Touch You Last

Sunday was our last full day in the city. After breakfast, we all met up at the Georgia Aquarium which is right next door to World of Coke… and also happens to be the world’s largest aquarium (or so the website says, and this may be a good tim e to mention that for every website I’ve checked out related to these posts, there always seems to be a claim that that particular attraction is the biggest of its kind. The biggest cast iron statue!! The spoutiest water spout!!! Let’s just say I’m having my doubts at this point.) That said, the Georgia Aquarium is very cool. For a lot of reasons. 1. They have a petting zoo of sorts. There are areas where you can pet (with two fingers only!) rays, small sharks, starfish, and (no way in hell am I touching that) shrimp. 2. There’s a huge sea lion tank, and the sea lions are t otally OCD. In one corner, there’s a ledge and a door where the trainers come out with food. The sea lions would basically swim around for twenty secon...

Day two brought us back to Atlanta, but not before a stop at Vulcan Park . Birmingham was (and I suppose, is) an iron and steel town, and to advertise this back in the day the city created a statue of Vulcan (Roman god of the forge) for the St. Louis world’s fair. It is the largest cast iron statue in the world, and allows me to finally tag my third Giant Things entry. We could have paid extra to climb the statue, visit the Vulcan museum, and possibly play in the Vulcan Playland (with a happy fun slide leading to a tank full of steel arrowheads?), but we went the cheap route, walking and gawking for free. Then we drove back, passing Talladega Speedway (which I forgot to mention on the way up). We didn’t visit it—because we have zero interest in all things stock car—but Jack regaled us with stories of going there in his twenties. It was a booze-soaked time and totally violent. He actually watched a fight escalate to the point where some guy shot another guy in the head (more of a gr...

Better late than never… Monday (the 9 th ), the last first day before we left, Justin pitched the idea of visiting Plus 15 . This was not—as you might assume—a put-down related to my morbid obesity, rather Plus 15 is a series of connected walkways fifteen feet above street level that connects various shops, cafes, and the like. We torpedoed that idea though, figuring we could go shopping the next day while Justin was at work. Instead, we availed ourselves of the illegal internets to find local attractions, and Sarah found some info on Drumheller . So, we took our typical three and a half hours to mobilize, and then we were off to dinotown. Originally settled for its rich coal and oil deposits, Drumheller also revea led itself to be rich in rare fossils and dinosaur bones, and these days the city is all about tourism. Driving towards the visitors centre, we were greeted by the worl d’s largest dinosaur , measuring in around 86 feet. We all acted amazed in a pretty ironic fashion, ...

We woke up Saturday morning with a few cobwebs on the brain, but not so bad considering the drink we’d consumed the night before . First order of business was to check out the Big Nickel , which beats the Big Apple , the Snow Countess , and the Giant Tire for Best Big Thing I Have Seen . In the process, we got the chance to drive by giant piles of slag (not that kind of slag , this kind of slag ) which apparently glows like an alien landing when they pour it out late at night. After this, we went shopping for clothes, exploiting Leanne’s staff discount all over Sudbury (okay, just at the one store). It was cold and a little misty, so we headed back for jackets, and then Leanne directed us to Onaping Falls . On our way there, the gentle mist turned into a mighty downpour, so we hung out in the car until the weather improved. Then we had a short hike, checked out the falls, climbed over rain-slicked rocks, and someone who was not me fell on her butt. Next, we bunkered down at Leanne’s...