Gatlinburg 2022

Our hotel is right next to the Ripley's Aquarium here, so that was our first destination.  No car necessary - we just walked out of our room and walked next door to the aquarium and had a really great time.  Maddie says this one is her favorite of the big three we've been to in the Southeast, while I put it up there with the other Tennessee Aquarium, slightly above the one in Atlanta.  It's a fun visit, with different highlights for all of us. Mom just adores the penguins, for example.  While Maddie and I thought she and Nana were off ahead of us, we actually discovered she was still back there with the penguins, just happily watching them waddle about, preening and picking up rocks and doing penguin things.  My favorite thing was the shark tunnel, this long and winding tunnel underneath the aquarium that allows you to look all around to see various fish and sharks, a conveyer belt moving you slowly through.  Maddie liked the penguins and the tunnel too.  It was a really fun time, as you'll see from the pictures below.

The unicorn fish.  This is the type of fish we spotted years ago here at this aquarium, which led to us sculpting that unicorn fish puppet that we used in our KidPak series.  The puppet is still behind my desk to this day. 

Posing in front of the green screen.  You could buy this picture for $38 or something like that.  But Maddie snapped a photo of it with her phone as it was being shown to us, and I think that will work!

Maddie took this panorama within the penguin observation area.

Joey crawled with Maddie into the penguin area.

Joey and a penguin.

Oh dear.  I ran into a spot of trouble with an anaconda.

Joey defeats the anaconda!

Joey celebrates his victory over the anaconda with a visit to the tank.

He's checking out the puffer fish.  Or visa versa.

Hello there!

Maddie designs her own jellyfish.

Looking upward into the water.

Selfie with a shark.

Taken in the shark tunnel.

Nice photo looking upward through the water.

Joey says hi to a shark.

Streams of light filter into the aquarium from above.

Joey's got plenty of room to grow.

Mom and Nana check out the penguins.

Penguins looking for rocks for nesting material.

Joey inside the penguin observation area.

Maddie pops in too!

Maddie checks out the penguins.

Crawling into the penguin observation area.

Maddie struggles with the anaconda.  Joey came to rescue her.

We're not sure what made this hole or why it is here.  But we're glad it's gone.

Maddie waits in a video area.

Anyone for a snake massage?  Me neither.

This fish wants to cuddle.

The world famous Fiji Mermaid!

The jellies!

Maddie says hi to a puffer fish.

The jellyfish design station.

Inside the shark tunnel.  It goes on and on and on... very pleasant.

Mom visits with a shark.

Maddie in the tunnel, and a sawfish too!

Still in that tunnel.  It was pretty amazing.  And it wasn't too crowded either!

More sharks from the tunnel.

This sawfish was resting on top of the tunnel.

These seahorses are WEIRD.

This one reminds me of that butler from "The Corpse Bride."  Mom read that this fish keeps all the eggs in its mouth!

Mechanical parts Jack Sparrow.

And a mechanical Davy Jones too... our second Davy Jones sighting this trip!

She's grown quite a bit.  You can see her growth, along with other pictures from our trip in 2011 right here.

After the aquarium, went over to get a bite to eat at Texas Roadhouse.  Mom was in the mood for some ribs, and I wanted some catfish.  I'm not sure what Joey wanted...

Right next door was a place called "McAllister's," so Maddie asked me to take a picture of her doing the classic Kevin McAllister pose...!

Anyway, after that, we weren't done yet.  We popped in the Riders in the Sky "Davy Crockett" music collection and headed over for some mini golf at the Davy Crockett Mini-Golf course, not far from our hotel.

That was fun.  The weather was perfect, and everyone had a great time. Mom won, just barely edging out Maddie for the victory.  But everyone was a winner today, because it was a great time there.

So, we went back to the hotel after this, and got some rest.  But Maddie and I weren't done yet - there was this one place I've always wanted to go - a mirror maze!  It's within walking distance of our hotel room, so we went over to the Ripley's Mirror Maze and had the entire place to ourselves!

It was pretty cool!  We actually went through twice - there and back again.  And then we walked up the street a short distance and back down again to the hotel room.  Gatlinburg was packed with people walking to and fro, and the weather was cool and really nice.  

We read tonight in bed, and we said our prayers too.  We saw "Hocus Pocus" in our hotel room this trip, because the sequel is coming out soon.  We went to bed after a full day, but the all-night construction noise outside the hotel room was a bit much for me.  We'll be sleeping in some tomorrow.