Day 4 started off somewhat early, with a quick pack-up and only a propane tank top-off required. I quickly discovered that a Southern KOA operates at a pace that I am unfamiliar with. The poor gentleman who is responsible for filling propane tanks had to be rousted from bed (it was 9:15am when we started this process), get his work clothes on, then head up to the main building from his residence (100 yards away). It was after 10am when we were finished, and the job itself takes all of 4 minutes. He was somewhere north of 60 and well north of 3 bills. Urgency is no longer in his vocabulary.
Getting that behind us, we made the short 15 minute drive to Chattanooga to the aquarium. Quick disclaimer - from here on out when you hear us talk or write about Chattanooga, you are going to believe it is the Chamber of Commerce talking. We loved Chattanooga. That aside, after we parked we could immediately see that the Tennessee Aquarium (official name) stood out from the rest of the buildings. See for yourself.
We started in the River Journey building, which housed all the freshwater fish. I'd post those pictures, but the Cleveland, South Carolina Internet Service Provider appears to be run by this gentleman, so I can't upload those from Kim's phone, I am running mobile just off mine.
After spending some time in the freshwater section, it was time for us to check out the Great White Shark feature in IMAX 3D. We weren't sure how much Jordan was going to enjoy it since she is sometimes scared of sharks, but she wanted to see it with us so we gave it a shot. I think she liked it.
Unfortunately I can't show you the pic of the Diet Coke that came with our combo, but I assure you it was larger than Jordan's entire head. It may as well have come with a handle like a 5 gal bucket. Ridiculous. Bloomberg would have ignored some pressing matter of global financial security in order to ban it.
Next up came the Ocean section of the Aquarium, which also featured a few other exhibits (not this guy).
Before we got to them, there was this cool sitting area with a view of the river, so the fairer sex took advantage.
Once inside, this pose was repeated many, many times accompanied by a piercing "MOM! DAD! Come look at this!!". I have to admit, I was really taken with the childlike (is it childlike when it's coming from an actual child?? So meta...) curiousity and enthusiasm I was seeing from our daughter. I get that way anytime I am in some sort of nature/outdoor setting, so it was cool to see her genuine reaction. Parents....
After the stingrays, it was on to the butterflies (seems like a pretty natural segue). This part was cool, and Jordan was already prepared as we usually go to see them at the Frederik Meijer Garden back home. She was intent on one of us getting one to land on our finger, which I ultimately did. I can't prove it to you due to Barrel with Straps guy, but trust me it was everything you could imagine it to be.
Next up - huge fishtank. Enormous. One that you get to see from about 37 (Clerks...) vantage points, and it never gets old. Especially when you are watching these guys.
Then we got to the Jellyfish, Crabs, and Octopus section. This guy looked familiar...
The Alaskan King Crab tank had the unique feature of allowing you to crawl under it and get in a cylinder inside the tank to watch from within. Here's Kimberly with Jordan, and you can see that she's not terribly excited about it.
Then I took her in there, and since it is a very confined space, my attempt to capture her reaction resulted in this.
Now, I'm not sure what the code is for joking about your own 5 year old daughter's potential consumption of controlled substances, but that face would give one the impression that she has just visited a recently legalized dispensary. It reminded me of this Nemo character*.
*Yes, nerds, I know his name is Crush. I've seen it roughly 700 times.
Throughout the day, it was just a generally fun experience. I can't say enough about how the aquarium is layed out, it never felt crowded and we felt like we had most of the exhibits to ourselves, at least for long enough to see what it was before moving on. The facility is very impressive.
From there we moved on to wandering the town, and this is where the Beute family man-crush on Chattanooga got a bit out of hand. Here's the pedestrian bridge (Walnut street maybe? Getting lazy on the details...)
This is some piece of architecture that I haven't researched, so I'm not sure what it is yet, but it was a cool backdrop for this pic.
This pic, as I'm sure it does for all of you, immediately reminded me of the best rollerblading movie featuring Seth Green and Jack Black ever filmed. You guessed right - Airborne.
And finally, although this may appear to just be a kid mapping out fish in a virtual aquarium, I like to think it is her plotting her scheme to ultimately take over the world, like these guys.
Tomorrow brings Table Rock State Park and a day trip to Asheville, NC for some downtown wandering and brewpub exploring. Til then, sorry about the timeliness, we'll try to catch up once the Dukes reach the Hazzard County line and turn back on the internet.
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