go hike a mountain

March 25, 2008

We dropped my dad off at the airport in the morning and hurried back to the house to pack up all of our things. It wasn’t easy getting the car situated - we had accumulated a lot of stuff during our trip, including several boxes of my belongings I had left with my parents before moving to Massachusetts. Jesse is a packing genius. We weren’t any less comfortable this time and were still able to arrange the car at night for sleeping in. We drove to Atlanta and checked out a couple of REI stores in the area and found a rest area to sleep at.

March 26, 2008

It had been a while since we both had slept in the car and we slept so well it was 9 when we finally woke up! (We’re usually up at 6 or 7.) We drove back into downtown Atlanta and found an all-day parking lot near the Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola.

There was a fairly long line for the Aquarium, but we had arrived just before it opened, so the line got moving once they allowed admission. It cost $60 for the two of us. There was a guy at the entrance taking group photos for those souvenirs they sell who saw Jesse’s Boston Red Sox hat and asked if we were from there. We told him New Bedford and he exclaimed, “Ah, New Beige! Fall Reev!” Kind of makes you miss the place, huh?

There weren’t many tanks in this aquarium, but the size of the tanks was very impressive. Most of the exhibits allowed you to walk underneath and view fish and other sea life swimming around above you.

Here’s a 20-foot whale shark, one of four at this aquarium. To my surprise, the woman at this exhibit giving you information about some of the creatures that were swimming by told us that this is the only aquarium in the U.S. to have whale sharks. The next closest place you’d have to go is Okinawa, Japan (where I lived for 7 years). I knew I had seen these guys somewhere else! Although they are the largest sharks, they are not predatory and have a mouth smaller than my fist. They eat krill and shrimp.

Another part of the aquarium was set up like a Louisiana bayou or the warm waters of the Amazon. There were very large catfish.

I’m actually looking into this piranha tank from inside the bubble. A little girl here told me they had a dead piranha at her school.

There were a few beluga whales.

And giant Pacific octopus. Yum.

In all, it was a pretty impressive aquarium, but we saw everything there was to see within 2 hours. We finished up much earlier than we had expected, so we left for Kernersville to spent a night with Jesse’s aunt and uncle again.

We got there just in time for dinner and went with Lloyd after to watch Aaron’s ultimate frisbee practice. Aaron actually had us stand in the field to represent extra players when trying to demonstrate a play to the team. He’s a very good leader.

March 27, 2008

After leaving Lloyd’s, we drove east a little way to see my sister again. We spent several hours with her and Greyson.

When my niece Isabelle came home from school, we all went out for an early dinner. I forgot to take any pictures of her, but she’s a beautiful (and very giggly) child. We said goodbye and hit the road again toward Washington D.C.