Could the Dream Turn the Grump into a Believer? Charleston Update 10/13

[SoonerGirl]

Laughed out loud at your road trip journey!! Oh no at forgetting your contacts case - am glad you managed to buy one later.

Love the view of the park and all the pics! Wow there sure were a lot of people at the fountain show. Looking forward to hearing what you actually decided to do the next day.

Seems I always forget something little like that! I even had a list and I still overlooked it

There were a lot of people playing in that fountain!

Sounds like your first day in Atlanta was really lovely! The night pictures of the fountain are fantastic!
I would have been right with you girl-- why would you spend the two days in Atlanta if you weren't going to enjoy what the city has to offer?? I hope you got your way!

It was lovely just to get out of the car, everything else was just gravy, lol!

Tell me about it! It's not like we're in Atlanta all the time and could see this stuff 'next time', there might not be a next time!

I usually do get my way

I am interested to see if you went to the World of Coke. I have only been to Alanta oncce for a day that was either right before the Alanta olympics or right after...but we saw the World of Coke, the Olympic Park and I remember some underground mall or something??

I don't remember an underground mall, not that we would have had time to visit it anyway....

We drove that route back from WDW. I think Marc said the exact same thing about the drive from Memphis to Little Rock. The truckers seemed to hold everyone else hostage!

What a great hotel you picked in Atlanta! The view was amazing!!!
As usual great photographs!
The boys look so happy in the pool, I sure miss their smiles!

Can't wait for the next update!

The truckers had me going from this to this I was so glad when that stretch was over!

We were very pleased with our hotel in Atlanta, perfect location for what we wanted to do.

I need to post a picture of Jared's new smile - he's all braced up

I think you made the road trip very interesting! I am exactly like you -- I HATE road trips!!! I'm not that fond of flying, but I'd much rather take the 2 1/2 hour flight than the 20 hour drive to Florida!

I don't particularly like to fly either, but it's better than being stuck in the car for hours on end that's for sure!

The views at the park were sooo pretty!!! I especially like the water falls & the rocks! You really took some beautiful pictures, both day & night!

Thanks, the rock were my favorites too

I'm so glad you took the picture of the Olympics team monument! That was my absolute favorite women's team!!! I actually have all of the gymnastics from that year taped on VHS!!!

I remember watching it all at the time and being so excited for those girls, of course, I don't remember much of the details anymore.

I probably say this everytime I post on your report, but I still can't believe how big your boys are now!!! It seems that they grow everytime you post pics of them!!!

Justin was gone for the weekend and when he got home last night I thought he looked taller after just a few days - of course he wasn't, but I get why you say they look bigger everytime you see new pics of them!

I forgot to ask in my last post -- how's the job going so far???

Pretty good, I still feel like I have lots to learn!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Enjoyed the first installment! Can't wait to hear what's next!

Thank you! I'll try and get the installment up in the next day or two

Yay you started! I feel the same way about driving and wasn't looking forward to spending 2 days in the car with my 2 little ones. We lucked out and got good price on a flight, so we are driving this time...

Beautiful fountain pictures!

At least the kids were good, I was worried since we can't even seem to drive 10 minutes across town without them getting into an arguement though!

Glad you found a good price on airfare! I was pricing flights today for my wanna be October trip and while they were high, they weren't as bas as I was expecting.

joining in your trip report - great pictures of the Olympic Park - we haven't been to Atlanta for years, but next time will definitely visit that park. I remember reading your last trip report when you went to Disney at Christmas (I too have a very Disney resistant husband!) how did you persuade your DH to go on a Disney cruise -that's what I am trying to do now

Thanks for joining in!

Persuading Don to go on a cruise wasn't really that hard, he wanted to go on a cruise. Convincing him that Disney was the proper route to go wasn't quite as easy, it may have involved me acting like a diva and thowing a hissy fit

Wow, you had a great view in Atlanta! Boy, the park is just beautiful. We only stayed one night in Atlanta a few years ago and you go me wishing we had seen more!

I know what you mean about long drives and truckers! It can be very frustrating sometimes.

Sure hope you got to at least do the Aquarium or World of Coke.

The park really was lovely, I was glad we were so close to it!

