Visit with Suzanne and Bobby

August 17-21, 2009

On August 17, Suzanne and Bobby drove down from Arkansas to visit with us. We mainly just enjoyed visiting and talking together, but since they were in the big city, we thought we should visit a few of the downtown locations.

We had lunch at the Sundial Room atop the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel (72nd floor). It gave us views all around downtown Atlanta. It still has some plywood-covered windows from damage by the tornado of 2008.

The above view of Atlanta includes the gold-domed state capitol in the center. Behind it is Turner Field, the home of the Atlanta Braves. The twin brown towers are state office buildings and mark the northward limit of the state capitol complex. The three buildings to the left of it are part of Georgia State University. The Natural Science Center is the location of Rod's office, but it is hidden by the Equitable Building.

As we turned toward the southwest, we could see CNN Headquarters on the left with the Georgia Dome behind it. The huge building on the right is the Georgia World Congress Center, a major convention location. The tall building in the center is the Omni International Hotel. Mark assembled his Pirate Ship in a fourth floor ballroom of that hotel, one of his biggest projects to date. In the foreground is Olympic Park, built for the Atlanta 1996 Olympics.

This shows the sweep across Olympic Park from the CNN Headquarters on the left to the Georgia Aquarium on the extreme right. We were headed toward the Aquarium after lunch.

As our position on the rotating restaurant came around to give us a northwest view, we see the north expressway, I-75 and I-85. In the view above, Georgia Tech's Grant Field is to the left of the expressway, and about midway of the stadium you can just see the signature Georgia Tech tower near the left of the picture. The cluster of red brick buildings to the near left of the expressway is the Olympic Village constructed for the 1996 Olympics. It was shared by Georgia Tech and Georgia State University as student dormitories until last year when GSU's large dormitory complex was finished and their half was transferred to Georgia Tech. At right is shown the impressive array of high-rise buildings that now line the east side of the expressway to the north of downtown Atlanta.

We have now swung around to an eastward view and see Freedom Parkway leading directly east. Just to the left of it, in line with the high antenna, is the complex of buildings that form Atlanta Medical Center, the former Georgia Baptist Hospital were Brenda got her nursing education and worked for nearly forty years. In the distance in line with the antenna at about 15 miles is Stone Mountain, although it is nearly obscured by the approaching thundershowers.

We got to witness an impressive rainstorm from our high altitude as it moved across downtown Atlanta. We enjoyed the view, but it scuttled our plans to walk the few blocks to the Aquarium.