Last weekend, our Smarty friends at the Georgia Aquarium hosted our family for a packed day of full-on F-U-N. This was our first time at the aquarium and I can promise you, Team Plym will be back!
On the Georgia Aquarium:
The Georgia Aquarium is one of the world’s most magical aquariums, featuring the largest single aquarium habitat in the world and more aquatic life than any other aquarium in North America. A not-for-profit organization, Georgia Aquarium is dedicated to global leadership in research and conservation programs mirroring the unique and amazing animals within the facility. Since its founding, Georgia Aquarium has been committed to educating and inspiring current and future generations through respectful display and conservation of marine mammals and many other aquatic species. Aquarium staff, volunteers and partners are positively impacting the future of our aquatic world by ensuring that guests learn and care about extraordinary animal ambassadors, while hopefully becoming advocates on their behalf. The six distinct galleries and more than 60 exhibits within Georgia Aquarium depict different aquatic habitats, ranging from arctic to tropical waters, and feature an expansive collection of aquatic animals.
Our first stop was a Behind the Scenes Tour. After experiencing the aquarium through this lens, I don’t know how you’d do it any other way. This is the ticket for sure. Our family highlight was the feeding of the Whale Sharks & Manta Rays here:
The whale shark is one of the most amazing species I have ever seen in person. We also learned that you can dive with these gentle giants. As a certified SCUBA diver for 20 years, I can say with conviction that diving with a whale shark and a manta ray are top of my diving bucket list. Now, I can mark that off in one fell swoop. I can’t wait to go back for that excursion! In addition to this diving program, you can do a Penguin Encounter, Sea Otter Encounter, Dolphin Encounter and more. Read more here.
Next up was observing a Beluga & Friends Encounter. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!
Next we toured the Coldwater Quest. I {heart} Beluga Whales!
All four of our kids enjoyed the Georgia Explorer Exhibit. We spent most of our time petting the stingrays.
The Tropical Diver Exhibit did not disappoint. We loved the seahorses!
The River Scout Exhibit was really cool and my kids must have spent 15 minutes staring at this albino alligator. They were convinced that it was fake.
Last but certainly not least was the Dolphin Tales Show. It was the perfect way to end our trip at the Aquarium.
After we left the Georgia Aquarium, we headed over to the World of Coca-Cola. This was such a fun treat for me, especially given my ad agency background. I could have spent hours in this first room as it had every Coca-Cola ad campaign you can imagine – it would have been extra special with Don Draper on my arm…
Loved, loved, loved the Moments of Happiness Video in the theater. Here is the trailer. It was a real tear-jerker fresh off of Mother’s Day!
But the biggest hit of all was the tasting room. Plym kids all agreed (for the first time in their lives!) that they loved the taste of South Africa – with all the sweet fruitiness, it was hard to beat!
This is what happens when identical twinkies have too much caffeine & sugar…
Accommodations & Dining:
The Westin Peachtree Plaza hosted us for the weekend and what a treat that was! We arrived late Friday evening to the most incredible view of the Atlanta skyline from the 68th floor:
Our suite was INCREDIBLE, here’s a glimpse. We never wanted to check out of this pad:
Here was our daytime view:
Kids LOVED the rooftop pool with a retractable roof, what kid doesn’t get excited about a hotel pool!
If you stay at the Westin or in downtown Atlanta, definitely have brunch at the Sun Dial Restaurant on the roof. Sunday brunch is delicious and my kids loved the elevator ride to the top along with the telescopes – we rode it several times just for fun. Here is a little twin power teamwork at its finest:
Dining:
For breakfast, we ate at Corner Bakery Cafe – it was like a local version of a Panera but WAY better. We liked it so much that we tried to hit it on day two for breakfast, but no luck. Similar to Charlotte, the city shuts down on Sundays without the business crowd.
For lunch we ate at Googie Burger in Olympic Village – pretty awesome burger and fries for sure and convenient to the Aquarium and World of Coca-Cola.
Dinner, we went to Taco Mac. That’s an all-time Atlanta favorite for us – so glad we have one in SouthPark!
On Sunday, we hit Piedmont Park’s new Aquatic Center and American Girl, always a hit!
A weekend in Atlanta is the perfect summer road trip – we had a blast and will be back!
