Wednesday, July 06, 2005

The Aquarium of the Smokies

We started the day in Pigeon Forge with breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon in the Musemobile followed by some piddling around and a trolley ride (25 cents per) north to the trolley transfer station next to Patriot Park. After a long wait we boarded the trolley (50 cents per) to Gatlinburg, or so we thought. We went south almost to Gatlinburg to a stop at the Welcome center and another long wait. Next we boarded the last trolley (25 cents per) to Gatlinburg. So after $5.00 and one and one half hours we made the six mile trek to Gatlinburg. Needless to say we were hungry so we stopped at "No Way Jose's" Cantina.


The food was ok but not very authentic (being born in Texas nothing is authentic unless it's Tex-Mex) but the Cantina was nice, next to the river and across the street from the Aquarium of the Smokies. I particularly liked this garden art next to Jose's


The aquarium of the Smokies is very impressive with it's blue glass exterior.


Just inside the entrance is a large cylinder tank and being the innovative photographer that I am I got this shot of Matt and Sierra through the fish tank.


Ansley in particular liked this Queen something or other in the tank.


This little guy posed for a picture without the flash and I thanked him for sitting still for 2 seconds.


The jellyfish were magnificent floating from the bottom to the top of their tank like a living lava lamp.


Matt decided to go deep sea diving but we talked him out of it after a picture


So he posed with the girls in front of Magaladon jaws


Then we walked through the Plexiglas tunnel and saw the real thing.


All in all it was a nice day in Gatlinburg that ended with a trip to check out the "Hard Rock Cafe"


It was hard to believe but the trolley wait was only 15 minutes but loading on took 10 more and 75 cents per for a total transportation cost of $8.75 for the 12 miles to and back. The nice thing was that there were no transfers since we were dropped off next to the RV Park.

While Scrabble Queen and Mattme recuperated I took the now revived girls to the pool for an hour. Sharyn fixed some "Syrian Rice" with an excellent chicken/tomato sauce for dinner and then Matt and the girls headed to their cabin and me to do today's blog entry. What a nice day as I write this the rain is pitter-pattering on the roof and the over cast kept the day cooler than it has been.

Quote of the Day -

"Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded." ~Yogi Berra

After visiting a very crowded Gatlinburg I thought this quote was appropriate.

No Scrabble Today

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hey Paul ,
congrats with your blog , it,s really nice .
This way it feels like i,m a lil bit part of it , and no way i let Matt do the trip alone next year ° wink °
everything looks so pretty , but i bet when you see it with your own eyes it,s like 1000 times more beautifull .
Good thing you didn,t let my sweety go deep sea diving lol
say hello to Sharyn and the girls .... and take good care of my baby .
talk to you soon .... hugs Diana

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