Hey, what’s your problem? The puppet museum is amazing!
I would suggest not going to Decatur. It’s crawling with thousands of toddlers at all times. Yuppie parents think it’s cute to let their little kids run and scream all over the place at the restaurants.
I know you said you weren’t into the zoo, but December is actually a great time to go- since it’s not 150 degrees out and choked with thousands of people, the animals are lively and active instead of napping.
I have NO idea why I would want to go to a graveyard. We don’t even bury in my culture, or in his, and graveyards are eerie and weird. I find it odd that dead people are somehow tourist spots!
As to the other suggestions: We have decided to drive up to Chattanooga on Friday night and spend Saturday there. Sunday morning we will do the CNN studio.
I am not going to a puppet museum. 
I won’t be eating Indian there, sorry. I don’t actually eat Indian food that often, maybe once a month, and never while on vacation.
I thought about Atlanta movie tours but neither of us are Walking Dead fans, and the only one I’d be into would be the Hunger Games stuff, and that is not to his interest.
I definitely may include the Museum of Natural History if we run out of things to do.
No sports! I’d rather go back to the cemetery.
Ukelele Ike, thanks but no thanks for your snark. Please excuse yourself from my thread.
I am definitely going to the aquarium. We love aquariums and have been talking about the Atlanta one for a long time.
Thank you all for the great suggestions!
And if you don’t catch a show, the Fox offers tours that are worthwhile as well.
Ah the Clermont, home of the world’s oldest strippers. The Motor Lodge part of the building has been sold and will likely be turned into lofts, but the Lounge will never die!
Heretic! The food is devine - chili dogs, chili burgers, onion rindg, a Frosted Orange and a fried apple pie! As a benefit of all that grease, your joints won’t squeak for at least a week!
If you truly don’t mind renting a car and driving about 90 minutes east, head to Athens, GA. It’s a college town (University of GA) with outstanding music and food choices. Friday or Saturday night would be best for that trip.
Slow Moving Vehicle:
While the above is true, Coca-Cola is one of the most ubiquitous products in the world, and Atlanta is its home. The World of Coke is both a nice appreciation of the culturally significant place that Coke occupies, and an essential part of the Atlanta experience. My family waited on a 45-minute line to get in, and we didn’t regret it a bit.
It’s a great place to live, but I’d hate to visit here.
Hey, don’t knock graveyards. They’re fine, peaceful places. Most people are dying to get in.
[d&r]
Most aquariums that I have ever visited make you start at one end and walk a route through to the other. The Atlanta aquarium is galleries off a main atrium, which I think makes for a more enjoyable experience. Ours is the second-best aquarium I’ve ever visited, short only of the Sydney Aquarium in Australia (if you ever get the chance, go go go!) If you’re small, be sure to crawl through the tunnel to the little observation bubble in the penguin habitat. Also don’t miss the pet-the-rays tank, or the otters.
If you’re going to Chattanooga, consider Rock City. It seems like the very epitome of cheesy roadside attractions - and it is - but it’s interesting, pretty, and has gorgeous views of the city and the surrounding countryside. Well worth the price of admission. Chattanooga itself is a lovely, lovely city.
Well, each to his own. I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’ve been twice - once to the original one near Underground, and once to the new one in Centennial. Just didn’t do much for me. But, de gustibus.
Damn straight! One of the citizenship requirements of Decatur is looking down at Roswell, Marietta, and Alpharetta. East Cobb? Don’t get me started!
I suggest attending a meet-up of the Atlanta Science Tavern
Whoa! Très cool! I had no idea something like this existed. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
If you are going to go to World of Coke and Aquarium don’t skip the brand new Center for Civil and Human Rights, right behind the World of Coke. It’s well worth seeing and quite powerful. Atlanta was one of the centers (if not the center) of the Civil Rights Movement. Also go see the MLK Center, Ebenezer Baptist Church (the original one) and King’s house as well. It’s not too far from the stuff by Centennial Olympic Park and you can take the streetcar there. Also if you are going to be around Centennial Park, may as well take a CNN Studio Tour, it’s quite interesting.
I’ll echo visiting Decatur as well. I also live there (well, right outside of Decatur - on the east). Lots of fantastic restaurants and bars, and a cute little square to walk around, and there is a MARTA stop right at downtown Decatur.
Okay, so that’s Lsura, you and I who all live in or around Decatur. And I can think of three or four other Alanta-area Dopers. We have got to put together an Atlanta Dopefest!
P.S. I’d love to talk religion with you over a beer (hey, you’re a liberal Lutheran - don’t tell me you don’t drink beer) - I enjoy your posts in religion threads.
The fun part will be when half of us who live in the Decatur area figure out that we know each other/have seen each other on the train regularly or whatnot. 
But I’m up for a an Atlanta Dopefest. Last one I went to was years ago (sometime during the last time I lived in Atlanta, sometime between 1999-2002).
Think of it more as an arts park. Many of the monuments are spectacular and the grounds are usually amazingly well kept. You are going to the South… experience the culture. People walk these and even picnic there. The bodies are all deep in the ground… very few limbs strewn around. If you are thinking of these as your typical graveyards you are way off.
Why Chattanooga? Family?
I’m not too sure if any part of I-75 is anything other than a clogged, stop-and-go, highway from Atlanta to Chattanooga, especially on a Friday night. Maybe once you get past Lake Allatoona and Cartersville, it might ease up, but I-75 can be one suck-ass highway. Congestion is the norm on Atlanta highways, so don’t expect to “dart” anywhere.
As one poster said, it’s a great place to live, but I wouldn’t understand why anyone would want to visit Atlanta.
Maybe she’s heard about the Choo-Choo? 
I am going to Atlanta for a training, as I said. The training was originally supposed to be in Orlando but got switched. But we have talked about going to the aquarium in Atlanta for years, so we thought - well, my airfare is paid for, why not plan a trip?
I went to Chattanooga 30 years ago with my parents. I was just curious to see how it had changed, and if I remember anything. We would never make a trip just to Chattanooga so this is my chance.
Well, there’s Chickamauga battlefield, Rock City, and probably several other great outdoorsy things to do.
Chattanooga is a pretty cool city, but JohnT advice is sound. Going north on I-75 on a Friday night is a nightmare. Either leave the city before 3:00PM or wait until after 8:00PM. Otherwise, you’ll just sit in traffic.
No, no, I’m sorry - I worded my post badly and I didn’t mean to give offense. :o
As a person who grew up in Atlanta and lived there for almost 30 years (1971-1999) I think it’s a great city and a lot more culturally/historically significant than many realize, but it’s not difficult to realize that when it comes to tourist attractions, Atlanta is lacking compared to other large US metropolitan areas. World of Coca-Cola or the Liberty Bell? CNN or Boston Commons?
If you haven’t been in 30 years, Chattanooga may be smaller than you remember it, but far less industrial and more prosperous. And cleaner.
Yeah! That’d be fun (and the Brickstore would be a great meeting place, if I may suggest - or Leon’s)! And it doesn’t matter if a Lutheran is conservative or liberal, we all drink (Martin Luther brewed beer after all ;)) - well unless we are recovering from addiction (not me).