I'll tell you this much, we had a very full day the next day

 

[SoonerGirl]

The photos of the park are beautiful! And I agree that it looks like Don is already relaxed. I just don't understand the hating on road trips. I LOVE road trips!!!! The only reason we ever fly is if we are short on time. I don't mind it, but do prefer the joys of the open road. Even traveling to Yellowstone last summer with a 5 and 7 year old didn't change my opinion. They have become quite the little car trippers.

Yeah Marna, you and I are very different in that respect, I learned from this that I am without a doubt NOT a road trip person Maybe if we had gone with our original plan and really taken a long trip and stopped at many places in between it wouldn't have been so bad.

I hate road trips too Michelle! So long, so boring, such a huge time committment. Did you and Don at least alternate driving? We just bought a newer minivan and have an appointment to get two dvd players installed. I think they are invaluable!

Don sounds so much like my husband. He'd rather veg at a hotel than go out and find something to do. Ugh, men.

Cannot wait to read more!

Another road trip hater so glad to see that there are so many of you out there like me

I would have actually preferred to do some of the driving, but Don didn't want to just ride - he needs to feel in control I guess

The DVD players are lifesavers on long trips! We have two as well and the boys can each watch their own movie or one can be playing the PS while the other one watches a movie, it's really nice. They were worth the price 10 times over!

Oh Michelle - you sound like me in the car. I can't take it. I am the most impatient person EVER when it comes to car trips! When ever Denny talks about driving to Florida I immediately veto it and then purchase airfare! "Guess what honey? I bought our plane tickets today". My longest drive ever was from my house to Nashville, and even then we had to stop.
777 miles. That's a record for me. Swear!


However, I promise that when both of my kids are in college we are going to take two weeks to drive to Florida. No rush. Split it up. I seriously have never set foot in South Carolina or Georgia. But I plan to in October! I am actually looking forward to my first real drive to Florida - 2 years from now!

I'll be back later to look at your pix cause I can't see them now.

I've done the drive to my mom's hometown in Minnesota more times than I can count and I do okay with that one - it's just about 11 hours. I think that is about my limit though, and when you have to get right back in the car and drive some more the next day, well that just stinks!

I love that you go and purchase airfare as soon as Denny throws out the idea of driving!

We are going to Charleston in August for our anniversary, never been and I'm really excited! Which reminds me that I still need to pick Jackie's brain about that

Cool pictures. I especially love the night time pictures of the fountains and your view. Awesome view!

Thanks, I was happiest with the nighttime shots too!

 

[ericandkelly]

I would love to hear about your experience with Kennedy Space Center. My family and I are driving down and made plans on spending a day there prior to our cruise.

Can't wait to hear more about your trip!

 

[manntra]

I could never do a road trip like you (or Anita!!!) Just driving an hour to the lake in PA for the weekend is enough for me!!! I don't know how I managed when I was younger and we used to drive to FL every year for two weeks....I guess I was young and just a passenger with my hidden ink games and books to read When I was really little and it was my three brothers with us too apparently I was on the floor in the backseat!!! Can you imagine?!!! No car seats or anything back in the old days!!

Atlanta looks very pretty....love the park and fountain Hope Don changed his mind about the plans for the following day

Tracy

 

[Wicket's Mom]

I love road trips, but DH not so much. If one makes many stops it's not so bad. I will say after making two back to back 15 hour driving trips to Florida last July, I'm not so fond of road trips. I will be ready after a couple of short ones.

I've never stopped in Atlanta except for accidents. I do love traveling in the HOV lane, makes it a lot faster. I do know that route by heart from all of those trips to see my parents from 1975 thru 2010.

 

[MeMom]

The few times we have driven with the guys aboard, Jill and I have been chomping at the bit to get back on the road early after a Georgia sleep stop, but the guys want to sleep in, enjoy a leisurely breakfast, etc. That's one of many reasons I like flying. To be at MCO in less than two hours is wonderful. We're driving this time, but we're pushing John to go all the way before stopping. And we keep backing up the time that we want to leave.

