Hotlanta GA for July 4th About This Page:

[Bert & Sully]

Hey we're going up to my mother's for Fourth of July (leaving Wed 7/3 mid-day returning Sunday night 7/7). We shall have DH's 12 year old in tow again. When we went last year we did Olympic Park, the Zoo (to see the visiting pandas), Stone Mountain.....um cannot remember what else. My mother lives in Dunwoody which is North of Atlanta proper. She's not even here yet and wants to know what we're going to do there. We've told her several times that my uncle is coming from Greece. All four of us kids are converging on my mom's house. We haven't all been together in over three years. I plan on sending all the kids out with DH and DBs,DBIL if necessary....but where to send them?

[Bert & Sully]

Oooooooops, that was what I forgot we did! Johnny Rockets' went over well with the kids at Atlanta Underground.

[Tara O'Hara]

Don't they have a pretty cool underground mall there? Ooh, and what about the Coca Cola factory?!? My kids loved that and still have hats from the soda jerk!

Tara
[img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Shell_of_the_South]

Just saw your post, don't know if it's too late for suggestions! I live about 1 hr. north of Atlanta. The Coca-Cola place is right next to Underground Atlanta and has a tasting room similar to "Ice Station Cool" in Epcot (has Beverly). If you have any baseball fans, Turner Field is a fun place, has lots of activities to do besides watching the game. Of course there's always Six Flags and White Water to do. Stone Mtn. has some new attractions this year too. Something like an old town with old time craftsmen that you can tour, haven't been yet. Another water park is at Lake Lanier Islands, which is at Buford, not too far from Dunwoody. www.lakelanierislands.com

Most of these places have discounts on either coke or pepsi cans, so tell mom to check those!

If you want to go a bit further, another fun place is Helen, which is in the mountains above Cleveland, GA. Is a bavarian town with shopping, also the kids can ride innertubes on the Chattahoochee there. Cleveland is also the home of the original Cabbage Patch Kids at Babyland General, you can see them being born in the cabbage patch there!

Hope this helps!

[ 06-19-2002, 09:11 AM: Message edited by: MichelleC ]

[Bert & Sully]

Thanks Michelle! Now we are wondering which would be the best or quickest route up there? We are aprx 20 miles south of Tallahassee.

[iloverags2]

We always take I-10 in Florida to I-75, which leads right into Atlanta. If you hit downtown Atlanta during rush hour, take I-475 bypass around the city.

Wish I would have know you live near Tallahassee. We were just there about a month or so ago for one of DH's daughter's band things.

[Bert & Sully]

Oh poop! Too bad we missed cuz we'd have loved to meet up; especially to pick your brain about DCL! [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Shell_of_the_South]

75 is definitely the best way to go, looks like US 319 through Thomasville is the shortest route from Tallahassee to 75, unless you got on 75 at Valdosta. Never went that way, usually go 75 to 10 or on down to the toll road to Orlando.

I-475 is the Macon bypass, which is what we usually do, it is shorter than going I-75 through Macon (look at your map and you see that 75 loops around, 475 is straighter. Then we go straight up I-75. I-285 is the Atlanta bypass but most of the time during rush hour it is just as bad as going through downtown. Going to Dunwoody you would probably take GA 400 from 75.

I live near 400 at the Hall/Dawson Co. line. If you really feel like traveling, on 400 in Dawsonville is the Premium Outlets. It would take several days to see them all! I live about 10 minutes away from them and I still haven't seen them all!

[pflamingo]

Hi, Macon-ite (for the time being) here! [img]graemlins/wavin.gif[/img]

I've done the US 319 route from Tallahassee, and it's not too bad. I think it's better than I-10/I-75, which really goes 'way SE of where you want to be. And yes, I-475 is the best way around Macon (wish I'd stayed on it years ago, but hey, that's another post).

I'd agree w/ the recommendations of everyone else, but if you need more... Macon is about 90 or so minutes south of where you'll be, and there are some interesting historic places to visit. The Hay House (that was the family's name, not as in "bales of...") is really interesting, but not a/c'ed, so if you do it, go in the morning. There's also the GA Music Hall of Fame, and Sports Hall of Fame. Haven't been to either, but heard they're good. Oh, and the Tubman Museum, dedicated to African-American history & art.

Other places in Atlanta: Fernbank Museum, The Center for Puppetry Arts, and the Science center (I think it's called Sci-Trek) are all good. Been to the first 2, heard about the other.

Have fun!

[ 06-20-2002, 01:31 PM: Message edited by: pflamingo ]

[Shell_of_the_South]

PFlamingo, I agree with Fernbank, it's a pretty interesting place. But, I've been twice to Sci-Trek and it isn't worth your time. It used to be a neat place but it is very run down. Most of the attractions aren't working properly. It is a shame because it could be an interesting place to visit.

[ 06-20-2002, 01:38 PM: Message edited by: MichelleC ]

[Bert & Sully]

Michelle and Pat thank you SO much for the directions [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img] and suggestions! Usually we go to just "visit" and "check" on my mom....Not keep a bunch of kids entertained. These are great suggestions.

[Las17]

I love all of the suggestions made for you. I don't really have much left to add. I do want to tell you about Turner Field though. We took a tour of the field with my DS's boy scout troop and loved it! You get to see lots of things you wouldn't normally get to see. I don't even like baseball, but I had a great time!

I like the Lake Lanier and White Water ideas(both water parks)for the obvious reasons(July in Hotlanta!).

I live about 15 minutes or so from Dunwoody. If we knew each other better, I'd get your 12 year old and mine together!

Laura

[Bert & Sully]

Laura - This 12 year old hasn't been blessed with much training in the social [img]graemlins/ukid.gif[/img] skills department; let alone our Disneyholism [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] . It's frustrasting trying to get her to do much....If you've encountered this and/or have remedies would love to [img]graemlins/ears.gif[/img] them via private email [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img] .

Elaine

[pflamingo]

Originally posted by MichelleC:
But, I've been twice to Sci-Trek and it isn't worth your time. It used to be a neat place but it is very run down. Most of the attractions aren't working properly. It is a shame because it could be an interesting place to visit.

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">Darn! I was hoping to zip up there this summer. I love science museums. Too bad. I had heard something about the funding getting cut. Our tax dollars at work, I guess.

Puppetry Arts has some really cool shows though. It's worth checking out the schedule.

[Bert & Sully]

Does anyone know off-hand if The Center for Puppetry Arts has a web site?