Arnold and I recently went on a trip for our 20 yr anniversary. Originally we had always wanted to go on a cruise but there was just too much going on and I didn't like leaving that many days while the kids still live at home. So we decided to go somewhere we'd never been. Arnold has always wanted to go to Macon, Georgia to see a museum of a favorite band of his, so we kinda built a trip around that. It sounded like Atlanta had a lot of fun stuff to do so we added that into the trip. Then we decided to end up the trip with Savannah. I had gone a long, long time ago when I was young but didn't mind going again. We left out on the morning of our anniversary morning early and headed straight for Atlanta.
The skyline.. a lot of people had warned me the traffic would be really bad, and it was bad, but on that certain day I don't think it was any worse than Charlotte.
The first thing we did was head to the Georgia aquarium. I had heard it was one of the biggest aquariums and it was worth it, even if i've been to tons of aquariums. Ill agree, it was pretty nice! We went to a dolphin show, and I wished I had something to show on here but they said not to record in there. Arnold and I made it late into the room, and sat in the "splash zone." I didnt think it would be that bad, but sure enough, when one of the dolphins sped by our side, we got soaked! The show was amazing.. the dolphins and their trainers were really in sync and they did a lot of tricks and impressive things. They seemed to take really good care of them, which is important to me.
Had to get a pic of Arnold with this fish.. he said it reminded him of the fish on our tv screen saver that always moves around slowly and opens his mouth over and over. I waited until he opened his mouth to take the picture, haha.
I love how beautiful jellyfish look in aquariums, but Ive been stung by one so I know they hurt!
After the aquarium we went to the World of Coca Cola. Yes its a corny touristy thing but I had to go, and it was very closeby. We went in and saw coke bottles from all over the world and saw a little inspirational video, then a room to take lots of pics, then a little museum that showed all kinds of coke products and memorobilia, then to a tasting room.
With a background of a lot of the different coke bottles
Had to get a pic with the Coke Santa since im such a Christmas lover!
The last stop was a tasting room where you could taste coke products from all around the world. Arnold tasted I think every single one. I tasted none of them! Some of those looked yucky! A nice, normal coke for me, please!
They also had an old-fashioned town set up to show some of the history so that was pretty cool
After the museum we drove around downtown area to look at a few cool things I had seen online, including the Outkast mural! Who else loved them back in the day?! I'm sorry Ms Jackson.. I am for reeeaaaall.
By late afternoon we had done a ton of walking and went to check into our hotel. When I booked online I knew we would spent one night in Atlanta and then move on, so I decided for the night of our actual anniversary I would splurge and get a really nice hotel for that one night. I found a pretty good deal, more than I usually spend but not outrageous. Well turns out it was way nicer than I expected. We showed up and the guy asked us questions and kept looking at us weird, he was trying to take my car! They had valet service only! So we grabbed stuff out of the car quickly and then got inside the hotel. We finally find the place to checkin and walk right into the middle of some business convention! haha.. tons of people were walking around dressed up, talking, eating... and here we are with luggage and me wearing a valentines day sweater and headband :D Then we find out were on the 11th floor.. the hotel had 21 levels!! We are on the elevator and Arnold keeps pushing our floor button and its doing nothing, and the guy in there with us keeps looking at us.. then hes like man.. you have to scan your key card (for security reasons) Told you it was fancy! So Arnold does, but he pulls it away too quickly and keeps pressing over and over and I swear I saw the guy roll his eyes at us. Eventually it worked and we got to our room! The room was nice.. nothing extremely special.. but the bed did up being comfortable and I slept SO WELL which is a huge thing for me! We had a little balcony outside and so we took pics out there. Arnold felt bad we didnt have cash on hand to tip the valet so he walks down the street to a Truist and gets out a few 20's and he couldnt find anywhere to break them, so the first dude ended up getting a huge tip :D He also had to escort us back to our car a few times (secuirty!) to get a few things I forgot in my car! I know they were tired of us!
By the time we got done with all this we were hungry and decided to go eat... the closest thing in walking distance to our hotel was a Hard Rock Cafe, so we went there and had burgers and chicken sandwich for dinner, and shared loaded nachoes as a starter! Nothing like a romantic anniversary dinner! :D Then we walked back to our hotel. We get all the way up to our room and Arnold says oh my gosh I left my debit card back at the restaurant. So he had to walk back and get it! By the way, were not stupid I promise.. we are just used to small town living :D My dad traveled ALL THE TIME for work and he would have laughed so hard at all the issues we kept having.