Seeing the tornado damage really does get you in the gut, doesn't it? Last weekend, I saw houses just around the corner from Jill that were having to be torn to the foundation to be completely rebuilt. It's still quite a mess around there. To see all of those huge tree trunks with massive root systems laying all along the side of the road really shows the power of that wind

Looking forward to the next round of pictures when you have the time.

 

[jenseib]

Great start. I can't do the long car trips anymore really either. I get too jumpy.
My friend and I drove down to FL one year..when the Olympics were going on in Atlanta. Boy it was conjested driving that day. But I feel like it was kind of cool to do that too.

 

[wdwgirl03]

WOW, awesome pictures from the Olympic park! I remember those gymnasts very well. My sisters and I did gymnastics when we were younger and we were so excited when they won the gold. I think somewhere we have a VHS tape with some of the coverage too (more of the exhibition they had once the competition was over though).

And about Shannon Miller, after the '08 Olympics we went to the gymnastics show when it came here and she was actually in it too!

 

[brookelizabeth]

I'm here!

And I'm SO curious to find out if the Dream converted Don. I hope so!!!

Your view from your hotel in Atlanta is beautiful - especially at night! Wow. And the park looks beautiful too. No wonder your pool was empty--everyone was in the fountain.

And it would have reminded me of Epcot too.

Looking forward to more!

 

[PirateKate]

Love the view from the room. I hope you all did get to go to the Coke museum the next day. I thought it was fun. Kind of reminded me of Club Cool. Oh and there is an underground mall in Atlanta.

Road trips aren't all bad. It's fun to be able to stop whenever you want to. Unless of course, you don't want to stop anywhere and just want to be there, in which case, road trips are miserable.

 

[kschafer]

only page 7...not too shabby

Marking my place and will be back to catch up soon!!

 

[SoonerGirl]

I would love to hear about your experience with Kennedy Space Center. My family and I are driving down and made plans on spending a day there prior to our cruise.

Can't wait to hear more about your trip!

I'm afraid my recap of KSC will be somewhat lacking, that visit didn't go at all like I'd planned. I know Brook (brookelizabeth) has some really nice posts about her visits to KSC but of course I can't remember which of her reports they are in - maybe she'll see this and chime in

I could never do a road trip like you (or Anita!!!) Just driving an hour to the lake in PA for the weekend is enough for me!!! I don't know how I managed when I was younger and we used to drive to FL every year for two weeks....I guess I was young and just a passenger with my hidden ink games and books to read When I was really little and it was my three brothers with us too apparently I was on the floor in the backseat!!! Can you imagine?!!! No car seats or anything back in the old days!!

Atlanta looks very pretty....love the park and fountain Hope Don changed his mind about the plans for the following day

Tracy

Yes! I remember traveling to Minnesota when I was a kid and laying in the back window - how nuts is that? My mom also told me that when I was a baby they drove from Austin, TX to MN with me laying on a crib mattress in the backseat Times sure have changed huh?

I love road trips, but DH not so much. If one makes many stops it's not so bad. I will say after making two back to back 15 hour driving trips to Florida last July, I'm not so fond of road trips. I will be ready after a couple of short ones.

I've never stopped in Atlanta except for accidents. I do love traveling in the HOV lane, makes it a lot faster. I do know that route by heart from all of those trips to see my parents from 1975 thru 2010.

We thankfully didn't run into any traffic issues in Atlanta, I've heard about how bad it can be though. The HOV lane is nice, we don't have them here, but have certainly taken advantage of them in Dallas!

The few times we have driven with the guys aboard, Jill and I have been chomping at the bit to get back on the road early after a Georgia sleep stop, but the guys want to sleep in, enjoy a leisurely breakfast, etc. That's one of many reasons I like flying. To be at MCO in less than two hours is wonderful. We're driving this time, but we're pushing John to go all the way before stopping. And we keep backing up the time that we want to leave.

Seeing the tornado damage really does get you in the gut, doesn't it? Last weekend, I saw houses just around the corner from Jill that were having to be torn to the foundation to be completely rebuilt. It's still quite a mess around there. To see all of those huge tree trunks with massive root systems laying all along the side of the road really shows the power of that wind

Looking forward to the next round of pictures when you have the time.

