Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site and Olympic Centennial Park

Trip Date: July 30, 2011

The other night I was counting the number of times I've left the country this year. The count was four (if you include the trip I took through Canada on my way home from Burlington - something I don't normally include, but I did stay there for three nights this time!) and as I wrote this post, I was sitting in the Atlanta airport getting ready to raise my Europe count to five!

I've become a bit neurotic with how I've been traveling recently. I joined the ranks of Silver Medallion with Delta Airlines and I've been trying to desperately reach Gold Medallion status by the end of the year (and retain it forever, as far as I understand). What this means is that I've been booking flights with as many layovers as possible. With no job at the moment there is no real rush to get from Point A to Point B and it's more fun traveling with out the stress of having to make a deadline!

Things do get frustrating from time to time, however. Take this trip for instance: My family and I left for our trip to Ireland on Saturday July 30 - the first family trip since 2001 (which was coincidentally, also to Ireland). They all booked their tickets with Aer Lingus, Ireland's National Airline; I however, booked mine with Delta to get the miles. Things started off great. We dropped my car off at the Michigan City train station so I could get to it upon my arrival back in the states. Then, my family dropped me off at Chicago's Midway Airport, which I found out is named after the famous World War II battle of Midway Atoll in the Pacific Arena. The Chicago area was used to train pilots in taking off and landing on aircraft carriers on Lake Michigan. Two Lake Michigan vessels were refitted with runways for this training and designated the USS Sable and the USS Wolverine (Go Blue!). There was a great exhibit in the airport with a reconstructed war plan that was pulled up from the bottom of Lake Michigan.

The flight from MDW to ATL was great. My Silver Medallion status got me upgraded to first class where our flight attendant was wonderful but made wicked strong drinks! There's really nothing special about first class on short flights in the US, but it was nice to get free drinks and room to stretch my legs. It wasn't until landing at ATL that I realized my plans had to change. I had a 16-hour layover in Atlanta so I was planning on just sleeping on the floor in the airport and then take the METRA into the city the next morning and come back in the afternoon before my flight left. BUT I learned that I was required to pick up my checked luggage instead of leaving it checked overnight, something I wasn't planning on doing. So what can you do but roll with the punches? I got my suitcase and then faced the challenge of finding a place so sleep. I could have stayed at the airport, but I didn't feel comfortable going to sleep with so many of my belongings free for the taking. So I called up the Super 8 and they said they would send a Hotel Bus to pick me up... But as always it wasn't that easy.

In my haste, I waited and waited in the "Drop-off" area outside the airport, so of course never saw the Hotel Bus that was sent for me. But I didn't realize that I was in the wrong place, so, very irritated at this time, I called up the Econo Lodge and did the same thing. After about an hour of waiting (it's now ten minutes after midnight), I realized that I was in the wrong place, so I corrected myself and went to where about two dozen hotel buses were waiting, and I finally got my ride to the Econo Lodge, which was a bit utilitarian, but it was clean, cool, and cheap ($40/night!). So really my mishap only became a minor detour and all was well because I even got to sleep in a bed, take a shower, and have a free breakfast!

The next morning I hopped in the shuttle back to the airport and while I was nearly 12 hours early for my flight, checked my suitcase (which I thought for sure would be lost). I put my personal belongings in my camera bag, clipped on a water bottle, and put my backpack in storage for the day. And so with nothing but my camera, I bought my ticket to the MARTA, Atlanta's light-rail system, and rode it into town.

Atlanta is home to the headquarters of Delta Airlines, CNN, the Weather Channel, the American Cancer Society, and of course, Coca Cola. While everyone recommended I check these places out, my past experience traveling this year and seeing the effects of poor news service and dishonest corporate greed, I decided to make my visit a bit more cultured.

Getting off the MARTA at the King Memorial station, I walked about a half-mile through a neightborhood that had maybe seen better days but appeared to pose no threats. Only for about one block did I pick up my pace to get somewhere that looked a little more friendly. Apparently, I later learned, I was a block or two over from the more ideal street for walking from the King Memorial station (Jackson St., by the way) to my destination: The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site.

