This past week was spring break for my boys. They were able to go camping earlier in the week with grandparents. Then, the rest of the week we tried to do something fun each day. We went to the library one day and played in the yard another day. Late Thursday night Dustin and I decided to take a day trip Friday up to Chattanooga with the boys and visit the Tennessee aquarium! We got up early Friday morning and set out on our trip. We ate breakfast on the road and off we went. The boys were so excited to be going on a road trip. I would not tell them where we were going, but I did print them out several activities to do on the way up there with hints on where we were going. After a 2 hour drive we finally reached the aquarium. Just a hint if you decide to go parking is NOT fun. The place was packed and we ended up parking several blocks away. Not a big deal. We purchased our tickets and off we went to explore the aquarium. This aquarium is divided into 2 different segments. They have one building the is dedicated to the RIVER (freshwater) and there is another building that is dedicated to the ocean (saltwater). WE decided to go with the river building first thinking that we wanted to save the ocean for last. However, we were really pleased with the river side. They had so many things to look at. I was pleasantly surprised with how fun and awesome this side of the aquarium was. We even got to witness some scuba divers feeding the rays. Talk about BEAUTIFUL! They were so big coming up the glass that they scared Carter! It was so funny. It was pretty understandable. Especially since some of these rays looked bigger than even I am. They were larger than Carter and Dexter for sure. Dexter LOVED it. He did not want to leave. It took us quite a while to get through this building so we were all very hungry after. We decided to grab lunch before we went to through the ocean building. We walked a ways up a street and ate at the local mellow mushroom. I have only ate at mellow mushroom three separate times and only one of them has been good. It wasn't this one. My pizza had no flavor. The service was great though. So, lunch was disappointing, but that wasn't going to stop us from having fun. The boys were fueled up and ready to go. We got back to the aquarium and went through the ocean side. By this time my camera had died and I had to resort to cell phone pictures. They didn't turn out as good, but at least I have them. I have to say, we were not as impressed with the ocean side. I figured that would be the highlight of the trip. Either we were all tired and done by this time or it just wasn't very impressive. Dustin and I both agreed that the river side was the better side of the aquarium. After leaving we were going to visit Ruby Falls, but the boys were done "looking" at things and just wanted to play so we decided to just head home. After all it was 5:30 by this time. Thoughts on this aquarium: The Atlanta aquarium is better. The ocean side just paled in comparison to the Atlanta aquarium. I would really like to go back there in the future. All in all it was a great trip and I hope to go back to Chattanooga in the future and visit the other attractions they have there. Ruby falls, and the discovery kids museum are next on the list. Have you been to Ruby Falls? What other attractions would you suggest for Chattanooga?
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