On the way into Atlanta, we were greeted by the sight of the Atlanta skyline which was covered in haze from the hot and overcast day. Dylan and I were in the backseat of my cousin's minivan, and I was able to get some great shots of the buildings with my camera along with Dylan being my photographic assistant. The kid has a good eye for getting great shots.

After a great lunch at The Varsity Drive Through, we were on our way to The World of Coca-Cola. Melissa missed the turn to the museum and had to go around again, but we were in the Pemberton Place parking garage about 20 minutes after leaving the Varsity and took the short walk over to the World of Coca-Cola. Auntie Ruthie can't walk for long distances, so she was in a wheelchair, and that had Melissa, Molly, and her staying behind Mom, Dylan, and me most of the trip which allowed Mom and I to check out the World of Coca-Cola at our own pace. After paying for our tickets at the ticket counter ($15 for Melissa and me, $13 for Auntie Ruthie and Mom, and $9 for the kiddies), we were subject to a little bag search by security and were on our way inside. Upon entering The World of Coca-Cola, you are greeted by an awesome sculpture of huge Coke bottles decorated with images from around the world. Mom and I posed for a shot in front of the bottles along with several other groups touring the museum.

After posing by the bottles, we had a short wait to get into one of the many theaters for our orientation. You are greeted by an aweome display of Coke advertisements and memorabilia from Coke's 122-year history. Yes, Coke is that old and was invented by pharmacist John S. Pemberton in Atlanta in 1886. Our first guide Gina asked how old Coca-Cola was, and I was the one who provided the answer. Gina said, "very good!", and asked where we were from, and I told her that Mom and I had just moved to Florida from Idaho and she asked how long the trip was and wished us luck in our new home. Gina then proceeded to tell us about the history of Coca-Cola and showed us several ads from around the world that are displayed in this theater.

After this tour, we were on our own for the time being to tour the museum with the history of Coca-Cola, but before that, Mom and I had to have our picture taken with the Coca-Cola Polar Bear, that cute little guy that has warmed our hearts every Christmas in those great ads on TV during the most wonderful time of the year. Molly was freaking out at the sight of the bear, but Mom and I ignored her bawling and had our picture done (For $26, you can pick up copies of the pictures at the gift shop) and were on our way into the museum that had displays of old Coke vending machines, an old soda jerk display, and other fascinating Coca-Cola memorabilia. A lot of the displays brought back fond memories for Mom and Auntie Ruthie, and I enjoyed the displays very much, too.

After the first museum, we got to see another film on the history of Coca-Cola before going to the 4-D movie that was very entertaining. Mom, Dylan, and I sat in moving seats while the other three were in non-moving seats because of the wheelchair. Not long after the movie started, Melissa, Auntie Ruthie, and the rugrat had to leave because the rugrat was freaking out over the movie. We had to wear 4-D glasses for the movie since most of special effects looked like the objects were coming right after you! Mom, Dylan, and I really enjoyed this little film which also had water effects that would splash you a little bit.

After the movie, we got to go into the pop art museum which had paintings of Coke bottles by an artist who paints in the Andy Warhol mode. After that tour, you enter the tasting area where you can taste test over 60 Coca-Cola products from around the world. Mom and I enjoyed many of the fruity drinks that are made in places like Uganda, Brazil, and other nations. By the time I got to my favorite drink, Coca-Cola with Lime, my tummy was aching from all of the soda I tried out, and I knew I wasn't going to make it back to Douglasville without a potty run!

After all of the touring, we went into the Gift shop that has many Coke souvenirs for you to choose from. We got to take a little bottle of Coke home with us as a free souvenir, and Mom got Coke Bottle Salt and Pepper shakers and a butter dish. I got the pictures from our meeting the Polar Bear and we were on our way back home after driving by CNN and Centenial Olympic Park.

The World of Coca-Cola is open seven days a week from 8-6 for the summer and 9-5 other times of the year and is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. It's accessible by car, MARTA, and is fun for the whole family. I highly recommend it when you visit Atlanta.

The first thing we did at the World of Coca-Cola was to take the self guided tour. The first step on the tour was Creating a Classic, where you got the history of Coke. This was more interesting then it sounds—especially because you get to see this neat sculpture and learn about how Coke is bottled.

The next step was the Pause that Refreshes where you get to learn how Coke was originally made and hear some music and jingles. This is slightly annoying for adults, but kids like the cheerful music and it is interesting to see the old fashioned process.

You then get to go into a room and see history of Coke commercials—this was kind of cool, especially because Coke has always done interesting advertisements and you get to see how they have changed over the years, and some of the celebrities and things that have been in the Coke commercials. The surround sound experience is nice, and you get to sit too, which is a nice relaxing break on the tour.

Finally, you get to taste some Coke flavors—which of course, everyone has tasted Coke before, but it is still nice and a refreshing end to your tour.

After the tour, you can stop in the World of Coca-Cola store and buy everything Coke related that you could ever want—which if you don't want to buy a bunch of Coke stuff you can skip, but it is kind of cool to see all the different memorabilia and things for sale.

Overall, I'd highly recommend a visit to the World of Coca-Cola, it's a nice way to spend a day, and you get to learn about the inner workings of the soft drink world.

From the moment you step in the shiny red-and-white portal (and it's a long wait to get there on weekends), you are surrounded by Coke promotions. These include a celebratory film showing how Coke has covered the globe, complete with shots of tribesmen in the Sahara drinking Cokes while perched on the backs of camels - the colors of the film are beautiful, and the exoticism is straight out of Orientalism. Cynics may watch the film thinking "is there nowhere left unsullied?" but much of the audience seems to find the film inspiring, an emblem of the inexorable spread of progress and democracy.

The real triumph, however, is in the history of Coke's advertisements. It turns out that Coke more or less invented the modern advertising campaign, and its evolution from the beverage's first decorous foray into marketing in 1886 to the splashy music videos of the 1980s is fascinating to watch, especially as so much of the marketing is explicitly aimed at placing Coke smack in the middle of a "normal" middle-class American lifestyle. As exhibits change over the decades, the vision of what constitutes "normality" changes, but there is invariably a slender blonde woman in fashionable clothes happily offering a coke to her boyfriend somewhere in each display. Sometimes the boyfriend is very present, as with the swimsuit-clad lads of the 1950s, and sometimes he is only implicit, as in the heart-tugging wartime poster of a girl carrying a shopping bag and thinking, "He's coming home!" But the message is constant: Coke is an inseparable part of American love as well as American life.

If all this leaves you thirsty, you're in luck. The exhibit ends with a wall of self-serve soda fountains featuring flavors of Coke and Coke products from around the world. These vary from an amazingly bitter soda sold in Italy to -- I admit -- a very tasty lychee-flavored drink sold in Indonesia. The brave of heart can try combining the flavors, but the taste bud-challenged can admire the chaos as museum-goers jostle for access to the more popular flavors and try to dislodge their shoes from the very sticky floor.

And after all that marketing, the museum lets out -- where else? -- into a gift shop full of Coke glasses, key chains, and red-sweatered polar bears. Resist if you can.