WEEKEND ROAD TRIP TO ATLANTA- SNAPSHOT OF AMERICA! My wife and I took off on Thursday to visit with my daughter and her new husband in Atlanta for a few days as we hadn’t seen them since Christmas. My wife loves traveling, and in the car she wants to stop and visit every tourist attraction, roadside fruit stand or point of interest along the way. I on the other hand, traveled for over forty years in my career in sales, and as far as I’m concerned there are only two objectives involved in traveling-getting there and back as quickly and safely as possible. When you’ve seen one hotel room or bar or restaurant you’ve pretty much seen them all-it’s only a matter of degrees. At any rate, there were so many interesting observations I made in the three days we were there and the interstate travel that I thought I would share them. It turns out my weekend was a microcosm of life today in these United States, diverse, eventful and full of twists and turns. Atlanta is huge. The metropolitan area now numbers nearly six million people, making it the ninth largest metropolitan area in the nation. It encompasses approximately 134 square miles spread out over several counties now. The population is incredibly diversified with people of every nationality and ethnic group imaginable calling it home. “Wikipedia” provided the following brief summary. Atlanta is rated as a "beta(+)" world city that exerts a moderate impact on global commerce, finance, research, technology, education, media, art, and entertainment.[20] It ranks in the top twenty among world cities and 10th in the nation with a gross domestic product (GDP) of $385 billion.[21][22] Atlanta's economy is considered diverse, with dominant sectors that include transportation, logistics, professional and business services, media operations, medical services, and information technology.[23] Atlanta has topographic features that include rolling hills and dense tree coverage, earning it the nickname of "the city in a forest. Revitalization of Atlanta's neighborhoods, initially spurred by the 1996 Summer Olympics, has intensified in the 21st century, altering the city's demographics, politics, aesthetics, and culture. I’d like to add a personal note here regarding Atlanta drivers-they are all INSANE!!!! If you drive eighty you’ll get run over, and lane changing maneuvers that would make any NASCAR driver proud are routine. Horn honking, tailgating (the automotive kind) and fast cars like Mercedes and BMW’s rule the roadways. I couldn’t do it myself if I had to live there!!! My daughter and her husband, an Indian immigrant who has been in the United States for approximately ten years including his college education, live in what is called Mid Town. They are near the sprawling campus of Georgia Tech, and not far from the magnificent Frederick Olmstead creation of Piedmont Park. It is a business hub, with NCR, Coca Cola and Bank of America having corporate offices located nearby. There are abundant shops and restaurants within easy walking distance of their condominium, which affords a beautiful view. These are Millennial, my daughter and her husband, and they relish the fast paced life of living right in town. Their generation has seen enough of the suburbs and the pasteurized and genteel lifestyle it has afforded their parents for several generations. They want action! My son in law is an electrical engineer and program manager for Panasonic, located in Peachtree City, a forty minute or so commute for him each way. He lived there when he first moved to Atlanta, but soon discovered a community that features more golf carts than hot cars was probably NOT the place he wanted to live. My daughter works at Drew Charter School, one of the most successful charter schools in the country and a driving force behind the incredible transformation of East Lake where it is located. Her commute is roughly only fifteen minutes from Mid Town. On Friday we visited the Coca Cola Museum. I was astounded that so much history and notoriety could be associated with a soft drink, and it is definitely an Atlanta landmark worth visiting once. That night I feasted on southern fried chicken, biscuits and greens over a couple of glasses of Woodford Reserve on the rocks, in honor of course, of my old Kentucky home and Derby week, which is now upon us. On Saturday we visited a farmers market and walked around Piedmont Park, a truly remarkable place located right in the heart of Mid Town. I have a nephew who has lived in Atlanta for a number of years, and his wedding was held in the park. We stopped to have brunch on the way back to their condo at a fashionable hotel featuring sidewalk dining. On Saturday night they indulged me and we went to Sun Trust Park to watch the Braves play baseball. The park and its amenities are truly exceptional, the same of which could not be said of the Braves, who choked away a 5-2 lead and lost to the Colorado Rockies 9-5. Atlanta sports a major league soccer team, Atlanta United; an NBA franchise in the Atlanta Hawks and of course the NFL Atlanta Falcons. They have Georgia Tech, Georgia State, Kennesaw State and of course the alumni of the University of Georgia to support on a collegiate level. Upon leaving the Braves game, one of the real issues with living in Atlanta reared its ugly head-it took us nearly an hour to get out of the parking garage as a result of the traffic. As I was laying in bed that night, around 3:30 in the morning, another one of the problems that big city living exposes occurred at a gas station directly across the street. I heard either 5 or 6 distinct pops, and it turned out that an apparent robbery gone wrong in the parking lot resulted in the shooting death of one of the perpetrators. Within minutes, dozens of first responders were on the scene. It looked like the all too familiar sight we’ve grown use to seeing involving mass shootings, but in this case it only involved one individual who actually died. I stood at the window on the eighteenth floor and watched the whole scene unfold. It was pretty disconcerting to realize that directly across from my daughter’s residence a man had just lost his life to gun violence. On Sunday, we said our good byes and headed out to return to Louisville. The trip involves I-75 to Chattanooga, I-24 to Nashville and I-65 to Louisville. Although I saw a number of Georgia State Patrol vehicles coming north, I never ONCE saw a Tennessee or Kentucky State trooper. Not one. And the Nashville area drivers don’t take a back seat to those in Atlanta, believe you me!! In Kentucky, 80 MPH plus was the base line, with a number of vehicles passing at speeds well over 90 MPH. Somehow or another it always seems the most aggressive drivers on the road always have either Michigan or Illinois license plates. (I guess that they figure they are entitled simply by virtue of the fact they have survived living in those frozen wastelands for so long!!). We saw Confederate flags flying in Tennessee and ate Zaxby’s chicken sandwiches and gassed up at a Walmart outside of Nashville. Then within twenty or so miles of Louisville, disaster struck. Several serious accidents (gee, I wonder why?!?) on I-65 northbound had traffic at a standstill for miles. Our WAZE program directed us to take an alternate route, but so did hundreds of others. After sitting in a long line of traffic for about thirty minutes or so, we finally cleared through the small town of Shepherdsville and it’s two traffic lights that had traffic backed up and were on our way again, arriving home after approximately 7 ½ hours on the road. I drove the entire way both down and back, because my wife has recently had eye surgery and also is in charge of our mighty Chihuahua Minnie, who sleeps ninety per cent of the time in the car. The fifteen hours or so behind the wheel was enough to last me for a while. Anyway, it was an interesting weekend, full of ups and downs and the joy of family. My son in law’s parents are coming from India for a visit in a couple of weeks, and I’m sure they will feel right at home in the big city.T heir hometown of Bangalore in southern India has a population of nearly eight million people! Me, I’m more of a suburban kind of guy, and for that, I issue no apologies. I’d rather listen to a lonesome train whistle in the middle of the night than car horns and gun shots and singing fraternity brothers at 3:30 in the morning!!! But then again I’m a Baby Boomer. Enough said. Hats off to those adventuresome young people who are making our cities like Atlanta vibrant and habitable once again. It’s a good thing and the diversity of the city is something that the people who are calling for closing our borders should experience for themselves instead of watching phantom caravans on FAUX NEWS!!!! Are you listening Stephen Miller?!?
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About Mike ColeBorn in Hamilton, OH but a proud Kentuckian since age two. One brother and three sisters. Suburban, Catholic middle-class upbringing. Attended Jefferson Community College and Pasadena Community College. Proud father of four and grandfather to seven, and most of all, a concerned American citizen! Are you??? Categories |