We had no idea how far the coke company has expanded!
We took a picture with the coke bear. It was awesome.
We were having so much fun!!!
In this part of the Wonderful World of Coke, we got to see bottles cleaned, pressurized, filled, capped, labeled, boxed, and shipped. It was amazing! We stayed so long watching it all happen that two groups passed us along the way.
After that we went into the coke 3d movie. We actually don't remember what it was about, it was really rough. It was motion simulated (like star tours at disneyland for a reference, if that ride hated and tried to kill you). The ride was so rough, 10 secs in Beka was scoping out 1. the nearest exit, and 2. the nearest trash can pending a puke. She and Michael servived, stomach in tact, but we both had to rest for a good 10 mins before continuing on our adventure. It was a NOT so wonderful part to the Wonderful World of Coke. NOT WONDERFUL
These are happy faces BEFORE the ride.
NOT so wonderful 3d theatre
Coke doing cool things for our planet. Always cool.
After the 3d nightmare, we sat in a non moving, non simulated room and viewed coke commercials from different eras, and different countries. It may have been Beka's favorite thing in the whole Wonderful World of Coke.
Then we went into the coke art studio. Yep, they had a whole room devoted to Pop art and all things art/coke. It was fantastic.
AND THIS IS WHERE BEKA'S CAMERA DIED! sad times! They next room was the one where the epic madness went down! THE TASTING ROOM! over 65 different coke products to sample, and Michael tried them all! Every possible thing you could try, he did! Beka only got through three before she quit. It was quite a feat! Michael said he never felt like burping so much in his life :)
Outside the tasting room was the gift shop. Anything you could ever want with the coke logo all over it. It was coke everywhere, all the time. And that was the room with the no re-entry. It was the end of our coke fantastic adventure. Beka was filled with fun memories and happiness, and Michael was filled with high fructose corn syrup, carbonation, and his own type of happiness :) We left the Wonderful World of Coke being wonder-filled.
After the Wonderful World of Coke we needed some food to go with Michael's week worth of beverages he had just consumed. Beka's Dad and Momma Gail were so sweet and sent them and Olive garden gift card to celebrate our anniversary! So we found a local one, and got our pasta on! We also were able to charge our cameras to capture the rest of our fun day.
On the way to the Olive Garden, we saw this classy sign. Yes please, I love Crad
We were full and happy after lunch. Thanks Dad and Momma Gail!
After Lunch we decided to check in to our second hotel. It was across the city, but we enjoyed the ride.
The second hotel was part of a chain that Beka stays in frequently when she travels for work. She has always loved them, and the people are really nice here. So that is the hotel we went with for night 2, and it was a great idea! It was so clean and cute. We loved it!
Front porch of the hotel. It was waaayy to cold to sit out here and enjoy it, but it was a nice sight anyways.
We were welcomed by fire in the fireplace, what else would you want?
Except for this beard...now your life is complete.
After checking into the hotel, we went shopping for a bit, got some dinner, and then had a quiet night in. It was a very fun way to end day two in ATL.
Thanks for sharing it with us!
Love,
Team Oakley
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