Tennessee Aquarium

We drove up to Chattanooga today, which was actually Madison's first time there.  The trip is a couple of hours long, something like two and a half hours of driving, which is nothing compared to the Florida journeys.  But there wasn't much to see on the way up this time, because the weather was so torrential.  The rains were much heavier than usual, particularly as we got closer to Tennessee.  In fact, there were dangerous conditions there, and from what locals were saying, certain schools were actually closed because of flooding conditions on various roadways.

We made it there safely, going straight to the Tennessee Aquarium first.  It was a no-brainer to go to the indoor destination first.  And here's about how crowded the aquarium was today:

It wasn't the ghost town this image might suggest, but there were very few people inside this enormous aquarium.  We were able to see whatever we wanted and move about without the usual shuffle through.  Mommy and Daddy have been to this aquarium when it first opened, and when it was the only one in the Southeast.  This was before the Georgia Aquarium and Ripley's Aquarium.  This one was new, and there was no other choice, so everyone went here, despite the drive for some of us. 

The thing is, this is still our favorite aquarium of the three existing ones nearby.  It's not only the collection they have, but the layout of the place as well.  It's a relaxing journey downward through the building, starting at the top, and path is uniquely designed to keep you interested in all the different varieties of fish, amphibians and reptiles there are.

In case you haven't been, there are actually two buildings now.  This first one we went to is the fresh water exhibit, and it is easily the most impressive fresh water fish exhibit we've ever seen.  Some of these fish are monsters too - ginormous fish bigger than we are, lazily floating by in the depths of these tanks.  Madison was impressed at the size of these things as each one would come drifting by right in front of her.  How'd you like to go swimming with one of those?  NO!

But here's Madison taking a nap alongside an arapaima, the two of them relaxing a bit this afternoon. This is a smaller sized one - these fish are monsters.  They can get to be about ten feet long.  Some in these tanks were bigger than we were!

Look!  It's Oogway!  The aquarium has an impressive collection of turtles as well.  Actually, "impressive" isn't quite enough to cover it.  I've never seen a bigger collection of turtles anywhere, ever.  Sea turtles, ginormous snapping turtles, long-necked turtles... they had them all.  Even turtles with smiles on their shells!

We couldn't help but notice the smile on this turtle's shell.  And of course we were smiling through the exhibits as well.  We even got to say hi to a diver, feeding the fresh water fish - and the wood ducks as well.

Here's Madison hi-fiving the diver as he goes about feeding bits to other fish, turtles, and this impressive albino catfish that was swimming about.  There were all kinds of varieties of creatures, and even Miguel the electric eel.  

We were there just as he was releasing a charge of electricity into the water.  They had a device set up so you could hear when this happened, and the volume increased to indicate it was a bigger charge.  Madison was happy to hear that Miguel the Eel has his own social media account, so that might be something to check out later.

He could have been saving up that charge just for us as well came by, just something to say "hi!"  It was like a bolt out of the blue, we're positive.  Obviously, this was something you were glad to have behind glass, not able to touch.  Not that Madison would want to reach out and touch an eel.  Or the piranhas there either.  Or the alligators.  But there was something you could reach out and touch, and that was a sturgeon.

Here the girls are, reaching out to pet a sturgeon.  This is not something you can do everyday.  This is not something you'd want to do everyday.  The question is, "Why pet a sturgeon?"  And the possible answer is, "Why not?"  We sat there a few moments, reaching into the tank, just like you would with those tanks that have rays that pass by beneath.  And sure enough, we were all petting these sturgeons, just to say we did it.  They're big fish, aren't they?  Here's something you wouldn't want to touch:

These are mossy frogs, four of them in this picture.  There were plenty of unusual creatures here, some we'd never seen before.  The flat snapping turtles were strange in appearance, as were those snake-head turtles.  There was a lot to see, and this was just in the fresh water building.  But before we move on... a break.

We sat by in these rocking chairs, watching the Tennessee River go by.  It's moving swiftly now, the result of an excess of rain.  An Iron Man Competition was planned for this weekend, but the swimming portion was cancelled due to the dangerous currents.  The aquarium is a tall building, and offered many nice views of the Tennessee River, and many places to stop and have a seat.

We ate lunch before going to the next portion, just some chicken strips for Madison.  It was such a large serving (and it should be for $10), that Daddy shared it with her.  Mommy had to settle for some items she carried along in her purse, as there weren't any gluten-free options nearby.  But no worries: we'd be going somewhere else shortly after the aquarium.

