From airport crowds to coastlines
Atlanta airport prepares for July 4th travel surge
Traveling during the Fourth of July holiday period? You might want to get to the airport earlier than usual.
More than 4 million passengers are expected to pass through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport during the Independence Day travel period, officials estimate, with peak travel days clustered around the holiday weekend. The next busiest days are expected to be Sunday, July 5, and Monday, July 6.
Airport officials are encouraging passengers to arrive at the airport at least 2 1/2 hours before their scheduled departure times for domestic flights and three hours for international flights. Passengers requiring wheelchair assistance or other accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act are recommended to add 30 minutes to those arrival times.
The Fourth of July weekend is one of the busier travel periods of the year. Nationwide, AAA projects a record 72.2 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles for the holiday period. The bulk of travel will be via road. The number of people driving and flying to their destinations is relatively flat compared to last year, even as gas prices nationwide reach four-year highs. Other modes of travel, including cruises, are seeing bigger increases.
Security wait time estimates are available in real time at the airport’s website and on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s website.
✈️ Read more: The airport site also tracks parking lot availability.
Taking the scenic route through family memories
When America turns 250 years old on Saturday, generations of families will have already spent decades making memories at Rock City atop Lookout Mountain. What began as an unlikely hilltop attraction created by Garnet Carter, a Chattanooga, Tennessee, entrepreneur, in the early 1900s has become a road-trip tradition, drawing visitors with its winding paths, sweeping views and whimsical charm.
Grounded in family and memories, the American road trip is making a comeback. Making summers exciting and weekends an adventure, larger-than-life destinations like Rock City deliver the marvel of nature with no cellphone required.
Celebrating the country’s birthday as well as road-tripping to iconic destinations, a new journey is designed around the Chattanooga area. Sites include the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, Tennessee Aquarium, Chattanooga Library-Downtown, the Chattanooga Choo Choo and more.
But first, enjoy Rock City’s enchantment.
- Walk through the Hall of the Mountain King viewing ancient rock formations accented by art installations.
- Of course, there’s Fat Man’s Squeeze which tests everyone’s squeeze quotient.
- Through Rainbow Hall to the Balanced Rock to Fairyland Caverns and Mother Goose Village, across the Swing-A-Long Bridge and Sky Bridge, you make your way to Lover’s Leap where seven states come into view.
- Open daily, the gardens are both kid and pet friendly. Certain areas are ADA accessible and detailed accessibility guides are available. Most of the trails include a large number of steps which prohibits strollers and wheelchairs.
🛣️ Read more: What began as a whimsical mountaintop garden became a road trip legend, thanks to one simple directive: “See Rock City.”
Atlanta museums that are fun at any age
Atlanta is no stranger to museums. Many locals know about the High Museum of Art, Fernbank Museum of Natural History and the Atlanta History Center.
But the city also is home to some museums that speak to Atlanta’s eclectic side. In fact, these museums are perfect for exploring with your kids — or on your own.
- Waffle House Museum: Who knew when Waffle House first opened its doors back in 1955 in Avondale Estates that this local eatery would become a national icon? Today, you can visit the Waffle House Museum in the original location to learn how founders Joe Rogers Sr. and Tom Forkner came up with the idea for the restaurant, their famous menu and uniforms.
- Georgia Capitol Museum: As the home of the Georgia Legislature, a lot of historical moments take place at the Georgia State Capitol. But in the Georgia Capitol Museum you’ll also find a collection of exhibits, artifacts and memorials documenting notable people, places and moments in the state’s history.
- Delta Flight Museum: Head to the Delta Flight Museum, where you can see the evolution of Atlanta’s hometown airline since its earliest beginnings in the 1920s. Go inside the Boeing 767 The Spirit of Delta, snap a photo with the engines of an L-1011 and see how the airline’s uniforms have changed through the years.
🖼️ Read more: Whether you’re bringing the kids or exploring on your own, these museums offer something for all ages.
Coastal escapes for rest and reflection this summer
When extra incentive is needed for drifting off to sleep or a much-needed distraction, AJC contributor Judith Garrison says she reaches for sounds of the sea. “However, when an absolute reset requires more than a song or a sound machine, I find myself on the sand,” Garrison adds.
She shares how the following destinations provide a coastal respite in addition to a personal transformation.
🌊 Sea Island Resort: In this lush sanctuary along the Golden Isles of Georgia, Sea Island can curate a three-day itinerary from sunup to sundown, prioritizing your well-being.
