The second major side trip that Criag and Jenette took during their visit to Georgia, was to Chattanooga. Our primary destination was the aquarium with subsequent alternative visits to Lookout Mountain, a short river cruise on the Tennessee, and the IMAX movie (if there was a good one showing).
One of the fun things about touring with Craig and Jenette is that she's great for always packing bounteous healthy snacks for these kinds of trips. Craig drove all the way. I enjoyed the back seat to myself with a good book. Michelle couldn't make this one - she had piano students who, after a long Christmas - New Years break, were getting mangy on the piano and needed to get back in the routine of regular lessons.
When we got to the aquarium I realized it had expanded since my last visit... probably 10 years ago. They've added a building specifically for salt-water fish with sharks, manta rays, a sea turtle and many more that I can't remember. The tour starts at the top of the building and you work your way down. The first area is like a jungle: warm, with spray misters, banana trees, exotic flowers (like the orchid below). Around the base of the trees, there are pools with the fresh-water manta rays - beautiful.
This is Craig and Jenette at the petting pool. You could actually touch the fish here.
The next section was an enclosed butterfly habitat. A young girl is holding the butterfly in the picture below. She just put her hand down near the butterfly on the ground and it crawled on.
There was a display of cocoons with labels - one of which piqued my interest.
From the jungle we went to the Antartic. There was a section with penquins that facinated Jenette. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures. It was particularly fun because we could watch the penquins above the water and below. They are facinating swimmers. Since it was the middle of the week, there were relatively few visitors and we could spend as much time as we wanted at the displays and not feel like we were blocking others from the view. After the penquins we came to the big tank. The most memorable part of the big tank where the sharks, the manta rays, and feeding time: the fish eat lettuce! The guide told us the sharks prefer a certain kind of food, and as long as they can get their preference, they don't bother the rest of the fish in the tank. She also pointed out that the other fish still make it a point of staying away from the sharks mouth.
The picture above illustrates the point... or more like quite a few points - all pointing in the wrong direction from where I want to go.
After the salt water tank we went to the original section of the aquarium. The tour started in the basement with a huge variety of sea horses and sea dragons.
Sometimes you wonder what the animals on display think of the creatures that walk by their home. This is what they see - except my little point-and-shoot does not have a fish-eye lens:
Then from the basement you take the escalator to the top of the building where theres a mountain stream with trout and otters, only it was dark and we could not see the otters - but wait - they're nocturnal! So we searched a good long while for the otters, but to no avail. All I have to show for that section is this trout:
I enjoy this original aquarium because it's structured with tanks and displays built around a central atrium. There is a lot to see without having to walk too far. So, from the mountain stream at the top, you walk down through several climate zones, seeing all kinds of fish and then swamps (yes, including alligators and snakes - big ones). (OK, the snakes had their own private habitat.) There is a salt water tank in the original section too, and this one had a HUUGE sea turtle. Cranette (Craig & Jenette) have better pictures of that guy.
One of the last displays we visited was another petting tank.
This species of fish (I forgot the name) have been around for a long long time - hence the prehistoric look. They were surprisingly docile and didn't mind being touched.
We thoroughly enjoyed the aquarium. As at the Biltmore, where the guides were closing off the rooms as we left, we were probably the last ones to leave the aquarim. Touring with Cranette is sooo much fun because they are both so curious about lots of things and they respect curiosity in other people. So, I never felt rushed - although I must confess we spent so much time in the first few habitats that I wondered if we would get through it all. We did.
The next time they come, we might make it to Lookout Mountain and the river cruise on the Tennessee... and Stone Mountain and the CNN building and the Civil War Battlefield at Kennesaw and a show or concert at the Fox Theatre and Tallulah Gorge and down to the Okefenokee Swamp near Florida and up to the Great Smokey Mountains Naitonal Park and... and... lots more.
