The Hardwood Flooring Summit is just over a month away (August 2008), and many conference attendees are asking about fun things to do while they’re in Atlanta for The Summit. You may be attending the conference with your family, and in that case, you’ll be looking for family attractions. Having lived in Atlanta for over twenty years, here’s a few of my personal recommendations:

The Georgia Aquarium is located in Pemberton Place (named in honor of John Pemberton, the inventor of Coca-Cola) in Atlanta. The aquarium is within walking distance of The Hardwood Flooring Summit. It is the world’s largest aquarium. The Georgia Aquarium has more than 8.1 million gallons of marine and fresh water. With all of this water, the aquarium is able to host more than 100,000 animals of 500 different species.

The World of Coca-Cola is next door to the Georgia Aquarium. It’s a permanent exhibition that features the Coca-Cola Company. It focuses on the history of Coca-Cola, and its well-known advertisements. It also has a lot of entertainment areas and attractions. It opened to the public on May 24, 2007, replacing a 17-year-old smaller museum located a few miles away.

The World of Coca-Cola and the aquarium are across the street from Olympic Fountain of Rings, a lot of Olympic style decoration and artwork, and bricks commemorating people who helped fund the park. They host a lot of events at this park during the summer, so check out Screen On The Green, where they play movies on a large movie screen outside. It’s free, and only about 2 1/2 blocks from The Westin Peachtree Plaza (which is where The Summit is being held).

The CNN Centeris also only a few blocks from The Hardwood Flooring Summit. They offer studio tours. The atrium escalator that is used to transport visitors on the CNN tour has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest freestanding (supported only at the ends) escalator in the world. They have a large food court in the CNN headquarter atrium.

The CNN Center is connected (literally) to Phillips Arena, which is the home of the NHL’s Thrashers (the best team in the league) and the Hawks of the NBA. Unfortunately, neither league is in season during August. But here’s a list of eventsat Phillips Arena.

Phillips Arena and The CNN Center are right next door to the newly renovated home of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, the Georgia Dome. The Falcons will be hosting Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts on August 16, 2008.

If you’re into baseball, you can do the tomahawk chop while watching the Braves at Turner Field(the locals call it “The Ted”). Here’s the schedule for the Bravos during the month of August 2008. The Braves are on a home stand during the week of The Hardwood Flooring Summit. They’ll be playing the Chicago Cubs in a three game series on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (August 12-14, 2008). Then they’re slated to match up against the San Francisco Giants in a four game weekend series from Friday through the following Monday.

A short drive away from The Hardwood Flooring Summit is the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site. The site was established on October 10, 1980. It consists of several buildings surrounding Martin Luther King, Jr.’s boyhood home on Auburn Avenue in the Sweet Auburn district of Atlanta, Georgia. Ebenezer Baptist Church, the church where King and his father Martin Luther King, Sr. pastored, is also part of the national historic site. These places are critical components in the interpretation of the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy as a leader of the American civil rights movement.

If you’re into Gone With the Wind, you should check out The Margaret Mitchell House & Museum. The Margaret Mitchell House and Museum was the home of author Margaret Mitchell. Located Midtown Atlanta at 990 Peachtree Street, Georgia, the house was known as the Crescent Apartments when she and her husband lived in Apt. 1 on the ground floor from 1925 to 1932. While living here, she wrote the bulk of her Pulitzer prize-winning novel, Gone with the Wind. In addition to the house, there is a Visitor Center and a museum building wholly devoted to the filming of the 1939 film based on this book.

Georgia’s most popular tourist attraction, Stone Mountain Park is celebrating it’s 50th anniversary this year. Here’s a list of http://www.stonemountainpark.com/attractions-shows/attractions and shows at Stone Mountain Park. Stone Mountain is a granite dome monadnock located in Stone Mountain, Georgia, which is a suburb of Atlanta. At its summit, the elevation is 1,683 feet (513 m) amsl and 825 feet (251.5 m) above the surrounding plateau. The mountain extends underground to several surrounding counties. Stone Mountain is the largest exposed granite ’stone’ in the world.

Here’s a few other things to do while you’re in town:

Stately Oaks Plantation in Jonesboro

Atlanta Horse Drawn Carriage Tours

Zoo Atlanta