Home > Health > MOMania > Archives > 2008 > April > 06
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Gimme a break from aquarium
Where do your Atlanta visitors always want to go? Sites you refuse to return to? Share favorite out-of-the-way places
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ah, Spring Break — a chance for families to reconnect, travel and force friends to take them to expensive tourist sites they’ve already visited.
Like many Metro Atlantans, we often have friends and family visit. We love to show off our city and are always happy to host. However, if one more person asks us to take them to the aquarium, I’m going to blow up — like an angry pufferfish.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the aquarium. It’s interesting, family friendly and educational. But it’s also expensive, especially when you’re taking a family of five and visitors.
My husband Michael’s family came to visit us last fall and we took everyone to the aquarium and to the zoo. While MasterCard is right, the memories are priceless; I’d like to make some new memories at different locations.
I have a girlfriend coming to town in May. I told her there was an exciting cooking show at the Cobb Galleria the weekend she was going to be here. She said, “I really just want to see the aquarium.”
The kids are picking straws to see who “gets” to go. I’m not paying for all of them again. Why doesn’t anyone ever ask us to take them to the Margaret Mitchell House, Warm Springs, the Oakland Cemetery or the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park? Heck, I’d even settle for the Carter Center. These are places I’ve never been, and they would be less crowded, less expensive and more interesting than another trip to the zoo or aquarium.
When Michael was growing up, relatives from Rhode Island would visit his family in Augusta during school breaks. They had fairly low expectations on their trips. They would ask to get a tour of The Augusta National Golf Course — during Masters week. Michael’s father’s response was to drive by the fence that separates the golf course from the city and say, “There it is. If you crane your head right you can see a little of Magnolia Lane.”
His cousins would also ask to visit Disney World. To them, once you’re in Augusta, Orlando’s just a hop away — a 9-hour hop. His parents were more hospitable than I am — they actually took them.
When we lived in New York City, the Statue of Liberty was our aquarium. Every visitor wanted to see (and climb) the Statue of Liberty. I went a couple of times, only climbed it once. Michael refused. In fact, he would ruin the trip by telling each visitor how many other things they could see instead of spending the day sitting in line for tickets, waiting to get on the boat, waiting to get into the statue and then waiting to get back on the boat.
Back in our pre-child days in New York City, we were mostly conducting bar, restaurant and shopping tours. That type of tourism we enjoyed. It was fun to show off our inside knowledge of the city, not just regurgitate what any guide book could tell you.
This year for part of Spring Break we’re taking the kids to explore Washington D.C. We plan to visit all the regular tourist sites — the Smithsonian Museums, the White House, the Capitol and the spy museum.
And, while we do have some old friends there, we haven’t asked them to lead us around. However, they did offer. I guess they’re nicer than we are.
To avoid confusion in the future, I’d like to set up a few tourism ground rules for our friends who come to visit Atlanta: We prefer to keep our tourism focused on history, the arts or good food. We do have a pass to Stone Mountain, so we can walk the trails; visit the playground and the lake. But just know upfront that I will not pay for any of that nonsense in the Crossroads reproduction 1870s town area.
With that said, we can be bought. If you offer to baby-sit while you’re here, we might take you to the aquarium.
