Dixieland Part 11...

Our last day in Atlanta dawned and we realised it was also our last day in America!    We were due to fly home in the evening but had a busy day ahead of us before we actually left.

Before embarking on our first excursion for the day we took at photograph of a house quite near to our hotel.

Margaret Mitchell's house.   Of course you know that Margaret Mitchell wrote 'Gone With The Wind' and this tied in nicely with our trip which was to take the 'Road To Tara', in Jonesboro, Georgia, home of the fictional Tara Plantation from her classic novel.

Arriving at the Road to Tara Museum we met up with a local costume historian who guided us through the  museum  and joined us on the coach as we toured the area, entertaining us with both historical and hysterical information about this deep southern town.  The museum contains many exhibits such as detailed and accurate reproductions of the costumes worn by Vivien Leigh (Scarlett O'Hara) and other stars from the film, as well as Margaret Mitchell's china, and an authentic 'Sherman's necktie' (a section of rail twisted into a loop so as to be useless to a railroad company) from the Civil War.   It was an entertaining and informative tour and one I would certainly recommend to anyone visiting the area.

Our next stop was a tour of the World of Coca Cola.  A unique experience that includes interactive exhibits, historical memorabilia, a sensory 4D film, a functioning bottling line, and the chance to sample over 60 different refreshing flavours from around the world.  There is so much to see and it's very informative, a delight for children and we didn't realise there were so many different flavours of Coca Cola!

After our tour of the World Coca Cola we went in here,

where we enjoyed a burger and a milk shake,

whilst reflecting on all the wonderful things and places we had seen on our 12 day trip to the U.S.A.    Then, all too soon, it was time to head back to the hotel to meet Alice (our tour director) and Jerome (our coach driver) who were waiting to take us to the airport to catch our flight home.

We had a wonderful time and the places and things we saw and the people we met will provide some wonderful memories.   We cannot praise Alice and Jerome enough, they really made the whole tour a delight, Jetsave should be very proud of them.   Alice was a fountain of knowledge about every place we stopped, we never had to find a bank to change travellers cheques we just signed them and Alice handed over the money, if we wanted a postcard sending we just wrote it out and gave it to Alice with $1 and she posted it and we never had to queue to check into a hotel because Alice was in there first booking us all in and then gave us our room keys.   Jerome made sure our luggage was on the coach every time we moved to a different location, his careful driving (over 2200 miles from end to end) made all the journeys we took comfortable and we always felt safe, so I'd just like to say a big THANKYOU to them both for making our holiday such a pleasurable one.

I hope you've enjoyed our Dixieland Tour as much as we did.   We're now planning our next trip to the States with the same tour company (Jetsave) for August 2012 taking in Los Angeles,Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Fresno, Sonora, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, Lompoc and back to Los Angeles - we can't wait!

Read Dixieland Part 1 here
Read Dixieland Part 2 here
Read Dixieland Part 3 here
Read Dixieland Part 4 here
Read Dixieland Part 5 here
Read Dixieland Part 6 here
Read Dixieland Part 7 here
Read Dixieland Part 8 here
Read Dixieland Part 9 here
Read Dixieland Part 10 here