10 posts tagged “travel”
Caylee Anthony the missing central Florida toddler whom disappearance over the summer launched a statewide search and police investigation has been been spotted in Georgia. Well, her "missing person" flier has been spotted anyway. The Georgia Department of Transportation is actively dispersing these fliers across the state rest stop facilities in hopes motorist will uncover the helpful clue in the young girls mysterious disappearance.
Victor and I visited the Atlanta History Center and toured this elegant early 20th century estate dubbed the Swan House.
The Swan House is an excellent example of the Second Renaissance Revival style and represents the architectural and decorative tastes of affluent citizens in the late 1920s. The house was designed by well-known Atlanta architect Philip Trammell Schutze in 1928 and decorated by Ruby Ross Woods of New York. Swan House and its gardens are together considered Shutze's finest residential work, in which he adapted Italian and English classical styles to accommodate 20th-century living. The house is set on a rising slope and presents an Italian Mannerist facade complete with double stairs descending on either side of a cascade. Baroque inspired lawns, stone obelisks and retaining walls, and two stone fountains are other Renaissance elements found on the grounds.
The name of the house is drawn from the swan or bird motifs that found in many of the interior rooms. The interior of the house is as elaborate as the exterior and features five rooms: the entrance vestibule, the entrance hall, the library, the Morning Room and the Dining Room. Other rooms include four bedroom areas, a sitting room, a full basement and an apartment in the attic. Of the two impressive exterior facades of Swan House, the west facade facing Andrews Drive that is the rear of the house is the more impressive of the two. Symmetrical in every way, the facade has a central doorway at the top of a double winding staircase.
In 1966, the Atlanta Historical Society purchased the Swan House and most of its original furnishings, which range from 18th-century antiques to 20th-century objects. The house opened to the public in 1967.
The Swan House is located at 130 West Paces Ferry Rd. in NW Atlanta. It is owned and maintained by the Atlanta History Center. Tours are generally available daily from 11:00am (1:00pm on Sundays) until 4:00pm, although during the current renovation of the interior, these times are subject to change. Please call 404-814-4000 or visit http://www.atlhist.org to obtain the most up-to-date tour information.
This weekend Victor and I decided to mountain climbing again, seeing we've conquered Kennesaw mountain for than enough so far this year. We decided to head east to try our hands at the well worn trials that lead to the summit of the infamous Stone Mountain.
Yes, the same patch of land Dr. Martin Luther King referred to in his "I Have A Dream" speech. Forever marred by it's use by Ku Klux Klan between 1915 until the rightful land owners turn the property over to the state in 1975.
The park is known for it signature carvings of confederate generals sculpted out of the mountains granite face.
So naturally being anywhere near the site causes me to feel at unease, but this is 2008...
So up the mountain side we ventured.
The historic Winecoff Hotel. Site of the worst hotel fire in this history of the United States roughly fifty years ago on a chilly December in 1946 when over 120 persons either jumped sixteen stories to their deaths, or were overcome by smoke inhalation and burnt to death in their prospective rooms with the mass of flames shot through the center staircase of the structure. The Winecoff Hotel was considered by many to be the most prestigious hotel in Atlanta, when it originally opened on October 30, 1913 it was one of the tallest buildings in the Atlantan skyline. Early building codes didn't call for skyscrapers to include fire escapes or sprinkler systems and making matters worst at the time Atlanta's fire department truck ladders could only reach the seventh floor.
In an ironic twist to save money the original architect William Lee Stoddard used flame resistant building materials on the outermost framework of the building and advertised the hotel as "fireproof" on their marketing mailings. (Sounds like the Titanic all over again.)
Due of the high level of lives lost inside the building fire codes in our nation involved to their current state. After the fires were extinguished all that remained where the hollow shell of the super structure which where slowly rebuilt and and land donated to the Georgia Baptist Convention in 1967 to house the cities elderly and then repeatedly sold to various potential developers but ultimately the building remained shuttered and vacant for forty more years until 2006 when ground broke on a 23 million renovation and restoration project that once again turned the building into a boutique luxury hotel now called the Ellis Hotel after the side street the property resides on.
The site is often referred to as being the most haunted local in Atlanta with scores of witnesses having reported hearing bloodcurdling screams coming from within the building while standing outside the building at street level along with witnesses of apparitions in the windows of distraught patrons in classic attire panicking.
We intend to check ourselves into the old Winecoff Hotel for a weekend later this year...
Last weekend Vic and I traveled to Gwinnett Co in Northeast Atlanta Metro to visit the gargantuan Discover Mills indoor shopping complex with over 180 retailers and 14 anchor stores. If the dizzying size isn't enough to give you a headache imagine the space crawling to the rafters with teenyboppers!
