Chattanooga Saturday

Friday night Beth & I discussed our weekend plans and couldn’t come up with much besides the regular round of cleaning, grocery shopping, etc. So we decided to drive to Chattanooga Saturday after putting the day trip on hold weeks ago. The main goal of the day was to visit the aquarium. 

We arrived around 1PM, bought tickets to the aquarium and 3D IMAX movie. Lunch was at this very average mexican restaurant that I thought would be better. We knocked out both aquariums more quickly than I thought we would. I believe it was my fourth visit and I don’t think they changed much since my first visit in 2002, with the except of the second building which focuses on ocean life. I think we have officially became burnt out. The fish didn’t seem as colorful as I remember. Luckily the other visitors were very tolerable. 

We had a few hours to kill before our IMAX movie about whales and dolphins so we checked out a store, walked across the longest pedestrian bridge in the world, before decided to visit the Chattanooga Choo Choo. 

The ‘Noog has a free fleet of electric busses that travel from the train to the aquarium. The train is part of the Holiday Inn convention center complex, which wasn’t the most attractive area. The train looked nice and was accompanied by many cars that were used for little restaurants and hotel rooms. The hotel itself had some shops and a restaurant but was very displeasing. Luckily fate granted us eye candy in the form of “fans of science fiction, horror, fantasy, gaming, anime, costuming, fan films, artist, celebrities, comics,  and haunting” all there for Con Nooga 2009. Highlights for us were the group of guys wearing blue Snuggies and the person on stilts that got off the bus and scared the crap out of us. I do restrain myself of taking pictures of everything that I find interesting, i.e. fat, goth chicks but when you are standing 8’ tall then I believe you wave your right of photography restraint. 

We grabbed a little ice cream before the movie which satisfied us till we got home after 9. The movie was very boring and depressing. The format of the entire movie was

  • Introduce whale/dolphin with black screen showing bone structure, common name, Latin name
  • Show close shots of them swimming never any shots of them swimming from above the water
  • Talk about how they are endangered and will probably die

I wanted to see maps of their migration routes, how exactly humans are killing them, etc. I think the kids were even bored. There was one shining moment when a giant whale NOMMED on a school of fish in one gulp. It is similar to me eating most things.

Overall Chattanooga is a great place to visit, especially with kids. The area by the river/aquarium is gorgeous. The Hunter Museum of Art looks great from the outside. The children’s science center is very colorful and new. And of course there is the well advertised trio (Rock City, Ruby Falls, Incline Railway) that adorn Lookout Mountain. If I had kids I would definitely make a point to visit. 

Yesterday was a big photography day for me. You can view my photos on Flickr but I really enjoy browsing photos at ihardlyknowher.com. I encourage you to check out the set there.