Shakedown Cruise

We had to take care of some business in Atlanta so we decided to go ahead and take Esprit and make a long weekend of it! We left Panama City around 9:30 am and did not arrive in Atlanta till 5:30pm...traveling in Esprit does take a bit more time so I am going to take that into consideration! We did run into bumper to bumper traffic 34 miles out side of Atlanta..Nuts?? right? I am going to have to get used to seeing more people and cars. We stayed at a campground about 20 miles south of Atlanta and there is so many people it boggles the mind...mine at least!
 There is so much history in Atlanta it dates back to 1836, when Georgia decided to build a railroad to the U.S. Midway and a location was chosen to be the line's terminus. The stake marking the terminus was driven into the ground in 1837, it was called the Zero Mile Post. In 1839 homes and a store were built there and the settlement grew. Between 1845 and 1854 rail lines arrived from four different directions and the rapidly growing town quickly became a rail hub for the entire Southern United States. During the American Civil War, Atlanta, as a distribution hub, became the target of a major Union campaign and in 1864 Union General Sherman's troops set fire to the city's assets and buildings, saving only the hospitals and churches. After the war the population grew rapidly as did manufacturing, Coca-Cola started in Atlanta in 1886 and grew into a world empire! When the Great Depression hit and it was the Coca-Cola Company that bailed Atlanta out of its deficit.
The Coca-Cola Factory is one of the main tourist attractions along with the Zoo, the Aquarium and the Botanical Gardens. went to all of these attractions, save the Coca-cola factory...we ran out of time.
All and all we had a good time and I am getting excited about getting on the road with Espirt, she did not let us down!

elephants at the zoo