Hanging out with the fishes...

On Becky’s list of things to do while we’re in Georgia has been to visit the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta.  Since I’ve gotten a lot of grief for dragging her to this wonderful place for six months, I figured I’d better try to make up for it and actually make the drive up there.  We weren’t disappointed, and it was definitely worth the four hour drive, even with two very active, very noisy boys in the back seat.  The aquarium advertises that it’s the largest in the world and the only one to have live whale sharks.    Apparently, one of the founders of Home Depot likes fish, because he dropped a quarter of a billion dollars into this facility, and it definitely shows.  Some of the sites inside are absolutely incredible, including the main exhibit which features a fish tank with 50 plus species, four whale sharks over 20 feet long, and giant Manta Rays.  The boys loved it, obviously, and I have to say I was pretty impressed.  Here are some photos from the day.

They definitely came up with a lot of creative ways to make an aquarium.  In different places you could climb into glass bubbles to be surrounded by fish or look up as they swam in the ceiling.

In a couple places you could put your hands in the water with the sharks and rays and try not to lose a finger!

We loved the glass tunnel that passed through the main tank.  It was pretty amazing to look up and see the massive fish swimming over your head.

Here's the main exhibit.  You can see Becky and the boys at the bottom looking very small next to the 60 foot wall that seemed more like a theater screen playing the Discovery Channel than real life.

 Nolan was happy.  But then, he's almost always happy.

They had a fun dolphin show too, with a bunch of dolphins doing what dolphins do I guess, jumping pretty high out of the water and doing tricks.  

Afterward we went across the street to the Centennial Olympic Park where they had a bunch of stuff that was built for the 1996 Summer Olympics.  Paul, being Paul, couldn't resist the water fountain.

So there you go, now she can check it off her list of things to do in Georgia.  Great time had by all!