Anyway, I do<\/em> appreciate the historical aspect of Coca-Cola as part of Atlanta and American history and I like history. And even though I’ve joined the bandwagon of eschewing soda consumption these days for health reasons, I do really, really like Coca-Cola. Sigh. So I enjoyed walking through history a bit and learning about the company and the “secret formula” story was amusing. Worth the time and $25? No. I probably should have looked for a more interesting way to spend my afternoon. But at least I can answer in the affirmative next time someone asks if I’ve been!<\/p>\n Still, I got the $5 cup which allows you to take a full cup of whatever region soda you want to-go. Royal watermelon soda from the Philippines is pretty great and I enjoyed it as a treat as I sat in the Centennial Olympic Park for a little while to read.<\/p>\n That evening I hopped on MARTA to meet some family for dinner at Fox Bros Bar-B-Q. I was actually born near Atlanta because that’s where my father was working for a few years, and it’s not too far from where my uncle (father’s brother) and his family lived, and still live. I was able to reach out to them and gather my aunt and uncle, as well as my three cousins. It’s been a very long time since we’ve all gotten together, so I was grateful they were able to make the time. Plus, we’re basically a whole crew of liberal tech nerds (my uncle retired from IBM), so I truly enjoy spending time with them.<\/p>\n I woke up around 3AM the next morning to catch the first of two flights that would take me to Minneapolis. It was an easy journey, even with a connection, and I was in Minneapolis by noon. That gave me time to check into my hotel, walk over to Target for some breakfast food to have during my stay, and then hop right back on the Metro for my first adventure: The Mall of America.<\/p>\n It’s an unusual destination for me because I don’t really like malls, but it’s the biggest mall the country so it’s also a bit of a tourist attraction too. The big draws for me were the M&M store and the Lego store, both on behalf of my kiddos. Aaron’s favorite clothes over the past couple years have been his LOTS OF M&Ms hoodie and pants, and he was pretty sad when he grew out of his M&M hoodie (twice, I bought a second when he outgrew the first). I bought him pants when he outgrew the hoodie, but he was also outgrowing the pants! I was thrilled to find everything at the mall.<\/p>\n The Lego store was honestly a bit underwhelming. They had some big Lego builds on top of the store, but inside? Just a Lego store. It would be fun if stores in interesting places did exclusive things, but the only thing they had was custom mini-figs which had the city on it, which was fine. I made a couple of those for the boys.<\/p>\n I think a big draw of the mall is that it basically has a small amusement park inside it, complete with indoor roller coasters. That’s fun, but I’ve also been to the West Edmonton Mall which also has a lot of this and I did ride a roller coaster there, so I didn’t feel compelled to partake this time. I 100% would have done Moose Mountain Adventure Golf if I wasn’t there alone though, that looked like fun<\/em>.<\/p>\n On Saturday I decided to go to the Minnesota Zoo. It’s a large zoo and I was able to pretty easily take public transit there (train + bus), even if it took a while. I realized as I was plotting out my route that I wasn’t actually crunched for time for the first time in a while, so I brought along my ebook reader and enjoyed reading during my journey through the Minneapolis suburbs. It was nice. The weather was nice too, it was sunny and in the 70s, making it perfect weather for walking around. I only spent a couple hours there, and started by checking out the penguins. From there, I decided to walk the 1.25 mile loop on the Treetop Trail, which gives you a pretty good glimpse of several of the exhibits from above. I was delighted to be able to see a tiger taking a swim with my lofty view!<\/p>\n It’s also just a nice nature walk, and Minnesota has some really nice nature to enjoy. From there I walked down to Grizzly Coast where I got pretty close to a big bear. Very cute. I concluded my day by having lunch at the zoo cafe and got my first round of fried cheese curds and local root beer. Yum. And then it was back on the bus to make the journey back.<\/p>\n Saturday night I had tickets to a Twins game. I enjoy baseball games, and I have gone to them on my own, but I wasn’t sure about this one because I also enjoy resting and it had been a busy couple of days! Then I learned it was Star Wars night. Well, now I have to go! I’m glad I did, it was a beautiful evening for baseball.<\/p>\n![](\"\/images\/journalpics\/062026\/coca-cola_museum_ceiling.jpg\")
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