Day One: Atlanta Trip

Atlanta, Georgia:  For the past couple years, my family has been asking to see snow.  But having grown up in Pennsylvania, I have seen my far share of it and don't really look forward to being back in the cold again.  But then my wife came across an advertisement for Snow Mountain, just outside of Atlanta.  So I figured it would be the great compromise, they get to see snow and I don't have to deal with the extreme cold.  So we already had off the week of Christmas and I decided to pull the trigger and me it happen.

Call it the trip that almost didn't happen.  Thanks to a myriad of set-backs, we finally got situated and on our way.  Earlier this year when we took our trip to Savannah, we had a hiccup at car rental due to a limit on our bank account.  Trying to keep this happening again, I met with our bank Wells Fargo in Venice to ensure there would be no problems.  After Ashley, the banker I met with confirmed that it was a $500 per swipe limit and not a $500 per day limit, I felt better knowing that our $117 car rental would not be a problem.

So after work we headed to Payless Car Rental to get a car.  We really enjoyed our experience with them during our last trip and they had the best rates when we booked our reservation.  Unfortunately, the location we used last trip had closed so we had to use one in Bradenton instead.

When we arrived at the Payless Car Rental we encountered set-back number one.  Payless in Bradenton DOES NOT provide out of state rentals.  Nowhere on our reservation did it say that you could not take their cars out of the state but I guess I was to read between the line since the name of the location was Bradenton Local.  You would think that it would be one of the main bullet points on the reservation.

So I quickly got on my phone and booked another car rental with Expedia.  This time Expedia booked me with Thrifty Car Rental at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.  I arrived there to get our rental which has not increased in price to $160.  But when we got to the counter, the rep told us they had no cars.  I explained to him that we had a reservation and since the reservation was through Expedia and not Thrifty, they would not honor it and went on to say that Expedia overbooks them all the time and there is nothing they can do about it.

With options running low, I decided to go counter to counter at the terminal of the airport.  Talk about a looking for a needle in a haystack.  Try renting a car without a reservation on one of the busiest travel days of the year.  But I finally found what felt like the last available car on airport property.  Ironically enough it was with another branch of Payless and they would allow us to take it out of state.  We were saved!

Well almost.    Everything went fine, except now the price has inflated to almost $400 dollars.  But in an effort to save the trip, I was willing to throw down the money and grab the keys.  That is until the bank declined the charge.  Seems like Ms. Ashley steered us in the wrong direction.  It wasn't a $500 per swipe limit, it was a $500 per day limit and since I booked the hotel already today, I was over limit.  And like usual, Wells Fargo failed to do anything about it.

By the time this was all done and over with, it was after 5 and past our deadline to cancel to hotel and not lose our money.  So here we are, no rental and out the cost of the hotel, all thanks to circumstances beyond our control.

I tried everything I could think of to keep from having my trip ruined by the incompetence of companies failing to provide promised services.  I tried borrowing a car, I tried paying cash.  I even contemplated rolling the dice and driving my 285,000 mile Santa Fe.  But in the clutch, my brother-in-law came through and found us a car.  Enterprise had a last minute return in which we snagged and we were on our way.  Finally the stress of it all was over and we were back on track for our trip.

We hit the road at a little after 3am for our almost 8 hour drive to Atlanta.  Having never been on I-75 past Gainesville and never being in Atlanta, I was looking forward to seeing the sights of the road.  However there wasn't too much to see, it was dark for much of the drive and rainy for the remainder,

We arrived at our hotel, the Westin at Hartsfield-Atlanta Airport.  I got to pick the hotel and I wanted to stay near the airport.  Since we never stayed at a Westin, I figured this was a chance to give it a try.  The hotel sat on the threshold of the south runway complex so I thought I could sneak in some plane photography during downtime.

Before embarking on our trip, I reached out to the staff and explained my love of aviation,  They were so kind to ensure I had a room that overlooked the airport.  We checked into our room and had a phenomenal view of airborne traffic.   The room was very nice and the hotel staff was extremely friendly,  I could spend all day sitting by the window and watching planes, but we had a city t
to explore.

We did not have anything hard scheduled today so we decided to head to Zoo Atlanta.  The zoo located just outside downtown Atlanta was a treat.  I don't know if it was the cooler weather or not but the animals were very active and vocal.  We had a blast watching them.  Some family favorites included the Giant Pandas, the Living Treehouse aviary and the Lion.  We have been to a bunch of zoos and Zoo Atlanta was one of the best we have been to.  Not only do they have a nice selection of animals, the zoo is in a park like atmosphere making for an enjoyable experience.  While the zoo was not in 100% operations due to weather and the season, I really enjoyed what we saw.  Besides it is only one of a handful of places in the United States where you can see Giant Pandas and they were lucky enough to have given birth to two.  That alone is well worth the visit!

After we were done touring the zoo, I was going to visit the neighboring Civil War museum but opted for a stroll through nearby Grant Park before heading on to our next stop.  The park just had a surreal feel with the fallen leaves on the ground and the bare trees.  It was a long way off from the luscious greens we left in Florida. I did not spend much time in the park as we had other sights we wanted to see before the day was over.

Our next destination was the Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site located in Dr King's boyhood neighborhood of Sweet Auburn,  This tribute to the civil rights leader gives you a glimpse into his life and struggles. The tour begins in the museum and the travels on foot throght his church, his grave, the local fire house and ends at his boyhood home.  The tours for the boyhood home were gone, but we were sill able to enjoy the rest of the exhibits.  It was a great look at how to make a positive impact on life and leave a lasting legacy.

We started running short on daylight so we decided to take a drive through downtown Atlanta before heading out for dinner and back to the hotel to call it a day. After being awake for 19 hours on just 4 hours sleep, I am beat and ready to rejuvanate and prepare for another exciting day tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will be visiting Stone Mountain and experiencing Snow Mountain and Stone Mountain Christmas.  Be sure to check back for more tomorrow and I will have full photos and stories of all the attractions we visited when we return home.