by Lisa Fagan

Created on: October 24, 2008   Last Updated: December 08, 2008

This past weekend (Saturday, October 18-Tuesday, October 21), my brother and I went down to Atlanta to visit family. We stayed at my sister's house in suburban Marietta, and my other brother, who lives in Midtown in Atltanta, showed us around the city.

The weather there this weekend, especially for October, was just perfect. Blue skies, bright sunshine, and temperatures in the 70's, though it did get down into the 40's overnight. I'm glad that I made the right choice to go there in October. We had originally planned to go down there in April, but our flight was cancelled because of the bad weather there. In fact, that day alone, 53 counties in Georgia, including the Atlanta area, were all under severe thunderstorm warnings and tormado watches. Three weeks earlier, on Friday, March 14, an F2 tornado tore through downtown Atlanta, causing a lot of damage, and the downtown area was closed off.

The main tourist attraction there is the CNN Center, and believe me, no trip to Atlanta is complete without it. It's a 55-minute walking tour. Once you pass through security, you go up the escalator eight floors, but then you go down the steps. You will see the newsrooms of both CNN and Headline News, the control room, and the offices of CNN. You will also learn how they determine what news stories make it on the air, and how they present the news and the weather. In fact, the anchors read the news from a TelePrompTer, but the weather forecasters don't; they ad lib it. But since they have had years of experience in presenting the weather, they know what to do, but they are still given a written report.

There was even a school group on this tour, and the one before that. The tours run every 20 minutes and it only costs $12. Before or even after the tour, you can eat in the food court there, and they have all types of restaurants: Dunkin Donuts, Arby's Wendy's, Moe's (a local chain featuring Southwestern foods), and so forth.

Right around the corner from the CNN Center is the Phillips Arena, where the Atlanta Hawks and the Thrashers (the hockey team), play their home games, as well as present concerts. Right across the street is the Georgia Dome. In fact, if you get off the MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) rail line at the CNN stop downtown, and you walk either up the steps or the ramp, the Phillips Arena an CNN Center are right next door to each other. The Westin Hotel is also not that far from there either.

If you drive around the city, you will also see the

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