A Thousand Country Roads

We Had a Hot Time in “Hot ‘Lanta”: Part 3

November 19, 2014 in Attraction, Travel, Vacation

OOOPS! In all my excitement to start sharing the saga of our Atlanta vacation, I kinda sorta went brain dead and messed up the chronology. We arrived late Friday afternoon and did have an event to attend that evening, which ties in with our final stop on Saturday, so I’ll share about that in Part 4. But Saturday was a jam-packed day of adventures. Parts 1 and 2 told of our visits to The Atlanta Cyclorama and Civil War Museum then CNN Center. Thing is, those were stops two and three of the day. Therefore, I need to go back to square one and put things in order and tell you about our first stop on that hectic Saturday.

The World of Coca-Cola

And that destination was The World of Coca-Cola, basically a huge museum that tells the history of the famous soft drink which was invented by Atlanta pharmacist, Dr. John S. Pemberton. Pemberton was a Civil War veteran who had been wounded, leading him to become addicted to morphine. That led him to begin a search for something to help him kick the habit. Surprisingly, the original drink actually contained cocaine, a derivative of the coca leaf as well as caffeine which came from the kola nut. Thus: “Coca-Cola” was born. But not to worry. Though the coca leaf is still used, it is a drug-free leaf. It was originally marketed as a patent medicine, not only because of the cocaine in it but also because many believed carbonated water was good for one’s health. Still, it did not have a banner beginning. It was first sold at Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, and during the first year sales were approximately nine servings per day at the cost of five cents a glass. Later, the formula was bought by Asa Griggs Candler, and through his business acumen, the rest is now history, cliché as that sounds, and Coca-Cola is now the world’s most valuable brand.

The guided tour through the World of Coca-Cola takes about two hours, and I would have to write a novel to tell you all that we experienced. They have a theater that shows a film of memorable moments of happiness experienced by people around the world; an area called the Loft where is stored memorabilia covering Coke’s 125 year history; a Pop Culture Gallery showing how fans of Coca-Cola have made it a pop culture icon; for the kids, there’s the Coca-Cola Polar Bear, made famous in commercials over the years, whom the kids can have a photo taken with; and you see Bottle Works, an up-close-and-personal view of the bottling process. And to top it off, there’s the mystery of the secret formula which has given birth to many myths and legends and you get to see the vault where it is now kept. Fascinating stuff!

Classic stuff! Anyone remember these?
At the Bottle Works
Bottles From Around the World and the Wifey from my world…(“,)
 A re-creation of the soda fountain at Jacobs Pharmacy where the first Coke was sold.
Yogi was prompted to make his own Coca-Cola logo, one of the kid-active exhibits.

As with all tourist attractions, there was the Coca-Cola Store full of all kinds of goodies and souvenirs, which we did get a couple of. Plus, everyone got a free bottle of coke to take home with them. Thing is, we weren’t headed home. It was time for us to be off to stop two of the day, to be followed by stop three and four. Y’all already know about our next two stops so next time, I will share with you the day’s finale, the perfect ending to an already perfect day. Until then, have a Coke!

Previous We Had a Hot Time in “Hot ‘Lanta”: Part 2
Next An Anniversary of East Meeting West

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About Harry

There's really nothing special to share about me. I'm a simple man who leads a simple life, still in search of knowledge and the enlightenment it gives to my still-growing mind. And I do believe in magic, for it is out there, waiting to be discovered by those whose hearts and minds are open to the possibility, and whose eyes are willing to look past the obvious and seek the realm of the mystical. As I once read in a description of my traits based on my birthdate, I'm a dreamer of dreams, a teller of tales whose mystic mind knows that truth prevails. And as the great poet Robert Frost said:
"...I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."

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Comments

  5. Tanya Coffman says

    Sounds like a great place to go! My father in law collects all things Coke, I don’t think he’s even heard of this place! My favorite is the vanilla coke at Christmas, not sure why yet lol

  22. Yona Williams says

    I love the different Coca Cola bottle designs from around the world. One of these days, I will go here. I didn’t really fully explore Atlanta when I visited.

    • Harry says

      Well, if ever you get the chance to go again, hopefully I’ve given you some ideas of what to check out. And there’s even more yet to come; that was just one day of our visit.

  23. Russ R. says

    That’s such an awesome trip. I would love to see the Coca-Cola Museum. Coke does create the nicest ads and promotional materials – perfect items to collect.

  26. Miranda Myrabev says

    oh I would so love to see where coca cola place, we used to have a factory back in zambia and it was always nice to visit and see the makings of the cocacola so sad that its closed now. Thanks for sharing your trip with us