Atlanta whirlwind

It’s a pretty good day when you can say that running the bases at Turner Field may not have been the coolest thing you did that day.
And don’t get me wrong – that is one of the coolest things I have ever done, especially since my kids ran it, too. But that was just a snapshot on of the busier days I have spent in Atlanta.
The Atlanta idea came together around Christmas, when my wife and her stepmom decided they were in dire need of a day at the spa. (Poor things.) The spa is in Atlanta, and has a very French sounding name, which means it is expensive. Well, needless to say, spas are meant to relax you, so the idea of having a couple of kids climbing over you knocking the cucumbers off your eyes does little on the relaxing side, so the kids and I would team up with my father-in-law and set off on our own Atlanta adventure.
My father-in-law decided it would be a good idea for us to go the recently opened Georgia Aquarium. I will spare you the suspense: The Georgia Aquarium is the greatest thing mankind has ever produced, and I include space travel and democracy in that list. It is, quite frankly, awesome.
The aquarium is so popular that they recommend you make reservations to go. Ours was for 9 a.m., which was good, because any time you have things planned with kids, you need to get it rolling as close to wake-up time as possible. Otherwise, you will hear “Is it time to go? Is it time to go? Is it time to go?” until it is time to go.
We decided our first stop at the aquarium would be the beluga whales, since word is that draws the biggest crowd. We figured we should get it out of the way before the late-reservation-having riff-raff started crowding the joint. When you walk in to the viewing area, you see why they are the most popular exhibit. The things are freaky, in a weird, hypnotic way. I am somewhat thinking that beluga whales do not, in fact, exist, but are very well done movie special effects. The way they slowly spin through the water and peer out at you is absolutely fascinating. Add to the fact that the Aquarium has this soothing, new age music playing and a soft-spoken, well informed guide telling you about the whales, and I am fairly certain they could start a cult-conversion and hook a a lot of people:
ANNOUNCER: The beluga whales are native to the Arctic region and live in communities known as pods. And now is the time to abandon your worldly possessions and come for a ride on the comet with your new family.
CROWD: Pods! How about that! Come on, kids. Time to get on the comet.
There are five main exhibit areas, and each one is very well done. Both of the kids enjoyed the viewing areas where you could just sit and watch the thousands of fish swim by. And Parker enjoyed the interactive exhibits where you could touch things such as stingrays and star fish. Allie? Not so much. But I understand that kids are sometimes squeamish when it comes to touching things, so I was kind and nurturing, telling her, “Allie, if you don’t touch the horseshoe crab, next Christmas is canceled.”
Ha! Kidding, of course. I would never do such a thing. Not with other people around.
While I could go on and on about the cool stuff there, I won’t, as you need to go check it out for yourself. We finished up shortly after noon, and decided to check out Turner Field, which was having Winter FanFest. For the FanFest, they open up the stadium and let you roam about, intermingling with Major League legends such as Joey Devine, who, I believe, may or may not be a Braves pitcher.
But the best part of FanFest, by far, was going down on the field and running the bases. While it seems goofy, your inner kid really comes out when you run the bases of an actual Major League stadium. Of course, when you see your daughter and son rounding third, it makes it even cooler, especially since my daughter’s dream is to be the first female Major Leaguer. (It’s either hers or mine. I get confused.)
Before we knew it, it was almost 2:30. My father-in-law was commenting on what a big day we had experienced already. Pretty solid tag-teaming, we said, applauding our awesomeness.
“Daddy,” Allie said, interrupting our self-congratulatory celebration, “do we get lunch?” Oh, yeah. Food. Probably should have been on the agenda. When we left the stadium, we went to a restaurant called Zesto’s. It’s like The Varsity, only without 48 trillion people inside. And if your cholesterol is ever dangerously low, I highly recommend the Chubby Decker with onion rings.
At the end of the day, all four of us were worn out, in a good way. I can’t wait to get back to the aquarium, and I am also looking forward to getting back to Turner Field. Hopefully, that will be before Allie’s first game there.