From early morning coffee at The Cloister to saddling up for a 5-mile ride on the private beach, the itinerary moves at your pace. Explore the waterways on a kayak before an afternoon of Pilates or a group yoga class. An immersive spa day, from signature massages to holistic sessions, silences the noise.
🌊 Newport, Rhode Island: On this breathtaking peninsula overlooking Narragansett Bay, Castle Hill Inn is a definitive choice for solace, if for no other reason than waking up to the dramatic view each morning. Situated on a cliff, the structure’s old-world grandeur transports visitors to another place in time, which is precisely the wellness goal.
Its boutique spa spotlights Farmaesthetics, award-winning face and body treatments that emphasize organic botanicals and grounding massage techniques. Founder Brenda Brock is from a seventh-generation farming family and considered a trailblazer in “green” skincare. Wellness extends beyond the treatment room to yoga classes, fitness center and seasonal offerings.
🌊 Bungalows Key Largo, Florida: Along the northernmost island of the Florida Keys, Bungalows Key Largo is an adults-only, all-inclusive waterfront retreat. Set on 12 acres overlooking the bay, its 135 private bungalows provide the perfect unwind incentive.
Focusing on a wellness escape for two, the Waterfront Wellness Package provides yoga sessions and spa experiences whether on the beach or inside your bungalow. A variety of immersive self-care experiences fill the menu, and all you have to do is choose. Its laid-back island atmosphere allows you to do as much or as little as you want. A sunset sail ends the day with perfection.
🐚 Read more: Other coastal destinations that prioritize comfort, wellness and meaningful experiences.
Photographers aim lens at coastal Georgia in exhibit
If Savannah is more your speed, this exhibit captures that same coastal stillness a little closer to home. Upon entering the heavy chartreuse doors of Laney Contemporary, a westside gallery housed in a Brutalist Lee J. Meyer building, viewers are met with three black-and-white images.
In one, raindrops spark like fireflies against a marsh muted by a storm. In the other two, fog settles over quiet waterscapes.
The photographs span nearly 50 years and two photographers, Jack Leigh and Parker Stewart, who never met. Leigh died in 2004, when Stewart was barely a tween.
But there is plenty of connective tissue binding their images of coastal Georgia and South Carolina at “Jack Leigh and Parker Stewart: In Place,” a 43-piece exhibit on view through Aug. 1.
There is Leigh’s photo of the hollow-eyed bird girl that once marked the Trosdal family plot in Bonaventure Cemetery. The image was commissioned in 1993 for the cover of John Berendt’s runaway bestseller about the Jim Williams murder trials, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” Hanging nearby is Stewart’s shadowy and moss-laden “Bonaventure, Savannah.” Both images are ethereal, capturing the peacefulness and haunted quality of the historic burial ground.
At the second-floor landing, two nearly identical images of an Estill, South Carolina, water tower, snapped 24 years apart, hang side by side. Stewart had been working on a project along the Savannah River when he stopped his car to shoot an old mill in the middle of town. As he walked down the street, he saw the tower framed by two silos and could not pass up getting the shot.
A few weeks later, he says he came across Leigh’s image of the same view for the first time. “It was just this great little sign of standing where he stood and not realizing it and having this little marker — I like to call them treasures,” said Stewart.
📷 Read more: How both photographers found their footing only after returning to the same coast.
As World Cup intensifies, so do the stakes for ticket buyers
The atmosphere inside Atlanta’s World Cup matches so far has been electric, featuring pulse-pounding moments.
But for an unlucky few, they had to settle for listening to the elated crowds from outside the temporarily renamed Atlanta Stadium despite paying to get in. The tickets they bought through third-party websites never materialized.
“I didn’t want a refund, I didn’t want my money back,” Bina Ramroop told the Associated Press after the tickets she bought for the Spain-Cape Verde game through StubHub were never transferred, leading to a refund. “I wanted to go to the game.”
The World Cup group stage was marred for fans whose experiences mirrored Ramroop’s, leading FIFA and third-party platforms like StubHub to point fingers at each other amid the fallout. That was when the matchups had been known months in advance and tickets were relatively affordable, even if prices set records compared to prior World Cups.
Ticket resales are projected to increase as the tournament’s remaining schedule is set in stone, including Atlanta’s final three matches. The uptick in tickets changing hands as fans follow their favorite teams also raises the stakes of any transfer troubles, especially as the cheapest entry prices start to cost thousands of dollars.
⚽ Read more: This is the first World Cup in which FIFA has used what it calls “variable pricing.”