2013-10-15 Atlanta Good Sam Rally - Tours of CNN, Coca-Cola & Mansions

Wednesday October 16 we joined 2 bus loads of Good Sam Rally attendees to tour the CNN studios and The World of Coca Cola in downtown Atlanta. We thoroughly enjoyed both attractions but were less than satisfied with the way Tours of Atlanta organized the tours.

It was certainly fun to see the studios where CNN does much of their programming. It is a huge complex full of activity. Despite the heavy security, we got to see various news rooms.

Although we had a shortened tour in the World of Coca Cola, we saw the highlights such as the Coca Cola bear and many of the old signs, coke machines and other memorabilia. We enjoyed the samples from around the world in Taste It – all except the Italian flavour.



               

On Thursday October 17, Paul headed off to the technical seminars while Jane played tourist for the second day. She took what was advertised as an “Antebellum House Tour” which turned out to be tour of well-known Atlanta houses. There aren’t many antebellum houses left in Atlanta since most of them were burned during the Civil War by General Sherman. The day started at the L.P. Grant Mansion which was built in 1857 and is now being restored by the Atlanta Preservation Center.

The next stop was the Georgia Governor’s Mansion which was completed in 1967. This Greek Revival style mansion contains a lovely collection of 19th century furniture, paintings and porcelain. The dining room contains two Cabbage Patch dolls dressed like the current governor and his wife on the night of their election. Jane learned that Cabbage Patch kids were created in Cleveland, GA, a town not far from Atlanta.

The last stop on the tour was the Atlanta History Center where the group toured the Swan House, a mansion built in 1928. After the 45 minute ride back to the Rally, Jane joined Paul in the exhibit hall.




                     

2013-10-13 Broken Axle on I-81

Our first day of driving on our trek south to Atlanta Saturday October 12 was a beautiful sunny day with lovely fall colours as we headed through New York and Pennsylvania. We opted for a motel rather than a campground so that we could drive later in the evening. We needed one with a large parking lot and the one we chose – the Days Inn in Carlisle, PA fit the bill. In fact the parking lot was so big that we could have parked a whole fleet of Titaniums in it. There was a great diner next to the motel so we could stay hitched up and get an early start on Sunday morning.

Despite the clouds and intermittent rain, we made good time on Sunday as we headed south on I-81. Around 4 pm, Paul pulled over on the shoulder to investigate the smoke coming from the tire area of the Titanium. The cause was a broken trailer spring which damaged one of the tires. We waited over 3 hours for Good Sam RV repair to send a mobile crew to help us. As it got dark, we were getting less and less comfortable sitting on the narrow shoulder as the 18 wheelers went speeding by us. Once the repairman arrived, things improved since he was able to brace the spring in less than 20 minutes. He then took us to a Walmart about 10 miles south of where we had been stranded. He promised to be back before 9:00 am on Monday morning so we found a small BBQ restaurant for dinner and bought a few groceries at the Walmart. True to his word, he and a helper returned; found a new spring; made the repairs and had us on our way by 10:15 am. We knew that as long as we had no other mishaps, we would be able to check-in at The Rally on time on Tuesday morning.



     

Birthday Cruise Part II

It was a hot sunny day as we docked at Half Moon Cay, Carnival’s private island – perfect for sunbathing and swimming and of course, enjoying a few brews. We had a delicious BBQ lunch and then returned to the beach for more sun and surf.

         


       

Our third port was Nassau, where we took a ship’s shore excursion to Balmoral Island Beach. This is a new excursion for Carnival and well worth the money. The 20 minute boat ride to the island was fun and the facilities at the beach were lovely and new. Since it was a hot day, we passed on the pool and spent our time at the beach going in and out of the water.


     


   

We spent the rest of the cruise enjoying the ship – especially spa, the evening shows, and the comedy club.

       

Birthday Cruise - Sept 2013

On Jane’s birthday, September 14th, we drove from Jenn’s apartment in New Jersey to the port of New York to board our ship, the Carnival Splendor. Our ship was docked next to one of Norwegian’s largest ships and the passengers from both ships shared the same check-in area. Despite the crowds, we quickly found Keith and Debbie who were joining us on the cruise.

 

The view of the New York skyline was beautiful as we sailed out of New York harbour. We enjoyed chocolate birthday cake in our cabin.

         

At dinner, Jane had a birthday candle in her crème brulé while being serenaded by our waiters in the dining room.

   

We spent our two days at sea relaxing in the thalassotherapy pool, on the ceramic lounge chairs, and in the steam rooms in the Cloud 9 spa.

Our first port of call was Grand Turk where we took a tour with Island Trams Limited. Brothers Doug and Ray were wonderful guides and we thoroughly enjoying seeing the sights on the small island.


           

After the tour we enjoyed the pool at Margaritaville and beach next to our ship. Jane checked out the shops but returned to the ship empty-handed (for a change)!