A lot of traveling this year has been made possible by Mizzou football successes. With a week's notice after a win, a few friends and I decided to trek down to Atlanta for the SEC Championship at the Georgia Dome the first weekend of December.
Atlanta has been on my cities to visit list for quite awhile, since the only other real southern city I have visited at an older age is Nashville. I was excited for not only for the Mizzou friends, fellowship and spirit, but also an opportunity to explore a new city.
Here are my observations overall:
- Downtown is full of hotels and conference centers. Many attribute this to the 1996 Olympics, but everywhere you look downtown there is another hotel or conference location - more so than any stores or restaurants! A Hyatt, Hilton or Marriott-owned hotel seemed to be everywhere I looked.
- Everything is very spaced out. One of Atlanta's biggest differences is there is not one central skyline for the whole city. It felt like three different "downtowns" - the actual downtown, Midtown and Buckhead.
- Everyone lives in a high rise. High rise apartments appear to be the way to go, since every building was at least 20 stories high. The city overall wasn't incredibly tall, but all of the buildings remained consistent and it seems to house a lot of residents.
- There's a slower pace of life. Whether it was on an escalator or walking on the street, no one in Atlanta is in a rush to get anywhere. Which is fine…just a difference from Chicago and New York where everyone is very pushy and immediate.
- Highway traffic is ridiculous. You hear this about Los Angeles and wouldn't expect it, but the highway barely moves here. It's always congested and traffic was absolutely horrible.
- There are a lot of attractions and it continues to grow. As a visitor and tourist, it was not hard to find things to do in the city. Whether it was a botanic garden or park, CNN Center, rich Olympic history, World of Coca Cola or others, attractions provide a full weekend of entertainment. More continues to be built though, such as a College Football Hall of Fame in the works, as well as another museum next to Coke World.
- MARTA public transit is great. We took the gold and red line trains on the MARTA everywhere and it was a very easy to learn. For only $2.25, we were crossing the city and the card system was simple to reload, enter and exit. Beats Chicago's Ventra!
- There is a large Hispanic population. On the MARTA, all instructions were spoken in both Spanish and English, with brochures and signs often multi-lingual too. Props to ATL for being on par with America's cultural shifts and accommodating its population.
What was wonderful about this 3-day trip was seeing Atlanta was not the only experience. Before the SEC Championship, Kathryn and I rented a car to see Phi Mu Headquarters in Peachtree City, about 40 miles outside of Atlanta. It's incredibly meaningful to see your sorority's headquarters, museum and Foundation, and meet all the people who work to maintain it. Unfortunately, I lost all of my photos of the artifacts when my camera went missing, but I won't forget the tour we received and the fun facts learned!
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| Kathryn and I at Phi Mu headquarters in Peachtree City, about 40 minutes outside of Atlanta |
SEC Championship
Now the reason I was even there…the SEC Championship game. Although Mizzou lost to Auburn, it was an incredible football game and had an indescribable sense of energy. The SEC FanFare Tailgate alone was like a convention, with sponsors paying tons of money to support the conference, teams and fans. Auburn definitely had 3/4 of the game's tickets because of its close proximity, and the biggest joke of the weekend is how 'War Eagle!' is the team's rally cry when its mascot is a Tiger. When questioned, an Auburn alum said "Well Bama says Roll Tide and their mascot is an elephant so it's okay." You learn something new everyday.
I was very impressed with how many fans and Mizzou friends were able to drop everything in a week and make it down to Atlanta for the weekend, and it was a much-needed reunion. Mizzou Alumni Association hosted an awesome tailgate beforehand where everyone could reunite and share the Tiger spirit. Despite a sad ending with a missing camera and cancelled flight, I'm happy I could go and experience a championship game for such a devoted conference.
Here are some photos from the weekend:
Afterward, we had tourist time and visited Centennial Olympic Park, World of Coca Cola and the CNN Center.
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| Centennial Olympic Park downtown |
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| Tasting Coca Cola from each continent at the Coke Museum |
The Coke Museum - World of Coca Cola - had a very new feel, with many interactive exhibits, high-tech videos and touch screens. The highlight of the museum is the tasting room at the end, where you have the opportunity to try more than 50 Coke flavors and sub-brands. My friend Jordan and I quickly learned that Fanta has tons of flavors including Fanta Magic, Fanta Exotic and Fanta Pineapple (from Greece!), European teas are not the greatest and all of the Coke brands in Africa do not taste nice.
My Atlanta conclusion is that the city's spread out nature and size with both the population and metropolitan area reminded me of my trip to Seattle last year. Both are cities where you drive, which have a few companies whose headquarters run the town (Turner/CNN and Coke in Atlanta, Microsoft and Starbucks in Seattle). While they are mid-sized, they are bigger than cities like KC and St. Louis, but not quite as big as Chicago or Los Angeles. It's easy and fun to visit and maneuver them, but I not rushing to live there full-time. Thanks again to Mizzou football for the opportunity to check it out!
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