It may be more than 700 miles from home, but for Spartan fans hoping to catch the live version of MSU’s fourth-straight Sweet Sixteen appearance, Atlanta offers a city full of southern hospitality and history.
Nicknamed Hot-lanta, the “Sports Capital of the World” and the New South, Atlanta has enough character and attractions to compliment a weekend of basketball, as No. 1-seed MSU attempts Friday to tame the No. 12-seed Gonzaga Bulldogs.
The State News takes a look at what to do and where to be in Atlanta this weekend:
Relax and drive
With such short notice, plane ticket prices are more than sky-high for Lansing-to-Atlanta flights.
And although the drive is a doozy, the 760-mile trip is doable at around 13 hours.
If you don’t want to miss Thursday classes or drive all night long, plan on waking up by at least 6 a.m. on Friday to get on the road and make the 7:38 p.m. tipoff at the Georgia Dome - the home of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.
Be sure to guard against falling asleep at the wheel with a caffeine fix from your favorite local café before leaving town to cheer on the Spartans.
If you do choose to take off Thursday, try to allocate some time to stop by Nashville and enjoy the home of country music.
There are two different ways to your Sweet Sixteen destination. The typical route is straight down I-75, but since you’ll be leaving from East Lansing, you can also try the less-traveled route down I-69, I-65 South and I-24 East to I-75.
Once in Atlanta, the weather should seem pleasant - especially after three months of chilling wind and biting Michigan snow. The highs will hit around near 70 degrees, but could likely come with showers.
It’s not Michigan weather.
But take an umbrella and a coat, just in case.
Staying southern style
A group of Atlanta-area hotels offer a sports package for out-of-towners, catching any of the cities sports teams. Unfortunately, at least one of them is already booked up.
The Atlanta Marriott Marquis, 265 Peachtree Center Ave., was offering MSU fans a $129 rate that included parking and breakfast for two people.
While that’s not available, it does still have rooms available for $149 a night. Call 1-800-228-9290.
If you’re trying to figure out which area of town to stay in, try the downtown area first - near the Georgia Dome. Then check Mid-town listings, which aren’t much further away.
Moving north of downtown, you’ll hit the Buckhead Area, an area of town known for its nightlife. It’s not as close or as cheap, but it’s close to hundreds of popular bars and restaurants.
Of course, you can always check the outer areas and Atlanta suburbs. Keep in mind though, that during rush-hour, traffic around town is extremely slow, according to David Willis, a travel agent at AAA in Atlanta.
He suggested buying $1.75 passes for the MARTA system, the city’s local transportation.
The first stop on MARTA?
To the team’s hotel, to catch the MSU Alumni Association and MSU Rebounders Club pregame pep rally.
The usual crowd of head coach Tom Izzo, mascot Sparty, the MSU Cheerleaders and Spartan Brass will hang out and bleed green from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Atlanta, located at 255 Courtland St.
“Hopefully 400 or 500 visiting Spartans will show up,” said T.D. Jorgensen, president of the MSU Alumni Club of Greater Atlanta.
Around town
The tourist attractions in Atlanta may not be as well known as Graceland - where the Spartans won a pair of tournament games last weekend - but there are still many lesser-known sites to see.
The World of Coca-Cola, 55 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., offers tours and a history lesson of the world’s leading beverage. You must buy a ticket in advance, and you’re only allowed a half-hour to learn all there is about Coca-Cola.
The Jimmy Carter Library, 441 Freedom Parkway, is an interesting collection of the former president’s personal research collections.
It’s only open on weekdays, so if you want to catch it, get to town before 4 p.m. Friday.
Sixteen miles outside of Atlanta is the “Eighth Wonder of the World” and the locals’ favorite tourist attraction, Stone Mountain Park. This park has the world’s largest relief carving on the world’s largest mass of exposed granite.
The park is open, weather permitting, until midnight, and has plenty of space to hike, bike, run and enjoy the outdoors.
The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, 450 Auburn Ave., is an emotional must-see. It’s the birth place of the slain civil rights leader. It’s free.
Next stop is the Cyclorama and Civil War Museum, located in Grant Park. It takes visitors on a unique look back at Atlanta’s turbulent past in American history. The Cyclorama is a circular room, with a rotating bleacher section in the middle.
As it turns, you watch the mural painted around the room light up and learn about the Battle of Atlanta. Admission for adults is $5 and the cyclorama is open daily until 4:30 p.m.
Cap off your busy day of history lessons by strolling through Centennial Olympic Park, a memorable part of the 1996 Olympic games.
Walk the Fountain of the Rings, and learn the history of those games before you catch the Spartans play a big game of their own.
They’ve got grub
If hot dogs and nachos aren’t enough to satisfy your appetite, head over to the Buckhead Area.
This area is stocked full of college-aged kids, restaurants and pubs.
You can watch the games at ESPN Zone, 3030 Peachtree Road, on your own personal television right at your table. They also have six full-sized monitors and nine recliners to lounge in.
This hoity-toity area also has the always-popular Cheesecake Factory, 3024 Peachtree Road. This restaurant offers everything from pastries to burgers to unusual salads, and a desert menu with around 50 kinds of cheesecake.
If you don’t want to deal with the long lines there, try the off-the-wall Cafe Tutu Tango, 220 Pharr Road.
“It’s so cute because people walk around and perform while you eat,” said Rachel Knighton, from the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“They also have artists painting, henna tattoos, and eclectic little plates. All their dishes are appetizers so they come in small portions and everyone can try each other’s food.”
But if you want a true southern style meal, try Sylvia’s for breakfast. Known as a New York Eatery, this famous restaurant has found it’s way to the south and offers a down-home to-die-for brunch filled with grits, gravy and sausage, Knighton said.
The final place to stop by would be the Virginia-Highlands area, at the intersections of those two streets.
This is another college-oriented area, with a slightly lower overhead than the Buckhead Area, said Rebecca Curti-Kohart, a senior at Georgia Tech University.
“The Buckhead Area is usually kind of crowded,” she said. “And Virginia Heights seems more student oriented.”
She mentioned trying the Georgia Tech student’s favorite food joints at Eat’s, 600 Ponce De Leon Ave., The Flying Biscuit, 1655 McLendon Ave., and Raging Burrito’s, 1529 Piedmont Road.
Krista Latham can be reached at lathamkr@msu.edu.