Soon as you leave the Georgian border and enter Florida via I-75 south bound there'll be a large stone and glass building off the side of the road. If you're speeding you'll easily miss it, especially if you're traveling in the fast lane. What at first glimpse may appear as only a nicer than usual rest stop yields a unique museum of Florida heritage and one of a kind gifts. Don't forget your free glass of orange juice for stopping by. I miss living in Florida, if our economy picks up stream hopefully we'll be relocating back there sometime with the next 15-24 months.
While in Florida Victor wanted to see an alligator up close and personal, so I told him we'll go visit them in their natural habitat. So to took him to Myakka River State Park about 15 miles inland from Sarasota, Florida. The park is known for it's diversity of ecosystems including 53 square miles of wetlands, prairies and woodlands it's one of Florida's oldest and largest state parks. (in comparison all of Walt Disney World property including the four theme parks, hotels, sports complex, water parks, and golf courses total up to 42 square miles) so this is a massive preserve.
This December we made our annual holiday trip to Walt Disney World for a quick weekend getaway. Everyone that really knows me can bear witness for my love of Disney theme parks and property, I'm the kind of theme park guest that will actually start picking up litter if improbably disposes their food wrappers in the grounds. During the busy holiday season at Walt Disney World I sit back and take the time to thank the cast members (cm) I come across for making the magic happen. It's not a easy chore pleasing the every whim of an anxious public, hungry for a quality entertainment experience after having shelved out $74 for park admittance. Most hourly cast members still don't earn much money. Surely' not the amount their talents are worth.
Victor and I decided to have lunch at the Columbia Harbour House quick service restaurant in Liberty Square, the place was a mad-house of hungry customers and screaming children... you could see the strain on a few cm's faces but they tried their best not to let it show when it came time to interact with them. While waiting for our food I noticed a wooden sign in the back kitchen prepping area that read "Because nice matters, just try your best." and it's refreshing to know management is taking type that stance rather than forcing or threating cm's to be happy or else.
Victor and a few others have pointed out some cost-cutting measures Disney has implemented around the Magic Kingdom gone are the days back in the early 90's when buildings throughout property would receive a fresh paint of coat. I saw both high traffic and hidden away areas that required some sprucing by the maintenance crews, fading signs, chipping paint, and signs of wood rot. Also most noticeable by the everyday guest the holiday decorations around the Magic Kingdom where kept to a minimal this year. Mostly focused on Main Street the other lands had no visible sign of holiday decor on attraction facades. Disney not decking all the halls really let Victor down this year... in addition to that Disney management decided not to run the holiday version of the Country Bear Jamboree again for the second year in a row. That's usually not a good sign.
So despite all that we still enjoyed ourselves in Walt's Magic Kingdom and at the end of the day, as always, I wish I wouldn't have to leave.
A few more of our trip photos:
Sunday Victor and I headed over to the recently reopened World of Coke tourist attraction in downtown Atlanta near the Georgia Aquarium. It was formerly located near the Atlanta Underground but was relocated to a safer location within the reinforced tourist safety zone that includes besides the Aquarium; CNN Center, Phillips Arena, The World Congress Center, and the Centennial Olympic Park.
An adult ticket ran us $15 apiece and basically for the price of admission we were treated to a over glorified museum of commercialism. Some parts had a mild educational aspect to them such as displays of early 19th century soda fountain cafes and a few exhibits displaying the companies early business model and how the company grow its marketing reach across the world but over all the complex is a one trick pony and serves no real use besides being a marketing troll for the Coca-Cola Company and the City of Atlanta. I'm sure you've heard about the taste sampling room where you can sample the companies beverages from around the world. It's perhaps the most talked about attraction on site, but don't let them fool you. If you believe $15 is worth a couple of sips of watered down Asian Coke then be my guest. After one visit I doubt most people will venture back unless forced by family or friends visiting from out of town.
I spent my holiday in small township called Ochlocknee in deep south Georgia nearly forty miles from the closest sight of civilization that exist across the Florida border. We came to visit Victors biological family and his mother whom he hasn't seen in over five years. Although they were glad to see one another the reunion the otherwise joyous reunion was marred by refections of just how bad our national economy is and affect it has on poorer rural areas which have suffered far worst. As most of America's elderly Victor's Grandmother is on a fixed income supported entirely by social security. Ochlocknee is mostly populated by less fortune families and the average person lacks a twelfth grade education. As unfortunate as that is there is also the element of unresolved racial tension that is still heavily embedded into the culture of rural Georgia. Victor's immediately biological family in southern Georgia isn't exempted either; while the family means well they still use inappropriate language when describing people unlike themselves and while they'll be the first to admit they lack the vocabulary to properly verbalize their thoughts it is still irksome to see the lingering effects of racism in the south... I'll post more later.
