Atlanta
23:55 - Memphis - Mole
Our next stop was Atlanta, Georgia. Preston had warned that the journey would be quite uneventful, as it required travelling along a featureless highway, and, true to form, he proved to be quite correct. After checking into our motel outside Atlanta, we went out for a quiet dinner. Running late as ever, our dinner did indeed turn out to be very quiet - we were the only people left in the restaurant by the time we left at 10pm, which allowed our jolly, corpulent waiter to focus all his attention on us, waddling over to our table at every opportunity to enquire as to our collective contentment. The food promptly appeared and was both plentiful and well-cooked. Back at our motel, things were less sedate. Realising that we were lagging woefully behind our blog writing schedule as a result of eight days in a row being entertained by generous and entertaining hosts, we attempted to rectify this until Zihao fell asleep halfway through the blog post. With no end in sight, we decided to leave it until the next day.
The following morning we set off for the Georgia Aquarium, famous for being the largest on earth. It lived up to the hype and was enjoyed by all; the sea-otters and Beluga whales being particular highlights. Next on the agenda was a burger restaurant tantalisingly named 'The Vortex', recommended by the Malkin family. As a helpful reference point, we were told that it was directly opposite the 'Bulldogs Club', a notorious haunt for gay, black men. The Vortex's menu had everything a growing boy could possibly want, including an excellent selection of domestic and imported beers, and a burger list that puts Burger King and McDonald's to shame. Mole sensibly ordered some buffalo wings for the table, only to discover once they arrived that the rest of the group would not be sharing them. In an act that could only be described as reckless bravado, he insisted on finishing all twelve by himself before his burger and fries arrived. This would later prove to be his undoing, as the restaurant's portion sizes perpetuated the American stereotype. The best was yet to come. Alec had succumbed to peer pressure and ordered the Superstack Heart-Attack (pictured on the right). Even Mole nearly fainted at the sight of this mountain of cheese, meat and starch. Paramedics on standby, Alec, brimming with confidence, ploughed on and came perilously close to finishing every morsel on his plate.
Bloated and nauseated, we trekked for thirty minutes through down-town Atlanta to reach our second tourist spot of the day, the World of Coca-Cola. It turned out to be an extraordinary homage to all things capitalist, with the express intention of proselytising all who enter to the cult of Coca-Cola, ingeniously charging visitors $15 for the privilege. By the time we left, Michael, who famously shuns all things fizzy, actively wanted to like Coke, so impressed was he by the brand. Making full use of Atlanta's dwindling twilight, we all went for a swim and invented a fantastic game with a bouncy-ball from Coca-Cola. Sadly it wasn't long before Mole managed to hurl the ball into a neighbouring street, never to be seen again. As we searched for a quick dinner in the local area, the sheer choice on offer was such that Zihao, in panic, reverted to default settings and demanded we drop him off at the local Hong Kong Buffet. After eating, we retired to our beds with thoughts of our next destination, Memphis, Tennessee, fresh in our minds...
