Two nights/3 days in Atlanta, Georgia: Our exploration of Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum as well as Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield Park
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| Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum, Atlanta, GA |
Unlike most cities that seem to be located along or near the ubiquitous I-95 corridor like New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Savannah, Jacksonville, etc., Atlanta (Georgia) is one of those cities that’s a bit off the I-95. To visit there, you really have to go out of your way to make a detour away from that I-95.
Personally, I knew of Atlanta as one of the great southern cities where big American corporations like Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines call it their home. On top of that, who can forget the Atlanta Olympic Games of 1996?
My personal experience with the city was rather unmemorable, as I was literally stuck inside the Atlanta Airport for two whole days for work. My job entailed getting hundreds of airport employees fingerprinted digitally at the airport. Homeland security was all the rage especially back then, as it was just few months after 9/11 when United States came under attack.
I didn’t get to see anything except that gigantic airport and the hotel I was staying at. Not much fun…
I really wanted to finally visit the famous city that’s roughly 300 miles west of I-95 during my wife and myself’s southern road trip of winter 2023-2024, so we made it our priority to add the city to our itinerary!
After spending several hours at the excellent Providence Canyon State Park, we left there heading north towards Atlanta. At a distance of about 150 miles, we arrived at our hotel within couple of hours. Embassy Suites Kennesaw Town Center would be our temporary home for the next 3 days.
On our way to the hotel, we marveled at the brisk & busy traffic heading into the city. Atlanta has some big and wide highways. It almost reminded us of Houston or Los Angeles, which is home to some of the widest and biggest interstates in America.
We noticed some NASCAR-inspired drivers on the road doing their best imitation of Jeff Gordon. Some would do high speed driving, or weave in and out of traffic, narrowly avoiding close calls with other cars. We felt right at home, as we both learned to drive in the mean streets of New York City with its crazy cab drivers who do not obey traffic laws, angry drivers who seem to curse at those who dare to cut them off, as well as the incredibly distracted drivers doing all manner of crazy things all while sharing those same roads…
With those thoughts making my mind wander, we arrived at the hotel. The area near the hotel was incredibly developed, upscale, and we immediately felt safe. We noticed two of our favorite restaurants, Chick Fil A and Panera Bread, right in front of our hotel, which we really liked.
We checked in without fanfare, opened the door to our room, and was just happy to be able to relax after couple of hours of hiking. During check in, the front desk staff told us about the manager’s reception. We knew we wanted to check that out.
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| View from our room, Embassy Suites Kennesaw Town Center |
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| One bedroom unit with a living room |
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| Living room |
After taking a quick nap on the comfortable couch, we went downstairs for the manager’s reception. We expected too much, and we were promptly disappointed. It was two drinks per person (alcoholic or soft drinks) with nothing more than very light snacks (crackers, cold cuts/cheese spread, celery/carrot with ranch dressing and some pretzels). Ouch!
It felt slightly better than snacks given out free of charge inside airplanes these days and nothing like what I remember at Embassy Suites manager’s reception before Covid-19. I guess it was better than just peanuts or pretzels, but still…
It was at least something to fill our stomachs with, and we were able to skip dinner the first night because of it, so not a total loss. We still went down for it each night, but on the second and third nights, we ate something else afterwards.
At least the room was comfortable and quiet thanks to it having a separate bedroom with a proper door. We got some much needed sleep each and every night to rest our weathered road warrior souls.
Embassy Suites buffet breakfast was still very good with an omelette station to order eggs any way you want, and that saved the day (along with the comfortable room). We stuffed ourselves 3 breakfasts in a row, and for that we feel we got our money’s worth!
After daily good night’s sleep, we got ready to finally explore some of the attractions the city has to offer. Here are two of our favorites:
- Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum
Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum is located in Atlanta along John Lewis Freedom Parkway. When we were looking for a place to explore in Atlanta, it was my wife’s idea to visit this museum.
And why not? Jimmy Carter was one of my favorite presidents. He just seemed like an average Joe who seemed so down to earth. He never acted like a politician, all smooth and talking like a con man. It was someone who I respected seeing him often on television in late 1970’s in South Korea.
We left our hotel early in the morning for the museum. The drive would take under 40 minutes covering roughly 25 miles.
We arrived at the huge parking lot, then set out towards the main entrance to the museum. We paid a very reasonable $12 per person admission fee, then started our self-guided tour.
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| Beautiful grounds! |
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| Parking lot area |
We walked through various displays depicting his life, from his humble beginnings as a son of a peanut farmer, his military service, his political career as a Georgia state senator, a state governor, then as the president of the United States, to his humanitarian work after his political career.
