My mom and I took a trip to Sandy Springs, Georgia (just outside of Atlanta), and it was awesome! We tasted great food and saw what the city really had to offer from the perspective of a tween girl. Read on to learn more about my trip!

Notes from Mom (aka Katie Goes There): It’s such a fun treat to take a mother-daughter trip. Since I write about travel for a living, I thought it would be fun to ask my daughter to write about our trip from her perspective (to get a taste of what her mom does all day). This story is all her words. I just stepped in to help her with formatting and some very light editing. You can check out more photos and videos on my Instagram account @katiegoesthere. Thanks to Visit Sandy Springs for hosting our trip.

Day 1: Arrival in Sandy Springs, Georgia

After we got to the hotel (Westin Atlanta Perimeter North), we went to the restaurant and ate pizza there. It was really good. It smelled very gourmet, or maybe that was just me because I was absolutely starving… In summary, it was amicable and modern inside.

The room was nice and modern, and as we walked into the hotel, there was a welcome sign with our last name spelled wrong. Sigh, very typical. Apparently, we were VIP guests, and everyone kept swooning over us to make us happy. It was absolutely hilarious. We stayed inside that afternoon because we were tired and it was raining hard.

When dinner rolled around, it was just drizzling outside, so we went to Tre Vele and we ordered cacio e pepe.

They brought a cart over, and it had a massive hollowed-out roll of Parmesan cheese and a mini pot of noodles. We got to watch the person swirl our noodles in the melted cheese and plate them nicely.

Day 2: Kayaking, Shopping, Splatter Painting

We woke up and got ready to kayak. We went to a vast lake at Morgan Falls Overlook Park and got into the kayak. The first thing I saw was a spider on the dock, so I proceeded to beat it with my paddle until it fell into the water, twitching aggressively. It was freezing cold, but we were all alone, so we got free roam of it all.

My mom and I were sharing a kayak, and I put my paddle on my lap and let her cart me around while I admired the sights. We saw really cool birds, like this super tall crane-looking thing, and lots of ducks. I even heard a bird call and tried to mimic it. Apparently, I did a good job, seeing as I exchanged calls with the bird for about 5 minutes. After we got back, I saw another, bigger spider on the dock, so I whacked it with my paddle and beat it into submission until it scuttled away.

We then went to lunch at Mexico Lindo, and I had the best quesadilla of my life. Funny how every press trip I go on, I find the best food I’ve ever tasted. Rochester had the curly fries, and now a quesadilla? Wow. (By the way, check out my other article about Rochester, NY if you haven’t already!) We went to the hotel to rest a bit, but then we decided to go… SHOPPING!

Notes from Mom (aka Katie Goes There): One of the things I have learned from traveling with my daughter is that kids need breaks, and sometimes you just have to do something familiar (or eat something familiar…I’m not ashamed at the amount of pizza and fries we eat when traveling with my daughter). That’s how we ended up at the mall in Sandy Springs instead of doing something more unique. But you know what, we both had a great time (malls make 11-year-olds happy, and happy 11-year-olds make moms happy). Traveling with kids isn’t about seeing and doing everything you possibly can. Sometimes it’s just about being together in a new destination.

Next, we went to The Splatter Studio. All the walls were covered in paint, and we had super cool tools to use and all sorts of paint. They even offer paint pouring, which I did on a bear sculpture, and it turned out really cool. It was probably the highlight of the trip for me.

Notes from Mom (aka Katie Goes There): Agreed! I totally loved The Splatter Studio, too. It was a blast and the highlight of our trip.

After we went to Battle & Brew, which was right around the corner. It’s a really cool restaurant that offers video games while you eat. We got a Potion of Clarity drink for me, and an Angel’s Wing for Mom (non alcoholic drinks, ofc). It really looked like a potion — they had the glass shape and everything, even the foam on top. I beat Mom at Mario Kart, and grinded on Minecraft for a bit before we got our food. It was delicious!!! The fries had a really cool spice on them.

Day 3: Downtown Atlanta (Georgia Aquarium and World of Coca-Cola)

We took the MARTA train to downtown Atlanta and visited the Georgia Aquarium, which has a real whale shark! Of course, sharks were my favorite animal there. The aquarium looks really ethereal and watery everywhere, with huge tanks and exotic animals like dolphins and cookie-cutter sharks. I got a whale shark plush from the gift shop that tracks a real whale shark.

Then we went to the World of Coca-Cola and learned all about the history of Coke, and sampled all the Coke flavors and brands that Coke worked with in this huge tasting room. They had cool mini games to make your own soda and a movement game where you had to do stuff with your body to carbonate and size bubbles.

I even used their AI program to make my own flavor. There was a quiz you had to take, and my flavor was purple and tasted like lavender, vanilla, and orange. I also got socks from the gift shop, because mine were soaked because I stepped in a big puddle.

After that, we were supposed to have reservations at Mister 01 Pizza, but there were 29 parties ahead of us, and they said they don’t take reservations. So we had to opt out and found a nice place called Sunnyside Pizzeria. At this point, I was shaking from hunger, so Mom bought me a gelato to tide me over. They had speedy takeout. So we took the pizza back to the hotel and ended our trip by eating pizza in bed and watching Gilmore Girls. 

Final Thoughts

In summary, I definitely loved the trip. I got to try lots of cool new things and had tons of fun while doing it! Another BIG thanks to our sponsor, Visit Sandy Springs, for allowing us to admire your wonderful city!