Top Five Destinations of Atlanta

I remember the first time I went to Atlanta. I drove through on my way to Spring Break in Florida and didn?t stop. The second time, it was a stop on the way to Ireland in Atlanta?s airport. It wasn?t until my third trip that I got to stay for a while. I stayed all of one afternoon to watch the Atlanta Falcons play the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Georgia Dome. The fourth trip for business, I stayed about 48 hours, most of that for sleep and seminars.

So, short story long, I haven?t been able to give Atlanta its proper due. I?ve seen a couple things like the park to commemorate the 1996 Olympics and my first entry in the destinations, but the other destinations are things that I still want to check out when I can spend some more time in this fair city.

Drink sugary drinks at the World of Coca-Cola

HOT-lanta!

I think Coca-Cola is one of the truly iconic American symbols. It inspires passion like the heated comparison between Coke and Pepsi. It inspires pop-culture moments like the commercial with Mean Joe Greene. The idea of regular sugar in the drink instead of high-fructose syrup (which in L.A. you can get in the form of ?Mexican? Coke) inspired a whole new line of sodas that tout the presence of sugar. So, visit the World of Coca-Cola, take the tour, find out about the secret recipe and try the soda flavors from around the world. At the end, you?ll feel like a big American kid.

Visit the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site

Speaking of American kids, the?Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site has the home where this American icon was born and exhibits in the visitor center that focus on parallels in his life and the civil rights movement. There?s also the International World Peace Rose Garden, one of only five in the world. (The others are in Pacific Palisades, Sacramento, Assisi and Mexico City.)

Eat a hot dog at HD1

I heard of this place thanks to?Keith Law, and I have to say,?HD1 sounds like a heck of a place to get a hot dog. Like Law, I?d lean toward the Eastbound and Down dog, because a hot dog topped with pork sounds awesome and Kenny Powers fucking agrees.

Ponder hiking the whole Appalachian Trail ? Southern Terminus

I?m sure we all have our own white whale, the quest that haunts our minds. For some, maybe it?s a marathon or Mount Everest. For others it could be becoming CEO or something career related. For me, it?s hiking the Appalachian Trail. Only 85 miles from Atlanta is the southern terminus of the trail at Springer Mountain. I?d like to think I could walk up to the edge of the trail and still be able to turn back, but when I do go there, I will bring my big backpack, just in case the white whale wins as he taunts my soul.

Drink real drinks at the Sweetwater Brewing Company

If I?m going to suggest a tour of a museum devoted to soda, I?d better have a counterpoint and that my friends is the?Sweetwater Brewing Company. Of course, there?s the beer. Then, there?s the 420 Festival and if you stay on the site long enough, there seems to be plenty of girls in bikinis. This looks like a truly fun place for the adult in you.

Any suggestions for things that I missed? Any additional recommendations for the area? Just let me know in the comments.