Here's the Atlanta part of our vacation....(part 1)

(I have to break this out into two posts because I just couldn't narrow down the photos I wanted to post)

Once we decided that we were going to road trip to Hilton Head for vacation,we thought it would be fun to go to Atlanta first and visit the Georgia Aquarium. We saw a show about it on TV a couple of years ago and have always wanted to go, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. And I know I've posted this in a gazillion places, but if you've never been or are thinking about it, ya gotta go. IT. IS. INCREDIBLE!

Ok, enough promotion about the aquarium (the website and photos speak for themselves).  I was a little nervous about the day starting out because of this:

A tired Izzy is typically a cranky Izzy, and I was not up for a cranky Izzy and an aquarium full of tourists like us.  Luckily, I was wrong.  The first thing we did when we got into the aquarium was head off to the dolphin show.  Now this I could've skipped. I honestly like the show at the Indianapolis Zoo better...the one here is VERY theatrical and LOUD.  It was OK, but I'd rather the focus be on the dolphins...but damn these things can jump!

I think Bri LOVED this part!

After the dolphin show, we headed straight for the BIG tank.  This aquarium does a fantastic job of building up the suspense.  You go into the big tank area, and you get to see a couple of small windows into the tank, and then you round a corner and see this tunnel that you get to walk through with all of these fish swimming overhead.  They even have a very small moving walkway that you can stand on and be out of the way to observe and take pictures!  Izzy LOVED this!

And then seeing this amazing, enormous whale sharks swimming overhead....it was just an incredible experience for all of us.

And then you go around another corner and see this.  ABSOLUTELY.  BREATHTAKING.

I could sit and watch this manta ray do somersaults all day.

Grouper...a really really BIG grouper

It was worth it just to see this, but luckily we weren't done.  SOMEONE really wanted to see some penguins!  And here's another cool thing they have there.  AT the beginning of the penguin exhibit, you can stand in two different lines...one to just walk by and observer, and another line allows you to crawl through the penguin exhibit and get up really close.  Guess which one we chose?  :)

They had these 3 observational pods that you could pop up and look at the penguins right up close.

And here is a video of them underwater.  How funny is it to watch this one scratch?....

And after the penguins, we got to watch them do some otter training

Great, great, great trip so far...