Reisinger Road Trip Day 8: The Aquarium, Coolidge Park, and The Walnut Street Bridge

We did a lot today! We started off with breakfast in one of the 4 restaurants on the hotel grounds, The Gardens Restaurant. We've had breakfast there every morning because the kids eat free--all four of them, as long as 2 adults eat full price (what a deal!). We could eat off the menu or the buffet. Gabriel was especially hungry (he's been eating like crazy this whole trip). Here's a picture of him polishing off his 2nd plate.

Gabriel loves to explore the huge lobby of the hotel, so after he ate, I let him walk around while everyone else finished up. There was an old-fashioned telephone booth that Joshua discovered the first time we stayed at the hotel, so he and Gabriel checked it all out together.

I should tell you all about this hotel. It used to be a rail station back in the day, and it's been converted into a hotel. There is the main building, and three other smaller hotels that were added on later. Each building has its own pool. At the front desk, there is still a sign that says "Ticket Office," which was probably found during the renovation process and moved into the lobby.


There is a free shuttle service that runs through downtown Chattanooga, and it stops at the Tennessee Aquarium, and we took it so we wouldn't have to pay for parking. The tickets were expensive, but well worth it. I'm sure the Houston Aquarium has as many exhibits, but this one had such an impressive layout. The kids even liked the ticket stubs.

The Aquarium has two main exhibits, the River Journey, and the Ocean Journey, and they're in separate buildings. Each is designed for visitors to start at the very top, and work your way down. A series of ramps are in the middle, and the separate exhibits are on different levels. The kids wanted to start with the Ocean. This started with a butterfly garden which Rebecca liked because there was a picture guide you could hold while you walked around and identified all the different species.

Next up was a saltwater tank where you could touch small sharks and stingrays. Joshua and Christina (okay... and Mommy too) wimped out and wouldn't touch them, but Rebecca and Gabriel did.

Next up was a tank of penguins, (macaroni, emperor, and a few other species), and a guide was giving a short lecture while feeding them. The penguins moved so fast, I couldn't get a picture, but they sure were cute. Gabriel was completely in awe, he couldn't get close enough to the glass to watch them.
The most impressive part of the Ocean Journey was a HUGE (and I do mean huge) 4 million gallon tank that went all around the ramps and held all manner of fish, sharks, sea turtles...you name it, it was in there. Every time you come out of the smaller exhibits, you're just a few feet away from the tank while you're walking to the next exhibit. Here are some pictures-- it was dark, and it wasn't easy to get a good shot, but we tried anyway.



As you can see, there were plenty of places to stop and just watch. It really felt like you were in the middle of the ocean, and you were TINY compared to the giant ecosystem around you.

We finished up the ocean, and headed over to the River Journey. This building started out with an exhibit of river otter, and they were just as cute as the penguins. We'd gone into another exhibit, and Gabriel and I lingered for a minute so I could get a picture of the otter tank. A staff member came out and explained it was feeding time, so I ran to get the kids so they could feed the otters. It was so much fun to watch those otters catch smelt in their jaws-- they were real pros and put on quite a show.

The rest of the River Journey featured a special exhibit on seahorses, and other exhibits on wildlife in a river. It also explained how watersheds were different in other countries (a rain forest delta would not be the same as the Mississippi delta, and so forth). We saw river eels, turtles, alligators, and more fish. By now, the kids were getting tired, so we got back on the shuttle, grabbed lunch along the route, and ate Subway back in the hotel room.

Rebecca and I then headed back out for a little shopping. We took the shuttle again, since it was pretty hot. We headed down just a couple of blocks to the Warehouse Row, where there were a couple of shops, but not much else, since this place is undergoing renovations. But it was still nice to spend time with just Rebecca. She "helped" me pick out a necklace of rose quartz with a mother-of-pearl pendant with matching earrings, and I got her a push-up-pop on the way back to the hotel (which cooled her off nicely--so she said :-).

By now, Christina and Gabriel were up from their naps, and we went back to Coolidge Park. We rode the carousel first, because they don't allow wet clothing on the ride (understandable of course), and then got all wet in the fountain. Gabriel sat right next to a couple of the water spouts, and they'd periodically shoot really high, which scared him, so I'd have to rescue him every once in a while. But he still liked it, and it was great to cool off in the water. Here are some pics from the park.

We stayed for about an hour, and then packed up and went in search of dinner. We'd scouted out a few possibilities on the web, because I didn't want a repeat of last night's saga. We stumbled upon a place called The Mudpie, and it was reasonable, so the kids had pizza, David had a meatless burger (not sure what it was composed of, but he said it was good), and I had a southwestern salad with a chipotle based dressing-- also very good.

David REALLY wanted to walk across the Walnut Street Bridge after dinner. This is one of the longest pedestrian bridges in the world, (1/2 a mile) and it connects downtown Chattanooga with the North Shore district. Somebody had to pick up everyone on the other side, or cross the bridge again to get the van, so Mommy (gratefully I might add) drove around to the downtown side and met David and the kids. Gabriel missed out and stayed with me because David promised Christina he'd carry her across (and he couldn't carry both of them). Here's David's pics from the middle of the crossing.

David had promised the kids one more dip in the pool, so when we got back to the hotel, I kept the younger two in the room and the rest of the gang went swimming. I can't blame them, the pool really is neat. Here's a picture of it from our 4th floor balcony-- and there's a hot tub under the red gazebo.

Tomorrow will be a long drive to New Orleans. We'll stay one night, and then home to Houston on Thursday. Good night Chattanooga, and thanks for all the fun and fantastic memories!