travel

Tennessee Aquarium

February 26, 2020 /

The main activity on our Chattanooga trip was visiting the Tennessee aquarium. We had not been in at least 10 years but my oldest had been on a field trip in 5th grade and all of the boys have been asking to go for the past year. The year membership for a family is $175 and we went ahead and purchased it since it was only $26 than the cost of admission for our family,

I wore a comfortable outfit since I knew we would be on our feet all day. It was a beautiful day outdoors and I wish that I didn’t have to carry everyone’s layers once we were inside but better that than being cold in the morning!

I think one of our favorite exhibits was the alligators. There were quite a few of them in the water and other sunning themselves. I love it when it is easy to see the animals. Even though it was busy, the boys were able to get up to the glass.

My husband thought the snapping turtle was made of stone but we finally saw it move just a little bit: it is alive!

We also like the otters but the one swimming was so fast, we couldn’t get a good picture.

There were some unusual creatures that we had never seen before. Loved this leopard ray. This was in the ocean building close to the butterfly exhibit. Because we went on a holiday, there were quite a few people so the butterfly exhibit was not as enjoyable as the one at the St. Louis. My youngest also did not want to stay in there so I didn’t get any pictures there either.

 

There are some large tanks with different fish. One part of the aquarium is dedicated to creatures you find in rivers, ponds and lakes in the southeast of the US.

We spent a lot of time where the shark were in the ocean journey building. The boys had fun trying their hand at photography: lots of blurry pictures but they really enjoyed themselves. We stayed for the diving show which was interactive with the divers.

It is just mesmerizing to sit and see the shark, rays and other fish swimming.

We do need to go back to the GA aquarium! Nothing compares to its large tanks and fish variety but the Tennessee aquarium is really nice as an afternoon outing. I can see us spending time in just a specific section on each visit since we will have no cost associated with it.

Most of the pictures were taken by my oldest son with my camera. We do need to use it more often. I love the picture above he took of the jellyfish.

My two year old love the book Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle so he was excited to see real seahorses. These are some really cool creatures.

The pipe fish is also part of the story.

This last exhibit was really colorful with the sea starts, the anemones and other creatures. Since the children were done by that point, we didn’t spend much time watching them but we will in the near future.

I was glad not to be disappointed in the aquarium. It is fairly large and is housed in two buildings. I do think that some of the carpets should be updated and the penguin exhibit was not nearly as cool as the one at the St. Louis zoo (pun intended, over the exhibit is open to where people walk so the temperature is kept cold!) but it was a fun outing.

Here are some cool shots my son took when we left as he played around with some features on the camera.

I am so glad I had him be in charge of the camera. We will definitely take it on our next trip!

A bientôt!

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