Friday, March 4, 2011

Georgia Aquarium

Today we went to visit the Georgia Aquarium. It was nice. I am so glad I got our tickets on post at the discounted price. The prices are expensive. It is very nice inside and the time flys by. We arrived at 1:30 eastern time and stayed till 4:30 almost.

When you go in its a huge open room with entrances and exits for all 5 exhibits. They give you a map so that you can see what is where but it was easy to just start in one direction and move through all 5. Our first stop was the gift shop while some went to the restroom. We strolled and let Tyler look at all the stuffed animals. He liked some and throw most of them on the floor. He did like a little rubber "Nemo" fish so we got it for him.

First exhibit was "The Tropical Diver". I love looking at tropical fish! They are so bright and colorful. At the end of this exhibit is a living reef with live coral. It was gorgeous! Tyler loved it. He stood at the glass and just looked up.
Next exhibit was "Ocean Voyager". This was the largest of the exhibits and the one we spent the most time in. It has a HUGE tank with lots of windows to stop at and look in. You can see the tank from many angles. It also has underwater tunnel that you can walk through and look up at all the amazing animals. After going through the underwater tunnel you go into a huge glass front where you can watch them feed the fish if it is feeding time. Luckily it was when we got in. It was so amazing seeing all these creatures in their habitat. They creates bubbles in tank before they eat because the fish like it. This is also home to the 4 Whale Sharks. They are huge and amazing to see. I have never seen anything like them. They can not eat any fish in the tank because their throats are only the size of a quarter. They feed them at the top of the tank and basically spoon feed them plankton. It is so cool to watch.

After that we headed to "The Cold Water Quest". It features mostly mammals and all animals from the polar regions of the world. In the entryway is a beautiful waterfall. We stopped and made several pictures. Next was a touch tank but they only allow you to touch every fifeteen minutes and we got there at the end of one touch time. We got to see Sea Lions, Sea Otters, African black footed Penguins, Japanese Spider Crabs, and Beluga Whales. The Beluga Whales were amazing to see. They danced around in the tank. They followed each other around and did all kinds of tricks. They liked to show off.
Next we headed into the "River Scout" exhibit. This was to me a okay exhibit. It was really crowded and hard to see a lot inside this exhibit. It features regional fish and has a river that flows above with all kinds of North American fish. You can look up through the whole thing and see several different types of fish through the whole exhibit. They also had electric eels, piranhas, and several other types of fresh water fish.

The last exhibit we went in is called the "Georgia Explorer". We had the most fun in here. It is set up for childrens play. There is a huge whale slide, which Tyler loved! They offer several touch tanks inside with Shrimp, Horseshoe Crabs, Starfish, sharks, sting rays (minus the stingers), and a couple of other things. The bad part was Tylers arms were not long enough to actually touch anything down in the water and you were not aloud to pick anything up. He was so frustrated. He wanted to get in all the water as well. It had a large ship in the center that you could play in. Tyler has so much fun running all round it and making it make ship sounds. He liked all the play equipment. They had a huge playground but it was all up in the air. They would not let adults up in it so he could not play because he would have needed help.
After 2 1/2 to 3 hours of fun we headed to the car and wished it was not so cold outside we would have let Tyler play in the fun playgrounds in Centennial park. We decided to head to dinner and stopped in at Joe's Crab Shack. It was very yummy. Jon and his dad got steampots and me and his mom got shrimp platters. It was all yummy. Tyler picked off of everyones plates and ate some of his snacks I had brought. We also hit up Sam's for a few items and then home we went. We are very tired. Tyler is also starting to get some congestion so prayers for him are appreciated.





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