Orlando and Harry Potter World!

Our last stop towards the south was Orlando Florida. Being the dorks that we are, we wanted to stop and see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The evening before we found the Disney Boardwalk for dinner and hanging out with Ade. There was a dueling piano bar, which was a lot of fun, but played a lot of older music.



The next day we got up early and fought against the tide of children and middle schoolers to go to Universal Islands of Adventure. Harry Potter World was awesome! There's a Hogsmeade! And a replica castle!





In the castle are all sorts of items from the movies and characters that speak to the lines of people waiting for rides. The screens they used to show the characters were pretty awesome and made them look just like people who were coming through curtains.







There were characters dressed up in costumes and a replica of the train.





We even got to sample butterbeer (liquid and frozen) at The Three Broomsticks and the Hog's Head!



We also did rides all over the park, at Jurassic Park, the Marvel section had a Spiderman and Hulk ride, and a couple of water rides. All in all, it was a good adventure at Universal.



That night we happened to find a Jamaican restaurant for dinner with live music, so we ordered a sampler platter, some plantains, and enjoyed a relaxing evening.

Atlanta!

In Atlanta we stayed with our friend Fred, who also took a day off from work to hang out with us and play tourist. Our first stop was the Georgia Aquarium, which is pretty epic. There was a great shark and ray touch tank. I actually got Fred and Andrew to touch a ray too!



Japanese spider crabs, which are roughly the size of a car tire and albino alligators.





Beluga whales playing with ropes and bags and swimming right up to the glass, and an active octopus who walked across the tank right as we got there.





There was a tunnel as part of the penguin viewing that you could crawl through and see the penguins even closer by sticking your head up through cylinders of plexiglass.



More frog and jellyfish exhibits.







A dolphin show that wasn't educational like the one in Baltimore. This one was a musical, where the stargazer (or something like that) was fighting an evil sea monster and the dolphins were helping... Storyline may not have been award winning, but the acrobatics they had the dolphins do or did with the dolphins (surfing or balancing on them on one foot) was really impressive. Unfortunately no photos during the show.



And the grand finale is the whale shark tank, which also included large manta rays (one of which did backflips in front of us) and several species of large fish and sharks. You first go through a tube where all of the creatures in the tanks can swim over and past you before going to the floor to ceiling viewing wall that's probaby 60 feet wide and made out of 18 inch thick acrylic.







After that we went to The World of Coca-Cola! Atlanta is the home of Coca-Cola and they have an interactive attraction right next to the aquarium that's part museum, part activities and all advertising. I'd actually recommend it for anyone interested in marketing.



This is "the vault" that holds the secret formula (doubt it, but it was right after a cool room with a 360 degree screen).



This screen followed the images of the 5 people in front and they had tasks to complete before we could get to the next room. These sensors recognized where they were and the actions they were trying to make.



There was also a ton of memorabilia throughout the whole thing including this device, which is how it was orginally served, some travel advertising for Andrew, and this vending machine which is from the Olympics in Japan.







They've been an official sponsor of the Olympics for many years and had a wall displaying several Olympic torches.



It ends with the tasting room, which has products from around the world. It was fun trying a pinapple-coconut fizzy drink from South America (I think) and a terrible one from Europe. Andrew even had me try something similar to the Pepsi Challenge, using regular Coke and Coke Zero. While it was difficult, I still knew which one was which. Nothing beats the genuine taste of Coca-Cola.

Nashville

After a long and arduous day of driving, we arrived in Nashville to stay a night with Alex. During the day Monday, he toured us around, with the first stop being The Pancake Pantry. Andrew had a corn meal pancake with peppers, cheese and bacon in it. I had ones called "sugar and spice" that tasted a bit like Christmas.



We also went to Gaylord Opreyland, which is like a small, indoor city. It felt like a biodome. It's a huge convention center and hotel with a river running through it, restaurants, night clubs, shops... it was huge.





After that we went on a plantation tour. So there weren't actually any crops as the family got their money by breeding racehorses. They turned the mansion into a museum though and were able to find many of the items that had originally been in the home to display. It was interesting to hear how they had supported the Confederacy during the Civil War, but also kept on many of their former slaves as hired hands after it was over. Even their head hostler was a slave and then ended up being the highest paid hired hand on the plantation for a while.





There was also a carriage house on the grounds, where they had on display several different horse drawn carriages and sleighs.







There was also a dairy, the house the family originally lived in while they were building the mansion, and which later went to the head hostler, a mausoleum, and a garden house. Below is a cabin that the slaves lived in. The tour stated that of the ones who stayed as hired hands, many of them chose to continue living in these buildings on the grounds.



It was pretty cool to see all of the pieces of art, furniture, and general household items from the 1800s. Even our tour guide was dressed up for the time period!

Baltimore!

After DC we went to Baltimore to go to the National Aquarium. We first wandered the waterfront and had tapas for lunch in front of the USS Constellation.





The aquarium itself was awesome! Tons of sharks and large fish, including these...





And this large set of jaws at the entrance.



There were also some unique creatures such as this guy...



And this peacock/painted mantis shrimp. It has an appendage it uses as a club to punch, stun, and break open its prey. It can punch hard enough to break glass!



There was also a dolphin show that was pretty cool where they talked about the different ways they train the dolphins to do tricks.





The aquarium also has a pretty epic Austrailia exhibit, jellyfish, Amazon section and shark tank.

After the aquarium we had dinner at an Italian restaurant with Lauren and a liquid nitrogen martini.



The next day we had breakfast with Dan and Crystal and finally got to meet Christopher at a diner. After much food and playing with the baby we continued our trek on to Nashville.