anniversary part 2: atl shawty

i couldn't control myself, there were just too many pictures to share...world's longest post startinnnng now:

we got a late start hittin' the road and then our first stop on our trip was just over the state line to get some boiled peanuts. yum.

once we reached atlanta we hit up coke world! i felt like quite the poser since i couldn't care less about coke. brett on the other hand... haha we all know coke runs in his veins. did you know he even used to collect coke memorabilia? yeah he's one of those people. or was - in his naive youth. 

can you guess which sign brett wanted in the picture? ding ding ding the rx sign! a pharmacist created coke, no big deal. do you drink coke when you've got a headache? that was the original idea.

coke world was pretty much one big brainwashing session of how awesome coke is. and what brainwashing session is complete without a 4D movie? we were jolted around, poked, and sprayed while trying to focus on the painful 3D action. seeing the different ways they deliver coke all over the world was cool though.

here we are with cool coke things. delivery truck and the american idol couch. ryan seacrest's little toosh once sat where i'm sitting.

this poster is hilarious and sad at the same time. those people would be shocked if they knew brett regularly drinks a 44 oz coke all by himself. we've come a long way america.

and here we are in the tasting room. the room brett wanted to be in the whole time. brett's drinking some delicious apple soda from chile and i'm drinking a not so delicious soda from italy called beverly!

the tour guide tricked us. we thought beverly was going to be delicious when she said it was the most talked about soda, but in reality it tasted like soda water on crack. some other crazy sodas included one that tasted like straight up mouth wash, a stroooong ginger one, and lots and lots of crazy fruit combinations.

we made ourself feel sick trying all the different flavors but brett still found space for his beloved coke zero. one cup was not enough for brett in the coke brand room.

we got to watch how they bottle coke then take one for the road. you can see it was bottled the day we went and in atl. pretty rad.

after coke world we made our way to turner field to catch the braves take on the cubbies (the whole trip was based on the fact that brett would get to see the cubs play). we spent far too long driving around to get to the stadium (a stopped train blocked our path so we tried to find our own way) and trying to find cheap parking/we had to find parking for the amount of cash we had with us which wasn't much. doh! we finally ditched our car (but not until i took a hot second to change into my baseball attire in there, what's that saying about planning ahead?) and ate the rest of our boiled peanuts as we made our way with the crowds to the stadium.

 at this point i was pretty cranky cause i just realized my sunglasses (actually three pairs of my sunglasses) were in the car and not with me. in a total role reversal, brett forced me to take this picture "you'll thank me later, now smile!" thanks babe. sure appreciatecha.

my ten minute pout turned out to be for nothing because the sun wasn't even shining on our seats.  how silly of me. even though our seats were pretty much as high as you can go, they were great since they were over home plate. it was really exciting to get to see karley's brother in law in action as catcher. (p.s. and just so yall know, you really lucked out with that pic of us on the right being cropped - there's a little too much upper thigh in the original picture.)

we got to our hotel after the game at about 11. it was much nicer than our usual. we had a king bed and it was heaven. a highlight of the trip for me was on the way to the hotel. jane, our british voiced gps, screws with us on purpose it seems. we made it to the road our hotel was on and she told us to turn left (instead of right), then make a u-turn and go straight at the intersection we should have turned right at. it was hilarious!... to me. brett who'd been driving all day wasn't quite amused to say the least.

the next morning we got another late start *cough brett cough* and headed to the atlanta temple. this was my first time doing a session in a temple other than the orlando temple. this temple is sooo tiny but very beautiful. it really made me appreciate how much i love the orlando temple and it was really nice to slow down in the peace and quiet of the temple.

after driving around forever trying to find a cheap place to park and a place to eat, story of our lives on this trip, we made it to the aquarium! the difference in the crowds between friday and saturday was ridiculous. there were sooo many people at the aquarium walking in all different directions and crowding the tanks - i felt like a fish in one of the exhibits, moving with the masses and swimming upstream.  

 

although we skipped out on the 4D show here, i wanted to get our money's worth so i made brett wait in line to crawl through the penguin tunnel. we did not enjoy the company of that kid next to us.

here we are surrounded by penguins! we decided this place would definitely be more exciting if you had kids with you so they could be excited about everything.

i'll spare you all the details from every exhibit and just show you the coolest one - the ocean exhibit. my favorite!

i could stare at this big ol tank all day and the part where you walk through the tunnel is cool. there were three huge whale sharks, three big manta rays, other sharks, giant grouper, and millions of fish.

scoping it out. doesn't it just look like a huge screen saver? so awesome.

before we left i made us make one more stop in the ocean exhibit cause it's just sooo amazing to watch them all go.

on the way out of town we hit up some moe's. during the moe's home run inning at the game someone actually hit a home run so the whole stadium got free home wreckers! woo! we spent longer than we're proud of driving around to find a moe's that would hook us up with our free food. but it was definitely worth it.

to make a long story short (too late) our trip was pretty swell! it felt so surreal at first that we were on a trip as little tourists. it was the first time since our honeymoon that we've traveled just for fun, usually we're going to visit family or the temple. we're thinking our new anniversary tradition is going to be no gifts and just taking a trip every year. you know until we get to the pearl, diamond, and platinum anniversaries and then we'll do gifts and a trip :) this year the traditional gift was leather - these are what i wanted to get, and i might still try to buy a pair sometime if we're going to be traveling every august.