Travel Log: Atlanta

Feeling lucky after a big weekend in Las Vegas? The city of Atlanta sure hopes so, as it welcomes a tripleheader NASCAR weekend on one of the luckiest of them all -- St. Patrick's Day.

St. Patrick was known as the patron saint of Ireland although, ironically, he was not born there. The Christian missionary spent an extensive amount of time ministering in Northern Ireland during the fifth century. His death on March 17, 461, transformed from a Catholic holy day to what is now one of the most tradition-laden holidays.

Atlanta knows a little about tradition.

The city's government touts it as the "best example of the New South, a fast-paced modern city proud of its heritage." Hip-hop group Outkast calls its hometown the "gateway to the South." In the 1960s during the peak of the Civil Rights Movement, locals dubbed it the "city too busy to hate."

And busy it is. Yeah, there's the behemoth-like Georgia Aquarium that submerges one below the sea. There's the tasty World of Coca-Cola -- old and soon-to-be new. There are tours and parks.

But here's the real Atlanta ...

DID YOU KNOW
Atlanta has 32 streets with "Peachtree" included in the name.

WHAT THE CITY OFFERS
St. Patrick's Day Parade -- The luckiest day of the year is transformed into a three-day celebration in Atlanta as Thursday kicks off the St. Patrick's Day Family Festival at Underground Atlanta, with Irish food, music and entertainment. Saturday will feature Atlanta's 126th St. Patrick's Day Parade, as bands, dancers and the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales flood downtown at 1 p.m. ET.

For more information, click here.

I Have a Dream -- The very papers on which Martin Luther King Jr. etched his thoughts and speeches are on display at the Atlanta History Center for the first time to the public in I Have a Dream: The Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection. The exhibit includes drafts of King's "I Have a Dream" speech, ministry and personal notes and his "Letter from Birmingham Jail."

For more information, click here.

Atlanta Cyclorama -- One of just a handful of cycloramas in the world, Atlanta's unique, rotating storyteller is home of the world's largest oil painting, which depicts the Civil War's Battle of Atlanta. Visitors sit in theater-like seating that rotates as the three-dimensional story unfolds thanks to one of the most popular forms of entertainment from the 18th century.

For more information, click here. (Continued)