That's how mine were - just wanted to roll with the flow and get on the road when we got on the road - they just didn't understand that I had places I wanted to be asap! Good luck keeping John focused on the task of getting to Orlando as quickly as you can

The tornado damage we saw was just awful and really looked to be in a pretty poor area, I'm not sure many of those people will even be able to rebuild didn't look like much clean up had happened yet there at all either.

Great start. I can't do the long car trips anymore really either. I get too jumpy.
My friend and I drove down to FL one year..when the Olympics were going on in Atlanta. Boy it was conjested driving that day. But I feel like it was kind of cool to do that too.

I was just bored to tears and soooooo tired of being in the car.

That's neat that you drove through Atlanta during the Olympics. I understand that traffic there can be really bad on a normal day, I can just imagine what it was like with a big event like that going on!

 

[SoonerGirl]

WOW, awesome pictures from the Olympic park! I remember those gymnasts very well. My sisters and I did gymnastics when we were younger and we were so excited when they won the gold. I think somewhere we have a VHS tape with some of the coverage too (more of the exhibition they had once the competition was over though).

And about Shannon Miller, after the '08 Olympics we went to the gymnastics show when it came here and she was actually in it too!

Gymnasts is my favorite of all the summer Olympic games - their skill just amazes me!

I'm here!

And I'm SO curious to find out if the Dream converted Don. I hope so!!!

Your view from your hotel in Atlanta is beautiful - especially at night! Wow. And the park looks beautiful too. No wonder your pool was empty--everyone was in the fountain.

And it would have reminded me of Epcot too.

Looking forward to more!

Hey Brook!!!

I was so happy with our hotel choice in Atlanta - it took a ton of Hilton points to stay there, but they were points well spent imo - perfect location!

I actually thought of you while watching that fountain show since we share a love of the Epcot one

Love the view from the room. I hope you all did get to go to the Coke museum the next day. I thought it was fun. Kind of reminded me of Club Cool. Oh and there is an underground mall in Atlanta.

Road trips aren't all bad. It's fun to be able to stop whenever you want to. Unless of course, you don't want to stop anywhere and just want to be there, in which case, road trips are miserable.

Club Cool on steroids (Oh, did I just give it away? )

Don is without a doubt happy that I didn't know about the underground mall!

On the road trips, yeah, I fall into the latter category.....

only page 7...not too shabby

Marking my place and will be back to catch up soon!!

Hey Katie! Look at you on the DIS already! I can't wait to hear all about your trip, sounded like even 15 days wasn't long enough.

I've barely gotten started here, won't take you long to catch up

 

[cdotla]

Hey Michelle!!! You know I am in for this. Can't wait to have you educate me all about Disney cruises, and also can't wait to hear Don's reaction to it.

Hopefully you will be rewarded for all that boring driving once you reach Orlando, and in turn, the ship.

Too funny how often we can be reminded of Disney outside the Parks, isn't it? Although I have to admit...those fountains look like miniture versions of the Epcot ones, don't they?

Looking forward to more!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Hi Michelle. Somehow I missed getting the notification about your road trip update. All caught up now...and I love the Disney fountain shot with your boys.

 

[SoonerGirl]

Hey Michelle!!! You know I am in for this. Can't wait to have you educate me all about Disney cruises, and also can't wait to hear Don's reaction to it.

Hopefully you will be rewarded for all that boring driving once you reach Orlando, and in turn, the ship.

Too funny how often we can be reminded of Disney outside the Parks, isn't it? Although I have to admit...those fountains look like miniture versions of the Epcot ones, don't they?

Looking forward to more!

Hiya Trish! I can tell you this - I am hooked on cruising now, can't wait until we can go again!!

The getting there driving was rewarded, but what about the going home driving - that just sucks all the fun right out the vacation

Yes, the fountain wasn't nearly as impressive as the one at Epcot. It was the dancing water that brought the Epcot fountain to mind, and this fountain was in the shape of the Olympic rings - pretty cool

More coming right up!!

Hi Michelle. Somehow I missed getting the notification about your road trip update. All caught up now...and I love the Disney fountain shot with your boys.

