6 Hours In Atlanta

During our 12 day road trip to Florida, we made a day stop in Atlanta. It was actually meant to be a quick, one hour stop, but we were shocked by how kid friendly the downtown area was that we wound up staying for several hours! Our main sight seeing adventure for the day was Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta, but once we realize everything was in such close proximity to the Park, we added in CNN Center and Coca Cola World (gift shop and a quick peak into the museum. We didn't actually get to go into it due to time restraints).

We stayed just outside of Atlanta in Kennesaw, where the hotel rooms were cheap and right along the interstate. This made the drive into Atlanta easier since we were right by the interstate in an area that wasn't busy. The minis really enjoyed all of our hotel stays. We made sure to book places that had free breakfast or a microwave in the room for us to heat oatmeal.

The traffic getting into the city wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either. From some of the nightmare traffic stories I've heard about Atlanta (and witnessed on the way back through Atlanta at the end of our trip), I was nervous about how long we would be sitting in traffic. Luckily, traffic wasn't too bad and parking in downtown was easy. We found a parking garage about a block away from the park and the rest of the action for only $10 a day (for all day parking). 

I helped lighten the traffic mood by played Danger Zone on the playlist. At least I thought I was hilarious....


Finding Centennial Olympic Park was easy to find as there was ample signage all around downtown. It was a gorgeous sunny day to roam around the park for a while, explore, and let the minis play on the playground.

Full disclosure: one child nearly fell in the water because he wasn't listening to me, which caused the park police to make their way over to us. Fun stuff.

As usual, at least one kid had to break down about it not being warm enough to run through the fountains.

Surrounding Centennial Park were various museums and fun stuff to do: CNN Center, World of Coca-Cola, Georgia Aquarium, College Football Hall of Fame, National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Children's Museum of Atlanta, and SkyView Atlanta to name a few. After our walk through the park we decided to check out a few of the buildings and gift shops.

I couldn't pass up CNN Center due to my obsession with CNN years ago during my first pregnancy. I never turned the TV from another channel and it never got turned off (even when I was asleep). I had a bit of an issue with CNN for a few months there (and my husband doesn't let me forget it).

The pathways of the park make it easy to get from one side to the other quickly. I wish we had more time to check out the Children's Museum there.

Pretending to drink out of the enormous Coke bottle bank. As a souvenir, my minis chose little bottles of Coke to try. This was their first time trying Coke. It's no shock that they loved their little bottle of sugar.

I really want to go to this Museum someday.

Outside of the Georgia Aquarium. The kids were disappointed we didn't get to go inside.

Of all of the places to eat in around where we were, my family chose Waffle House (I'm ashamed for them). But, the food was decent, the staff was friendly, and everyone left with full bellies.

We had such a great few hours in downtown Atlanta that we've put it on our list of cities to re-visit! On our list for next time:

• Georgia Aquarium
• Children's Museum of Atlanta
• Center for Civil and Human Rights

If you plan on being in Atlanta with kids longer than 6 hours, I recommend looking into the Atlanta City Pass to save money. It really is an excellent deal!