The MLKJNHS occupies three city blocks of Atlanta preserved from the 1930s. There are a few modern buildings that now house the National Park's Visitor Center, the King Center, and the new Ebenezer Baptist Church. Also included in the park are various houses from the Queen Anne era and some shot-gun houses (narrow homes one room wide and four rooms deep), and just around the corner from the Historic Fire Station No. 6 (the first integrated station in Atlanta) is the house that Martin Luther King, Jr. was born and raised. Free tours are available for the house, but they fill up fast, and I didn't have time to wait, so I didn't get to go inside.

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s childhood home in Atlanta, GA

Fire Station No. 6 - the first in Atlanta to become integrated

I did check out the Visitor Center which has some fantastic interpretive displays, a half-hour long, very well-done video, and the simple mule-drawn cart which carried his casket after his assassination. And just across the street is the original Ebenezer Baptist Church where MLK Jr., his fater, and his grandfather all preached.

I knew that MLK was an amazing orator and had many famous speeches, sermons, and letters, but it wasn't really until her, where they are all around me, did his passion for equality and civil rights really become tangibly evident. I realized just how incredible and humble of a person he really was. It also, however, made me realize how sorely we are need of an inspirational voice of justice, outside of any type of politician, in our society today. And it was in the Ebenezer Church that I realized this. The sanctuary has been restored to how it would have appeared when MLK Jr. was a preacher there and recordings of his sermons were playing over loudspeakers. It was almost as if you could feel the inspiration filling the air and see the room packed full of people struggling to receive the basic rights that everyone is entitled.

The carriage that carried MLK Jr.'s casket and the cross that was laid on top of it.

Outside of Ebenezer Baptist Church

Restored sanctuary of Ebenezer Baptist Church

Just outside the church is a long reflecting pool in the middle of which sits a dais with a beautiful marble tomb - the final resting place for both Martin Luther King, Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King. Both of their legacies are succinctly summed up in an epitaph on each. Opposite the pool is an eternal flame forever burning with the fire of hope and life for a more equal and just world. This National Historic Site is not one to just breeze through and it's nearly impossible to stand in front of the tomb without shedding a few tears.

Reflecting Pool at MLKJNHS

Burial tomb of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King

Eternal Flame at Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site

It got instructions on how to walk back to downtown Atlanta and I decided  to get lunch in or around the Olympic Centennial Park. Atlanta was the last US city to host the Summer Olympics and it won the opportunity to host the 100th Anniversary games of the modern Olympic movement. The downtown park was built as an International Meeting Place of sorts for all who attended. Right in the center of the park is a fountain coming up out of inlaid stones in the shape of the Olympic Rings. On hot summer days, kids run through the fountain to keep cool and every hour the fountain puts on a show to music like "The 1812 Overture," "Sir Duke," and "Under the Sea." It's an entertaining park with many statues, sculptures, and landscaping appropriately fitting with the Olympic Mission. I tried finding the site where the bomb that ripped through the park during the games went off, but the lady at the Tourism Desk said they don't like to advertise that event but that there was some of the shrapnel from the blast on display somewhere in the park, but she didn't know where that was either. I would have stayed to look for it, but I was getting hungry and wanted to make sure to get to the airport on time. So I grabbed a quick lunch at Googie Burger, where they call your order by saying over a loudspeaker, "Number 82, shake it on over!!!" Lunch there was great and my salad and alcoholic "twinkie" shake were refreshing on such a hot day!

 

 

Kids taking a break from playing in the fountain while they watch the musical show

Statue of Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the Modern Olympcs

I didn't want to be late to my flight and so I started working my way back to the airport where I sat down to write this blog post, waiting for boarding to start anytime. Goodbye, Atlanta, for now! It was a great day, but now I'm ready to cool off in the Emerald Isle!