a night on the town......

Atlanta is a city that knows no bounds in it's expansion process. When I first moved here in 83, it was still relatively easy to get around.... growth was a part of life, but it was still in manageable stages. At that time, the population sign still read under 1 million. In the past 22 years, the sign now reads over 4 million; forest areas and rolling hills have given way to subdivisions, and malls. Financial centers, building supply stores and every store and restaurant you can think of holds some sort of residence here. We are not in short supply of too much, including the service industry. If you are in need of any type of service, there are multiple pages in the Yellow Book where your fingers can do the walking.

Due to the fact that I don't have regular working hours because I am part of that service industry, it becomes hard to schedule any outings for myself. Most parties that I go to are ones where I have to work. As a matter of fact, I have probably been to more weddings than most people, but never as a guest. Therefore, when a chance came up for me to spend a night on the town, I grabbed it.

This wasn't just any dinner and dance type evening... but rather very "hard to get" tickets to the new aquarium in Atlanta. Since the doors opened on Thanksgiving, the lines around the aquarium have circled the block at least three times. It seemed that only visiting dignitaries, city counsel and a few lucky folks could get in easier. We had decided to wait till the hub-bub of it all blew over, then venture down to see the new wonder of the city.... maybe sometime in the year 2007.

Imagine my surprise when my husband told me that his work was sponsoring a managers party at the aquarium, including a tour and buffet. He gave me a day to make up my mind, but I had the answer in one second: YES! My schedule was clear for that night anyway, so why not? Besides, it was all FREE.... my favorite word! How could I possibly turn that down.

As it became close to the night of the big excursion, we had decided that I should take the MARTA train down to the city, meet with hubby at his work, and let him drive the couple of blocks over to see the big exhibits we heard so much about. This in itself was a first for me, as I do not normally take our transit system anywhere. It stops short about 10 miles from my home, and have no real need to ride it. It's not like I could use it for work anyway.... caterers need their own vehicles.

Upon entering the station, I felt like the new kid at school. I had no idea that you don't just put the money in and get on the train. You must buy a token, and put that in the turnstyle. Ok.... that mastered in no time, I was able to board the train and be on my way. After a few stops, I came to Peachtree Center (by the way, everything is named peachtree here), where I needed to get off and find my way over to the Marriott Marquis. I was so turned around that I wasn't sure which escalator to take to go up. Asking a nice gentleman "which way to Peachtree Street?", he pointed and led me over. I looked up the escalator and realized that it went WAY up. To myself I was thinking that this is where I'd want to be when the "big one" goes off.... we were so far underground! I emerged to a bustling city, honking horns, and people rushing to move along as it was almost 5:00 pm. Making my way over to the hotel, I called hubby to let him know I was close, but not sure where the Marriott was. No answer. So again, I stop to ask two very nice bellmen at the Hyatt where I could find the Marriott. They turn around and point to the building behind them. We finally hook up, and were on our way.

Needless to say, my anticipation level at this point is very high. Woohoo! A night off combined with free tickets and dinner.... sometimes life just doesn't get any better. Upon arrival to the aquarium, we jockey for a place to park along with everyone else, and make our way to the entrance. Here is where I get a little thrown off. Before you can enter, you must go through a security checkpoint. On the table is a list of items that you cannot take in with you, which proved to be a big embarrassment for me. Not that I had any bombs in my purse, but lighters were part of the list. In my purse, I had four, along with a pack of matches. With raised eyebrows, the security gentleman looked at me and asked if I was planning to burn the place down. In my defense, I carry lighters and matches because I am a caterer and never know when I have to light off sterno for chafing pans.... but instead of going into a long explanation, I sheepishly said no, and asked if I could get them back on my way out. So on we proceed to the newest attraction the city has to offer, first making sure we know where the ballroom is, as we are both starving and do not want to miss dinner in an hour.

The aquarium is split into five sections, and not once did we experience a "fishy" smell to the place. With only an hour to see all the exhibits, we rushed through most of it, and wanted to make sure we did not miss the biggest attraction, Ralph and Norton, whale sharks who are the largest species on the planet. Finally making it over to their tank (and it was quite huge), we were able to see them swim in front of us. They were enclosed behind a very large glass pane, along with many other species of ocean voyagers. We were told that the pane of glass, which measures at least 50 feet long, was two feet thick. Looking at the fish, it seemed like they were only a quarter of an inch away. In another area that goes through the tank, you literally are walking in a tunnel with the fish swimming all above and to the sides of you..... now that was cool! It even had a moving sidewalk so that you could ponder up without bumping into other people.

There was a coral tank behind another huge pane of glass, which was the most colorful exhibition I'd ever seen. We were even able to see a king crab as large as a person in another tank. Being that this is a family-friendly aquarium, it had a petting area, where you could touch horseshoe crabs, starfish, and various other friendly sea life. I didn't see any dolphins though... and no, there wasn't any fish doing tricks for food.

So after seeing all the areas, we made our way to the ballroom and dinner. Being in the food service industry, we were curious as to the menu, so decided to scout out the buffet lines.... and there were four of them. The servers behind the lines kept urging us on to take a plate to start it off.... which is something I am most familiar with. Nobody wants to be the first to take a plate, but not me. When I'm hungry, I am not in need of being told twice to start the line. It seems like everyone else was waiting for the first person to start, and got up to follow my lead. The food was delicious.... but then when you have Wolfgang Pucks catering service doing the food, you should expect nothing less. After having seconds, I headed over to the dessert table for a few bites of chocolate filled chocolate brownies. Yummy! Topped off with a nice cup of decaf, and the top button of my pants was screaming for release.

So all in all, it was a wonderful night in the city. On the way home, hubby and I started talking about our experience. I had mentioned that I was a little disappointed that Ralph and Norton weren't as big as the news media had made them out to be. My husband said that upon first look, he thought the whale sharks we saw were just the "kids" of Ralph and Norton. I had to laugh, as I had a similar thought. Perhaps it was the pane of glass that we were seeing them through or perhaps it was the big media play-up about the aquarium itself. Regardless, it was a little bit of ocean brought to a land-locked city, and another attraction Atlanta can put in it's roster of places to go while here.
For us, it turned out to be a great way to kick-off the weekend....