Our next stop was the other side of the aquarium, a building that none of us had been to before.  We started out with the penguin exhibit, just in time for feeing time.  We watched the penguins swim about or waddle, although the area isn't quite as big as the one at the Georgia Aquarium.  It's also nowhere near as impressive as the Sea World exhibit.  But penguins are cool no matter where, and in this case, they had a chart that enabled Madison to find out not only the type of penguin that each was, but also the name each was given.  She found Pebbles, and then from there had fun trying to find out the name of each penguin.

After this, we were upstairs, which had a lemurs and rays, two creatures you don't normally put together in the same sentence, let alone the same room.  But there was an area where you could dip your fingers in the water like with the sturgeons, and touch a ray.  Madison has done this so many times, it wasn't really necessary here - they have one of those places at the Marine Science Center, where she could do it every day.  

So we went around the corner, and we found a butterfly garden somewhat like the one we saw in Gainesville, Florida.  It was a large and tall room with plenty of running water and foliage... and butterflies.

Here's one on Madison's head, the latest in formal wear.  Soon everyone will be wearing live butterflies in their hair, right?

You can see Mommy had a hat that served as a landing zone for the butterflies as well.  At one point, another one landed, and she had two resting on her head!

We love places like this.  You could spend hours alone in the butterfly garden, or at any of the other spots along the way.   And you could spend hours looking at the tanks a few floors below, where the salt water fish swam by.

This is my favorite picture of the day.  Madison is seated here, not posed, just looking upwards at all the creatures swimming by.  There were sharks, rays, and sea turtles, and all sorts of wondrous, colorful varieties of fish before her.  The bottom floor of this aquarium features small grottos, areas where you could find a window here or there into this whole other world.  

Look up, and there's a shark swimming by.  The design of this area was just perfect, and on a day like today we had the place nearly to ourselves.  We weren't in any hurry, and spent a long time just sitting there gazing into the tanks.

Daddy was taking all kinds of pictures, of course.  You could point the camera straight up, or walk alongside a really tall tank to see the scale of the undersea world that they created for these creatures.  

Here's Madison saying hi to a sea turtle feeding on a head of lettuce.  Down at the Marine Science Center, many of these turtles are released back into the wild.  But those who cannot be released because of a missing limb or some issue that makes it difficult for them to survive in the wild... those turtles wind up here, or in other aquariums.  

Here's Madison in glass bubble, sitting there as a ray goes gliding by.  There were plenty of these glass view spots, including one where you could pop your head up nearby these oversized crabs.

But the more relaxing place was certainly the large area they had set up on multiple levels, where we could see all the fish in the big old blue.

Here's Mommy and Daddy inside that comfy little area.  It was nicely cushioned, and it would be pretty interesting to set up a bed there and spend the night.  What a view to wake up to in the morning, all these sea creatures swimming overhead.

Madison said she liked this aquarium best as well.  Although she loved the dolphin show at the Georgia Aquarium this past summer, the design of the building and amount of creatures here go together so well, and it makes for a really fun experience.

And there are so many opportunities for great photographs like this one.  This was Daddy's favorite photo of sea life from the day, some of the jellies floating by in tanks for all to see.  You can see how they set it up below:

Go in between.  Not above, unless you have serious thrill issues with the jellies.  Speaking of "thrill issues," here's one last shot from the aquarium, this one of Madison in a precarious situation:

It was a super fun day, but it didn't end with the exhibits. We also went to the IMAX theater afterwards to watch a movie.  Timing was such that we had to watch one called "The Wild Around You."  It was interesting visually, but geesh, they kept preaching to us over and over again throughout the entire movie.  Here's the point:  there's wildlife all around us and we're too busy with our social media to see it.  You get this point of communication right away, but then they kept on telling you over and over and over again.  And do we really need to see that much of the amphibian mating habits on a screen that's sixty-six feet tall and eight-nine feet wide?

But you don't go to an IMAX theater generally for the quality of a movie, but rather for the impressive scale and visuals.  And there was some of that in this movie.  And having popcorn helped a whole lot too - Madison enjoyed it!

Afterwards, we went out into the pouring rain once again.  The deluge continued throughout the day, and it made for tricky driving, especially with the Tennessee Department of Transportation's work on the roads, and their lack of helpful signs.  I-24 is this way, one said, and you turned... and were immediately given a choice to turn right or left after that, with no idea which one led you to I-24.  We chose poorly.

But we did make it to the hotel, and just as importantly, there is a Cracker Barrel next to the hotel.  We ate well, and played the peg game again too.  Madison is being trained to get only one peg left on that game, and she's getting close to nailing it.  We played checkers too, because that's what we do at Cracker Barrel now.  Madison has made is a mandatory thing.

Quite content with our meal, we went next door to our hotel, and there we finally settled in for the night.  We read from our books tonight, played some games, and caught up on the news, which has been unsettling as of late.  

It was a wonderful day today, and we had an unforgettable time.  But tomorrow is going to be fun too!