Darren Alff

My father is a Chiropractor in the State of California and he recently decided to attend a seminar in Atlanta, Georgia. I’ve been wanting to visit Georgia for quite some time, so my mother decided it would be a good idea if the entire family were to follow my father and all go to Atlanta at the same time.

My father (Dr. Steve Alff, D.C.) with Robin Leach (The Host of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”)

I was hesitant to go, though… and for a number of reasons.

First of all, I kind of drive myself crazy when I am with my family. I’m so used to be alone and traveling by myself that I can’t stand moving at their incredibly slow pace. Looking like a tourist and not knowing what I am doing is something I try to avoid at all costs when I am traveling by myself. But when I am with my family there is no avoiding the fact that we look like a family on vacation.

Secondly, I really wanted to go to Georgia, but I had little or no interest in seeing the city of Atlanta. I am much more interested in the small country roads and lush, green mountains. So I was afraid that if I went on this trip I might never want to come back to Georgia and see the areas I truly wanted to see. I know this sounds a bit bizarre, but this is how I think!

In the end, I did decide to go. I flew from Salt Lake City to Denver and then continued my flight into Atlanta. My parents, however, flew from LAX and went straight to the Atlanta Airport. I met them in baggage claim.

From the airport we took the MARTA, which is Atlanta’s public train system, to our hotel – The Westin.

The hotel room was small, but the view was incredible! We could see practically everything in the city. It was great. I had fun staying up at night and just staring out the window, watching the cars below. What a view!

We didn’t do much our first day in Atlanta. We just walked around a little and explored the area. Not more than half a mile from our hotel was a big park where people were gathering to watch an outdoor movie on a giant portable movie screen. It was pretty cool. More cities should do this!

The day after arriving in Atlanta my sister and mother and I went to the Margaret Mitchell House and Museum. In case you don’t know, Margaret Mitchell was the woman who wrote the book, “Gone With The Wind.” Visiting this place was my mother’s idea, but I ended up really enjoying myself. The museum and house were not all that interesting, but I thought Margaret Mitchell herself was a very interesting person.

The next day we went to the Coca-Cola Museum. Apparently, Coca-Cola was developed in Atlanta… and they now have a huge building dedicated to brainwashing tourists into drinking Coke! The whole museum really was an exercise in brainwashing… but it was neat to see all the years of Coca-Cola merchandise and advertising. Because I’m interested in marketing, I found their ads and slogans extremely interesting.

At the end of the Coca-Cola Museum tour there was a large tasting room where you could sample all the Coca-Cola products from around the world. I don’t normally drink soda at all, so after about six different samples from places such as Africa, Asia, South America, and Europe, I was about to vomit. I don’t know why people like that stuff so much. It just made me feel sick.

We then went to an art museum on the far side of the city. It was neat, but we had to rush through it because we were so late. They had some great artwork there, but I can’t show you much of it because they restricted us from taking photos. We snuck a few photos in anyway though.

On our third day in Atlanta we went to a history museum. There was a big exhibit on the Civil War, the Atlanta Olympics, Southern Folk Art, and more.

My sister (Marissa) and I in the Atlanta History Center. Racing eachother on an Olympic exhibit.

We ate lunch at Johnny Rockets and I ordered french fries. They served them with a smiley face made from ketchup!

We also went to a big mansion. No one famous lived there really. It was just the home of some wealthy southerners in the early 1900’s. I didn’t think the house was very impressive, but the grounds were fantastic.

The highlight of the trip for me was the trip to Margaret Mitchell’s house. I thought she was pretty interesting.

The worst part of the trip was being in a big city and going at my family’s incredibly slow pace. We often times took the train to get from place to place, but if I had been in Atlanta on my own, I likely would have just walked to most of the places we went. They weren’t that far away.

In the end, I’d give downtown Atlanta an 8 out of 10. It was a fun little getaway, but I really want to go back to Georgia now and see what life is like outside the big city.