A Journey thru Tennessee Aquarium

During the Labor day weeken, we took a day trip to Chattanooga. After a fun time at the Creative Discovery Museum, we headed out to Tennessee Aquarium which is right around the corner. It was way past lunch time so we needed to fill up our tummy tank before getting in. After a few undecided minutes, we ended up at the Genghis Grill. It's the Build-Your-Own-Bowl Asian stir-fry restaurant. The food was alright but then I can't blame the restaurant since I put all the ingredient myself. So I guess I can only blame myself. They actually do have recipes for you to follow if you want a certain dish. It was quick and easy. I wouldn't mind going back there again. The kids enjoyed watching the grill masters cooked up the food with long wooden sticks.

After lunch, we headed out to get our tickets. While Mr. Rojo waited in line to purchase our tickets, I took Miss J and Mr. Z to walk around the small creek area in front of the Aquarium. Big note to self - DO NOT forget the bathing suits next time!!! I knew that there is river area that kids can enjoy especially on the hot day. I completely forgot to pack extra clothes for them. Well, I let them walk around anyway (against my better judgement). I figured if I told them not to get wet, they won't get wet!! Must be lack of sleep on my part. It was going so well. No major wetness... until ... Mr. Rojo was done and headed our way. While I was busy calling him and packing my camera, I heard Mr. Z cried.. And yup.. He fell down and totally soaked!! Sorry. No picture here as I was too occupied trying to figure what we were gonna do. We hadn't even started in the Aquarium yet. We walked around trying to find any clothing stores. Why don't they sell pants in the gift shop!!!! No luck. So we figured we could go to the bathroom and hope that the bathroom has the hand blower.

We started our journey at the River building. First stop - rest room. Well, it would be too easy if they have the hand blower, wouldn't it? So I was in the bathroom and paintakingly squeezed his pant using the paper towel. It was still damp but he said it was ok. So we headed to the first exhibit which is the Seahorse. After the seahorse, we headed upstairs to really start the River Journey. The escalator took us all the way up to the top floor and we were greeted by the outdoor setting of mountain top. It was so neat! I really liked it here. I love the top floor that showed the waterfall to teach kids where the river comes from. Walking through there was so peaceful and so nice. Eventhough it was a hot day, the trees and the mist helped mask the heat.

Going to the Aquarium with young children was like taking a speed train through the whole thing. They bounced off from one exhibit to the next. We hardly had time to read about it. But from what I can grasp, the Aquarium has 2 buildings. One is mainly the River journey. This was where we started. First we started off with River in the area- mainly Tennessee River. Then we walked through River around the world. It was a great learning experience not only for children but us as well.

Here is Miss J trying to measure up a giant fish.

They were doing pretty well so far. It was a long day for both of them and I had to say they didn't cause much trouble. I think they really enjoyed the Aquarium as much as we did. I was tired... but wait.. We were not done yet! We still had the whole other building to check out. So we walked past the gift shop pretty quickly. Save some money here from the souvenir. :)

The Ocean Journey started off at the top floor as well. The view of the Tennessee River was amazing. I could just sit here in the rocking chair and let them run off. The first exhibit was the Penguin. There were several penguins but they didn't move much. Guess we came in after their dinner time.

After the Penguin, we headed to the Tropical Cove. Again.. my favorite for the outdoor feel and a touching tank. Kids could touch sting ray and shark in this tank. Unfortunately, the tank was a bit too deep for Mr. Z. Poor boy, he was trying so hard to chase the sting ray for a chance of touching him. But he was too small. We probably need to dunk him in there to be able to touch them. Mr. Rojo got a few underwater pictures of someone else touching the shark. I did touch the shark though. His skin was very rough. It was totally opposite from the sting ray which the skin was so smooth almost like velvet. Next to the Tropical Cove was the Butterfly. It was so neat to get to walk through and see the butterflies up close.

Then we headed down the escalator for the Ocean Journey. Mr. Z really enjoyed his quiet time with his pal. I can see we will be taking many more trips back to the GA Aquarium soon. Last year we went 3 times! My lack of preparation wasn't stopped at just no spare clothes. With our luck, our camera batteries were dying. And we brought 2 cameras with us. Go figure! So by the time, we walked down to check out several sharks and with so many photo ops, our cameras were dead in the water!

I was able to get a few shots of the sharks and it wasn't even that good. Oh! well, I tried! At the end of the journey, we were all pretty wiped out. We were there so late that the gift shop was already closed. Guess it wasn't meant for us to spend money on souvenir there.

Before we headed home, we decided to have dinner there. Our first choice was Sticky Fingers. It was a great place for BBQ but with the wait of over an hour. I guess we can wait till next trip. We then walked around the block and it seemed everyone else was doing the same thing. We ended up at Cheeburger Cheeburger. The wait was only 15 minutes so we were all for that. A quick and great meal and we now were ready to head home. Overall, it was a great day trip! We are looking forward to coming back here again.