Since there were to be no Epcot fountains for me this trip, I had to make due with what was available

 

[SoonerGirl]

Just a quick note before I start my update. I went to the Disney Store yesterday to look for a birthday gift for my niece, she is going to be a year old next Saturday, I might have gone just a bit Minnie crazy..........

**********************************

Tuesday, May 31st

This was one of the few mornings during the early part of our trip when I didn't care what time we got up and around, so the alarm was not set. After we all woke up and got presentable for the day we headed to down for breakfast. The boys were both thrilled to see that they had an omelet station, and after seeing the amount of food that they ate, I was glad it was free!

Over breakfast the subject of what to do that day was discussed, Don was much more agreeable this morning and we decided to do both the Aquarium and World of Coke.

I had heard before we left home that the lines to buy tickets could be really long so we decided to buy them at the hotel before heading over. The Aquarium was just a short walk from our hotel and we arrived a little after 10am

One of the security guards was kind enough to take a picture of the 4 of us

Then we jumped in line, which actually moved really quickly considering it was like going through security at MCO! Actually, I take that back, I've never been wanded at MCO..........

Don had forgotten that he had his pocket knife with him, so he had to go to guest services to have them hold it for him. After that we got the required photo taken (which I forgot to even go look at before we left), and headed inside. I was prepared to be bumping elbows with people all day, but they were really not busy at all - it was quite pleasant!

I thought the ceiling walking in was cool

Cleaning the glass - I don't think I'd like this job, too much like cleaning windows, which I hate.......

Our first stop was at the stingray touch pool

Then we made our way over to another touch pool

This whole area was called 'Georgia Explorer' and it was all hands on and there were plenty of workers around to answer any questions you might have about the different marine life.

Then we saw these things

The top side

The underside

Not the greatest photos, but I think you can tell that they are quite freaky looking, I hadn't ever seen anything like them. The lady there told us that they were horseshoe crabs, huh, I learned something!

The next section was River Scout

Cool to watch everything swimming above you

This guy was a little creepy

Peek-a-boo! Can you see Jared looking through at me from the other side of the tank?

Loved watching these little otters - so cute!

Next up was Coldwater Quest

A starfish eating - never seen that before!

In the penguin area you could crawl though this little tunnel and come up inside glass bubbles that were in the enclosure, it was fun to get up close, but crawling to get there was hard on my aging body

See this guy

Who is not nearly as 'pretty' as these guys

That's because he's still an adolescent, as he ages his feathers will become shiny and pretty like most of the other penguins in the enclosure.

Continued in the next post

 

[SoonerGirl]

I crawled my way back out and took a couple more pictures

Then we headed up to watch the beluga whales. I love these things, such beautiful creatures! Sea World used to have a beluga whale encounter that I would love to do, wonder if they still offer it?

We left this area and saw that the next dolphin show was about to start, but of course the show isn't included in the $25 per person entry fee, and Don wasn't about to pay extra for it, so the show was skipped.

We all really loved this next part - the giant aquarium with the walk through tunnel. I was especially fascinated with the whale sharks and manta rays.

The last area to explore was Tropical Diver

I loved the colorful seahorse display

These little snake like things were really weird!

Ewwww, jellyfish - these things give me the creeps

There was also a 3D show, but you guessed it, that cost extra, which again didn't sit well with Don, and honestly it didn't with me either. I can kind of see the dolphin show costing extra, but a 3D show, really? As nice as the aquarium was, it felt a little like you were being nickeled and dimed.

After a walk through the gift shop, where none of us found anything we couldn't live without, we headed out. All in all we spent less than 2 hours there. It was really nice, and I'm glad we went, but was it worth $100 for less than 2 hours? That I'm not so sure of.

Before we left Don had to stop by guest services and pick up his pocket knife, so I busied myself taking a few more pictures

Justin found a new girlfriend

And that's it for our visit to the Georgia Aquarium! Up next, 125 years of Coke

 

[wigdoutdismom]

I do think it looked like you had a good time but wow it was expensive for only two hours!
Really, once you pay to get in, it should all be included...(my way of thinking)!

We leave for Chicago on Saturday and might go to the aquarium up there. I wonder if we will feel the same way about the cost?

Anxious to hear all about 125 year of Coke!