On the road: Atlanta, GA

Couch surfing in Atlanta reminded me once again what travel is all about. Our couch surfing hosts for the first night were a young Portuguese couple who lived in a cute apartment near downtown. As soon as we arrived, Isabel made us a huge dinner, and we talked about cultures, work, and life. It turned out she also worked at a bakery and she invited us to come by in the morning for their world-famous croissants. In the morning, we did just that on our way to the Georgia Aquarium, and they were, indeed, amazing croissants!

Some kids enjoying the dive show

The aquarium was outrageously expensive, but fortunately Peter found a crazy discount online that got us in for about half the price of a normal ticket, and we ended up with more bonuses on top of that. After watching a dive show in the first exhibit we entered, I got to talking with one of the staff members and she took a liking to me and Peter. 

"You know," she whispered sneakily, "I bet I can get you in for free on my behind-the-scenes tour."

Peter and I looked at each other and shrugged, "SURE!"

After she radioed in to check with her superiors, she got the okay and took us on a 30-minute private tour of some of the back areas of the aquarium.

 

Behind-the-scenes view of the whale shark

This was where I saw my first ever whale shark. She took us in to the top part of the football field-sized tank where we could look down on the 4 whale sharks circling the glassy water. I was so excited I could hardly listen to what she was saying!

In addition to the whale shark tank, we also were taken into the back penguin husbandry area, where mating pairs of penguins and chicks were being cared for by lab technicians in white coats. Our lovely tour guide probably would have kept taking us around had it not been time for a scheduled dolphin show, so she took it upon herself to personally usher us into the dolphin exhibit before we said our goodbyes. 

The dolphin show was pretty spectacular, but entirely over the top and I almost felt uncomfortable watching it. It was more like a Disney musical than an animal exhibit, but nonetheless the dolphins seemed quite happy to do their tricks for handfuls of fish thrown in by the dozens of trainers coordinating the production.

Mesmerized by whale sharks

Penguins being inappropriate in the penguin tunnel :P

It took us almost the entire day to visit every exhibit in the Georgia Aquarium, but I was pretty impressed with the whole thing. In the evening, we tried out Atlanta's iconic diner, The Varsity, before heading to our next couch surfing location. 

I wasn't sure what to think at first -- the place was in an "intentional community" and our hosts, Daniel and Megan, greeted us with big hugs instead of handshakes. Their apartment was every bit the hippy abode but we quickly found out that we all got along swimmingly. We ended up spending the evening playing a strategy board game with them and their other roommate, Kevin, and had such a good time we decided to stay an extra day in Atlanta. 

The next day we spent hanging out downtown and getting some work and trip planning done for our next few destinations. That evening we played more board games with our hosts, and the next day we hit the road again, headed to Nashville, TN, the heart of American music.