World Of Coke

I had been wanting to visit the World of Coke for quite awhile. My mom was a die hard Coca-Cola classic drinker. She had to have one every morning, ice cold out of the bottle, poured over ice in a glass. She always talked about that first swallow that burned so good. I'm sure I would have followed in her Coke footsteps, if not for my unfortunate cavity-prone teeth. The dentist said to keep me away from sugar. So instead of Coke, I was only allowed to drink Tab. Ha! That kept me from wanting any kind of coke products for years! No wonder I like water so much. But now, Diet Coke is my caffeinated beverage of choice. Along with Mom's love of Coke, came a love of Coke memorabilia, which rubbed off on me, as well. So when the travel section of the paper recently highlighted the Coke Museum, I knew it was time to go. While Brad jetted off to Israel, Dad, Camden & I loaded up and drove over to Atlanta. 

I'm making a goofy face here because I was trying to get Camden to smile. This is a statue of Dr. John S. Pemberton, the inventor of Coca-Cola. See the bronze glass of Coke Camden's holding on to?

He decided he needed to taste it.

Apparently he thought it tasted good, cause he laughed and laughed.

Here I am outside the museum with my sleep deprived child. He decided hotels are not for napping so he was a zombie by this point.

I dipped his thumb in Coke to get him to suck it. I'm kidding! He always sucks his thumb when he's tired.

This was the lobby. I loved this giant bottles of coke. They were all made out of different materials and represented different things. 

Check out those awesome hip huggers on the left! Who would've worn those?! Although, I have seen some remarkably similar pants, with elephants instead of Coke logos, at many Alabama games. On men!

That white figure all across the top of the display reminds me of the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man. I think that was one of the first mascots for Coke. I didn't get a close-up, but the framed picture on the right side of the display was an original Norman Rockwell painting of a boy drinking a coke with his dog. It is worth $2.5 million!

This urn was the oldest Coke memorabilia. It was from the 1800s. When Cokes were made at a soda fountain, they put the soda water and carbonation in a glass and then held it under the urn and syrup poured in from the top. 

I love this Coke bottle with a chandelier hanging from the top! They had fabulously decorated Coke bottles everywhere!

Here we are with various Coke machines. The one right behind me was Asian and new. Most of the others were old-fashioned. See that thing hanging from the ceiling at the top middle of the picture?

Here's a close-up. This Coke machine was on the space shuttle! Way to go NASA! Tang is so old-school. Those astronauts need their Diet Coke!

Do I look as crazy as Paula Abdul? This was the couch the American Idol judges sat on during season 5 or so. I remember that season they had huge product placement. 

I tried to frame us up ala The Brady Bunch, but as you can see, Camden had other ideas. The museum was really cool and I would like to go back. There was a ton of other neat stuff, but I got tired of taking pictures. Next time I want to go the Aquarium next door and spend some time hanging out in Centennial Park. The whole area was super cool and very family friendly. Next time you're in Atlanta, check it out!