(Flying from ATL to LAX)

So I’ve finished the first leg of my long trip. Just left Atlanta, the same airport I really got hooked on the Red Sox in 1999. (ALDS, Game 3 – a whole ‘nother story) My company was there for the annual IAAPA trade show, which is an amusement park show. I’ll let you take a second to imagine what an amusement park trade show is like. . . . . OK so it was basically 2 giant halls full of anything a theme park, carnival, waterpark, or party rental place could possibly want. One half of my entire hall consisted of what I have always called air bounces, although I guess they are just called “inflatables”. There were also dozens of arcade game vendors, other ticket/prize based game vendors like Skeeball and Dynamo, companies that sell those crappy toys kids use $15 worth of tokens to win enough tickets to win, 4D theater developers, mascot costume manufacturers, tons of laser tag equipment companies, and of course ride manufacturers of all shapes and sizes. One aisle away from our booth was a company that sells horror animatronics, so we had a giant dragon, dozens of gyrating zombies, and a headless horseman complete with haunted horse to distract us. Directly across from us was “the world’s biggest inflatable water slide” although with only a scale model to show off. To our right was a company who made giant water cooled blowers for cooling down a climatically hot work environment. To our left was a wild west ride, where you climbed up into a wagon and watched some show while the wagon shook from side to side. (2 notes about them, 1) I told the poor sap they had dressed like a cowboy that he should drink coke out a Jack Daniels bottle next year for greater effect, and 2) They apparently had the wrong saddle next to their wagon – as the Texan lady from the blower booth mentioned to be incredulously: “It’s a western show, but thay have an english saddle – it just doesn’t make any sense to me”) My company had a good show, in our opinion, albeit a bit long. (By the way, closing down the booth after the show ends was a miserable preview of things to come I’m sure. Who would have ever thought I would develop my box saran wrapppin skills at this job. Atlanta has been great – if cold – the restaurants were delicious (South City Kitchen especially) and most importantly – the people are so sincerely friendly in Atlanta – it was just a pleasure to deal with any random person you happened to come across. Also my hotel‘s trademark perk was that there are windows in the shower that look on the bed, and vice versa.

Today (Sunday) was my first real day to myself in a solid week, and I really took advantage of it. I woke up early, had some breakfast, and went to check out the Georgia Aquarium (largest in the world apparently). I cued up some Cliff Martinez on my Ipod, and really had an amazing time staring at fish and other marine creatures. They have the largest aquarium tank in the world – something like 25 olympic swimming pools worth – and you can walk under it and around it, or sit and look at this movie screen sized window onto it. It’s probably the closest you can get to seeing what the ocean looks like without strapping on an oxygen tank, and they have 3 (three) whale sharks in it. But while that was cool, and it was, it was nothing compared to the beluga whale exhibit. And it was not some show like you see with dolphins, it was the underwater experience, again through huge 3 foot thick acrylic windows. And when I got there they were feeding them above the water, so their long white bodies were right up next to the glass. And I was awestruck at how beautiful their bodies were – pure muscle – perfectly white – and so remarkably graceful. It was like watching a plaster Rodin sculpture come to life, the muscles so well defined, the powerful grace of their effortless maneuvering underwater. They looked at you to, and with that smile like expression they always have – you’d swear they were trying to guess what you were thinking just as you were wondering the same thing about them. I have always wanted to go swimming with whales, but now I’m plositive I must make a chance to do it. What enchanting creatures. On the smaller scale, Sea Dragons are also amazing in their own miniature right, a Ratfish is actually really cool looking, and Piranhas appear surprisingly still when they’re not ripping flesh to pieces. A very cool place, even with all the toddlers mistaking your leg for their parents – which is certainly adorable, but also pretty nerve wracking when 99% of your attention is on the 1000 fish swimming over your head – not the little tike your foot is about mangle. 

After that I took the MARTA (their subway, not impressed) over to the High Museum of Art, which was amazing. First off, its architect was Renzo Piano – who is a genius if you didn’t know. Second off, they had the best American art collection I have ever seen – at least as far as variety goes. And the special exhibits they had were perfect for me, a works on paper exhibit, a really diverse photography exhibit, and a major modern art painter’s exhibit, as I need to get to know more of the players in modern art, especially as I decide whether I like most modern art or not… so far it is a very strong love/hate response every single time. So I listened to the Thin Red Line score and some Shpongle and had a blast – spending 3 hours exploring and gazing. My only complaints are that they had the worst postcard collection I have ever seen, so I have zero new pieces to put up in my bedroom, and also they have some kind of photo permit policy I wasn’t aware of until I didn’t have enough time to catch my plane after getting the permit so I could take all the photos I wanted to take. (since they didn’t have any postcards and thus I may never see some of these pieces again) Oh and they don’t allow pens in the place, so like 10 times staff came up to me while I was taking notes with my nice mechanical pencil in my moleskin and doublechecked as to what it was. Eventually I’d see them start to troll over and I’d just blurt out “PENCIL”. Regardless, I can’t wait to go back as soon as possible, and am praying they have some printable images of their collection online somewhere. I must have written down 20 artists/pieces to go back and look into. I was in heaven. Who would have guessed Atlanta would be such a cultural hub!