Adventures in the ATL: World of Coca-Cola and CNN

You know, as many times as we have been to Atlanta (and living so closely, we have been there A LOT), we have never been to the World of Coca-Cola or taken the CNN studio tour. I knew my big girl would think those two venues were way cool, so we spent last Friday afternoon there.

The Coca-Cola bottles from around the world were fun to see. Each one is so different, but such a neat representative of its country. You can see at first glance which country many of them represent.  

The history of Coca-Cola was pretty amazing, too. Did you know a Coke cost only 5 cents from the late 1800 until the 1950’s?!? They were definitely a pioneer in inflation-busting!

They do a really fun 4D movie about the secret recipe for Coca-Cola. All I can say is, take your heart pill before you see it. My girl giggled hysterically all the way through it!

The Coke tour concludes in the soda fountain room, where you can drink all the Coke products you can stand. I had no idea that Coke makes hundreds of flavors, including many regional products that they sell only in a particular country. There were Latin American products which were different from Asian products. You can even mix your own flavor if you so desire. I tried a few, but decided to stick with Coke Zero. BittyGirl tried a couple, but chose to stick with regular Coke. What can I say? We aren’t much for change around here. We are like two old women out on the town together.

After the Coke tour, which took about an hour, we cruised through Centennial Park and stopped by the playgrounds there. After walking and looking for most of the day, it was great to stop there and burn off some energy. My girl ran and played for a while and then we walked over to CNN.

The CNN newsroom tour was probably one of my favorite things we saw. It’s not a really high-energy tour, just kind of low-key, but I thought it was interesting to see how a news show is produced. They have a full-time, around-the-clock team who staffs the newsroom. They are constantly watching other news channels, receiving reports from journalists around the world, and putting it all together to bring their coverage to TV. I’m sure other news channels operate in much the same way. It was interesting to see the actual newsroom and actual producers, reporters, and directors, as opposed to mock-ups or simulated sets. It’s really not as glamorous as I thought! 🙂

To continue our own personal Taste of Atlanta, we chose OK Cafe for dinner. It’s a fun local joint that specializes in down-home Southern cooking. OK Cafe is a throw-back to the 1970’s diner like Mel’s Diner on the TV show Alice, except they are much bigger, more upbeat, and have to-die-for food.The waitresses wear traditional diner uniforms, and there is lots of chrome and vinyl and stools at the counter.

I love it when random people are in such a hurry that they can’t wait until I’m finished taking my picture to enter the restaurant. I get it, sir! Their food really is that good!

I had the country fried steak, mashed potatoes and broccoli, which was every bit as good as you would imagine. The country fried steak was, indeed, as big as my head. I could not possibly eat it all, but it was fun trying.

My girl opted for the BLT, or the BL, as she likes it. It came on really think, whole grain bread that looked freshly-baked. It also had “some kind of creamy white sauce that is really good”! Some people call that mayo, dear. Of course, I didn’t tell her it was mayo, because then she would have been DONE, thank you very much! Why do my childen have such an aversion to sauces of any kind? I thought sauce adoration was in their DNA.