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| Replica of the Oval Office |
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| Cool displays! |
There were facets of his life which we knew nothing about and we were glad we got to learn about the man in much more detail. The displays were fantastic, definitely a great way to spend couple of hours while in Atlanta.
As nice as all the stuff inside the museum were, we liked the outdoors just as much. There was a neat pond area with a mini waterfall, and the museum grounds were beautifully maintained. We took a leisurely stroll out there taking in the sights, the smells, and the sounds.
During our stroll, we met a nice retired couple who were, like us, traveling around this great country of ours. We got into a nice conversation about the seemingly getting more extreme political views from both the left and the right. We all lamented the time when politics was a bit more civilized, where the lawmakers worked together to pass laws that help the citizens.
We all agreed everyone can bring down the rhetoric a notch or two. We’re all Americans after all. Let’s try to work together, rather than fighting each other. We have a great country. Let’s see if we can leave it the way we found it for our future generations…
After having that nice conversation, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. Awesome visit and one we’ll remember for the rest of our lives…
After our visit to the museum, we decided to try some local Korean food near our hotel, in Duluth. Driving around Duluth, we were pleasantly surprised by how clean the city looked. Everything looked brand spanking new, and from what we can tell, the place was happening thanks to Martin Luther King Jr. day.
We found Kukga Tobokki, a Korean restaurant specializing in Korean soul foods like the rice cake in spicy broth with fish cakes (tobokki). We ordered several items including the aforementioned tobokki, fish cake soup, tempura, and dumplings. All this food for under $30!
They were awesome and much needed after traveling without tasty Korean food the past month or so while traveling the South. For dessert, we found a Korean bakery, but that one didn’t go well as we had hoped.
We ordered some of our favorite baked foods, the meat/potato croquettes, but this particular bakery added nasty extra ingredients (some sort of bitter vegetables) which we didn’t particularly like. Oh, well. We can’t always win…
- Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park
We arrived at the park, a mere stone throw’s distance from our hotel. It took just around 15 minutes to cover the 5 mile trip to the park.
As we got near the visitor center, we noticed more cars attempting to enter. We also saw bunch of cars turning around to find parking elsewhere. Oh no.
We thought we may find a parking spot inside the visitor center, but we were wrong about that. We like those cars before us, turned around, then turned left for the overflow parking lot, about quarter mile from the visitor center.
After parking there, we walked back towards the visitor center then finally made our way inside it. We had our “America the Beautiful” pass, so we didn’t have to pay the admission fee of $5. Nice!
We decided to do the hike to the top of the mountain first, then check out the displays inside the visitor center later. We headed outside, then followed everyone else.
Climb up was hard and fast. We were huffing and puffing after several minutes of hiking. As is the case with every hike up any mountain, the higher we climbed, the better the views got! This was no exception.
Awesome views were welcome, and at about the half way point of the summit, we saw the views of Atlanta skyline, way out in the distance. We took one of several short breaks to catch our breaths, and also to enjoy the nice views.
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| Awesome views! |
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| About half way point to the summit |
Hiking up the mountain in Atlanta didn’t feel any different than hiking any other mountain on the east coast. The people were mixed: white, black, Asian, middle eastern, etc., and we felt right at home, feeling like we were in any number of big cities in the Northeast like New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, etc.
After our short break at the midway point, we continued our ascent. We saw the small sign up ahead pointing to the summit, then kept going.
After a short hike (.1 mile), we reached the summit! It felt great to be able to hike again on a gorgeous day, getting some exercise and of course enjoying the amazing views…
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| The summit! |
We took some time taking in gulps of fresh mountain air, all while sniffing the fresh & life giving air. It felt great to finally explore the city of Atlanta.
We headed down to the visitor center to finish the tour of the museum. We were glad we did, as we learned so much about the battlefield. Don’t miss it!
In conclusion:
Atlanta is truly a great southern city full of energy, and with plenty of places to eat and visit, we could have easily spent an entire month in the city. We were so glad we got to explore some of the top attractions in the city, even if it was only for 3 nights/4 days.
Jimmy Carter Presidential Library & Museum and Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park are just two of the attractions we got to explore, but they were both great! We highly recommend anyone looking for places to explore to check these out.
Oh, don’t forget about the many awesome places to eat like the Korean restaurant we went to in Duluth or any number of places in and around the city. There are so many of them…
We thank you for reading and keep up with us on our continuing adventures throughout the American South! Happy trails!
Jake
Wandering Money Pig
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