The next morning we get up, get ready early (im proud of us!) and check out of the hotel. Turns out there was a big fee for using the valet service, so that along with all the tips and other things is where they got us! It was $60 to add on breakfast (which we did NOT! good ol mcdonalds for the win haha) But just goes to show that the "halfway good deal" I got wasn't because of all the added charges and fees. I should have known better!!
Then we head down to good ol Macon, Georgia. One of Arnold's favorite bands of all time is the Allman Brothers Band. They have this place called The Big House, which is where they used to live and write music, and now that theyre gone, they've turned it into a musuem. Now this isn't my cup of tea at all (Im more of. Dave Matthews Band Girl!) but I wanted my hubby to be happy. We go into the museum and a hippie guy named Rex who is even more of a music nerd than my husband told us all about things I did not care one bit about but... ok, at least Arnold was happy! I later found out he didnt even work there for money, he was just a volunteer! And I totally believe he didn't even realize I was there at all.. he just talked to Arnold and gushed about all the music memoribilia.
Outside the house
Some guitars Arnold told me are special.. in some guy's bedroom.. pretty creepy if you ask me!
I know he was in heaven around all those guitars. He wished he could have that many.(and he has alot!)
After Macon we decided to drive on down to Savananah. Yes, poor Arnold did a LOT of driving on this trip. I saw a place called Wormsloe Historical site online that looked nice so we stopped there. By some miracle, in January, it was nearly 70 down there and SUCH nice weather, so I ditched the sweater and put on a new shirt!
We went on a wagon ride through the famous spanish moss trees while a guide told us more about the place. I enjoyed this SO much. Couldn't have asked for better weather. There was another couple there from NC and they were really young, might have been on their honeymoon even :)
It's so hard to always capture true beauty through pictures but everything was just gorgeous
We went on a hike down the trail through the trees
They also had a little museum there for more history so we stopped in. On the wagon ride back we met some new people. They were awesome. everyone was congratulating us on being married for so long. Sone old guy said wow they must have gotten married at about 15! I said actually I was 20 and he was 24. And another guy said.. well you still look that young. He doesnt! hahahaha. I know he was just being funny and silly but I felt special ;)
We researched a few places to look around and took pics. We went to this HUGE, stunning catholic church to take pictures. The sun was starting to set and couldn't have been more perfect.
We also took your usual dorky, touristy pictures
Arnold told me to put my hand up on the fence, haha
This is the spot of the famous scene in the movie Forrest Gump when he's sitting on a bench and waiting on a bus! They moved the bench to a museum , wish it was there still! There was a local musician playin g in the park and im pretty sure it was one of the songs from the movie!
Some guy offered to take pics of us at the fountain, thought that was nice
After downtown, we were ready for dinner so we found a nearby seafood place that did famous seafood boils and I LOVE it.. my dad used to make the best. After we ate we walked around town a bit and stopped into a candy and chocolate store and Arnold got some icecream and I got some chocolate covered pretzels.
Now here's the funny part. I am usually a HUGE planner and huge control freak. Ask anyone. I plan trips down to the minor details. But this time since we kinda hopped around I was less strict on stuff. We hadn't found a hotel yet for that night so Arnold told me to just look one up real quick. I went back on hotels.com and made a reservation at a nearby hotel that looked pretty nice (but not as fancy as in atlanta, haha!) and we went over and tried to check in. The lady kept saying she didnt see us in the system. Finally she found us but she said the reservation was for the NEXT week. I said no way... looked back into it and sure enough, I chose the following thursday night for our trip. I dont know how the date skipped ahead on me or how I didn't notice it. I blame it on the long day and I was so tired. Anyway, we had already paid, and it was non refundable, and the lady said they were booked up. I WAS SO MAD AT MYSELF! I was like this is it... im done with trips. At this point were scrambling to find a last minute hotel, knowing well have to pay all over again. We know we had to go home early from our trip due to the inclement weather thats coming in NC, so Arnold decides for us just to drive home home that night. Here we are at 9pm, and he wants to drive home. But I dont want to argue anymore, so I say ok, and we drive through the night and return home just shy of 3 AM. I leave everything in the car and go straight to bed.
SO there you have it.. our awesome adventure for our 20th. For the little but of trip we did have, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. We packed so much into so little time. And surprise twist- the hotel manager decided to have pity on us and refunded our hotel stay we never had. THANK THE LORD FOR KIND PEOPLE!!!!!! We got back just in time before the bad weather started and I was ready to be back to my kids, pets and own bed. Happy anniversary babe ;)
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