Starting last night and going all day today, the remnants of TS Cindy brought a steady rain to Chattanooga. Thankfully though, we didn't get any damaging weather this far North, and it looks like the bulk of the rain will be over in time for us to begin our return trip to Guntersville in the morning as planned.
Last week, when I checked on tickets for the aquarium, I found that Glenda and I could buy a one year membership that's good for unlimited visits for us and any five children, for a full year. The amazing thing was that the membership was less than we would spend on two visits with two grandchildren each time. There are also discounts for the iMax movies, special tours, etc. that come with a membersip. (It's also fully tax deductible!)
The aquarium was amazing! We went to the River Journey building first, and started at the Seahorse Exibit. I could have stayed right there for hours. The complexity of God's work in the creation of these animals is mind-boggling. They are such a combination of beauty, delicate features, magical appearance and unimaginable design.
Before we could explore the rest of the River Journey building, an escalator malfunction forced us to move to the main Ocean Journey building while repairs were done. Our first stop there was the penguin exhibit. We learned that these chubby little guys in tuxedos, who don't really look like they should be able to swim, are FANTASTIC swimmers. In fact, they can swim 4 times faster than humans!
All of the exhibits at the aquarium are great, but the Seahorses, Butterflies, and various levels of the River Journey were my favorites. At the River Journey (which we returned to after lunch) you take a LONG escalator ride to the top floor, which opens up to let you walk through the forest of the Appalachain Mountains, where the water flow to the oceans begins. As you descend down sloping walkways, you follow the path of water from the mountains to the rivers, lakes, deltas and estuaries, while looking at all the fish and animals that inhabit that part of the water's journey.
The aquarium visit was planned to keep the children entertained for our full day in Chattanooga, and while I know they enjoyed it too, I think maybe I enjoyed it more than they did! I could kick myself for not taking the good camera so I could give you a better idea of what we saw, but since it was raining this morning, I left it on the boat. But, with a season pass and 11 grandchildren, I'm sure we will be back!
Assuming the weather is OK tomorrow, we will head back through the Gorge to Nickajack dam sometime before noon. We will probably stay at the TVA pier again, just North of the dam at the TVA campground there. (On an earlier post, I think I mistakenly referred to it as a Corps of Engineers campground).
Hopefully the eagles will cooperate for our return trip through the mountains.😉
Glenda says:
Wet! Wet! Wet! I woke up early this morning to the sound of rain. The aquarium didnt open until 10 so I fixed me some coffee and let everybody else sleep. Once everyone was ready we collected our umbrellas and walked the half of block or so to the aquarium. We especially enjoyed the butterfly exhibit.
Dani tried for a long time to get a butterfly to land on her finger. Just as she was about to give up,..... this happened!
These butterflies were BRIGHT blue on the top of thier wings. Thier colors suprised your when theyopened thier wings!
Stingray petting area.
We came back to the boat to rest a little but the rain began to slow and finally stopped. We decided to make the mile walk to publix and get supplies for the trip back to Guntersville. Of course when we came out it was raining. So it was a soggy walk back. Just another one of those little adventures.
Since they were already wet Tom and Dakota emptied the dinghy.
Dani says:
I changed to the bottom bunk and it helped me sleep better because there was no window. I was excited to go to the aquarium. I really liked the touch pools. I touched a snake and it felt really rough not like a regular snake. I liked the butterflies but it felt weird when it was on my head. At pucketts I had chicken tenders and French fries. I ate all my lunch and part of Dakota's fries. I was hungry! I had fun splashing in puddles when we walked over to publix. On the way back my foot started hurting so it wasnt as much fun. GG said it was 2 mile round trip. Now I'm tired.
Getting close inside a bubble in one of the fish tanks.
Dani in the shark cage.
Dakota says:
Well thankfully we didn't have to wake up at a certain time today except to go to the aquarium which was AMAZING. The whole experience was awesome but the thing that stood out the most to me was the turtle exhibit. Turtles are so cool and how they used to be biger than my arms legth and a half. And how there are so many different types of turtles and tortisises.
Desribed as a "Masterpiece of living architecture", yet some would say they were formed by a series of random mistakes (??) God's work is evident everywhere!
Also the butterfly exhibit was super cool because there were so many of them and some would even land on my hand. As we were walking one landed on a guys head and he didn't notice untill they were leaving. There were so many things to enjoy there but before we went to see the otters at the other building we stopped for lunch at pucketts and i got a burger which for some reason was the best burger ive eaten in a while (exept for when papa makes burgers). Sadly we have to leave tomorrow but there is still time for another adventure. Untill tomorrow.
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