Written by Bronwyn Horvath...... Photo by Jim Gutru
Oakland Cemetery
A couple of wrong turns down one-way streets in Atlanta took us to Oakland Cemetery, the final resting place of some of Atlanta’s most famous luminaries like Margaret Mitchell who wrote Gone with the Wind, Bobby Jones of golfing fame and Maynard Jackson the first African-American Mayor of Atlanta. A stop in the visitor's center, located in the middle of the cemetery was useful. Armed with a cemetery map and an earful of information we wandered into the oldest section of the cemetery where the gardener nearly missed dousing us with his hose. We found the large section of marked and unmarked graves for confederate soldiers and a special section of Jewish graves with tombstones written in Hebrew. The most amazing structures, however, were the large, incredibly detailed mausoleums. Although we had a map it seems that Margaret Mitchell was hidden somewhere that we couldn’t find. Next time Margaret!
Old Car City
Old cars and poison ivy. Poison ivy and old cars. They appear side by side in Old Car City. If you want to roam through the acres of ruined cars in this amazing, one-of-a-kind junk yard, you have to be prepared. Socks, shoes, long pants, long sleeves, a sun hat and bug spray are a must. Once garbed for battle you can wander aimlessly or follow the signs, with pithy proverbs, through the fields. Jan V and I learned our lesson from the previous trip where we scratched for days... and this time, short of hazmat clothing, we were prepared. Having taken pictures of the piles of old cars on a previous trip I concentrated on license plates and brand logos.
Atlanta Botanical Gardens
Sometimes in my waking dreams, I go back to these gardens. So incredibly beautiful. You can’t turn a corner without seeing some incredible blooms or stunning garden arrangements. There are indoor and outdoor exhibits, so when the sun gets too bright you can visit the orchid houses. These gardens are right in Atlanta but you feel like you are in the country. My suggestion is that you bring minimal equipment if you are walking or a wagon a la Rick Hartmann, if you plan on taking lots of equipment. We tried using a wheelchair and that was harder to cart around than the equipment. Plus we looked like the two stooges. Live and Learn! Live and Learn!
Georgia Aquarium
This was by far the hardest attraction to photograph. A combination of dark surroundings, strange tank lighting, oodles of people and fast sea creatures made this shoot a challenge. Jan V had special rubber spacers that allowed her to put her camera up against the glass without scratching her lens or the tank glass. You will have to ask her if that worked. I was off somewhere else being frustrated by underwater penguins, squids, whale sharks and every other sea creature that moved too fast. But I am up for the challenge and will go back for more one of these days.
Georgia Aquarium Images
Atlanta Botanical Gardens
Old Car City Album
Caddy fins – Image by Jim Gutru
The white garden at the Atlanta Botanical was incredibly beautiful and if I had to pick a favorite, that would be it. But there wasn’t a place anywhere in those acres that wasn’t impressive.
We had planned to spend a day in the gardens and a day at the Aquarium but saw George and Mary Hoskins in the gardens and they have visited the Aquarium the day before. They described 1800+ school kids in the building but that was a slow day they were told, usually they average 2500.
We made changes quickly to our itinerary and left the gardens in the early afternoon, had a great lunch downtown near the hotel and went to the Aquarium around 4. That would have been an even better decision if we had purchased late afternoon tickets on line for a discount. But it was much better to go later because there might have been 500 people in the entire building as the day wore on….a ghost town compared to the Hoskins experience. Great photos? No, but incredible sights!