After a random assortment of Breakfast foods brought to the room the next day, we walked across the street to the Aquarium. The Tennessee aquarium has two large buildings, one for the "River Journey" to explore freshwater fish and animals, then the other "Ocean Journey" to explore the other stuff. Ruby's favorite was seeing the cute little otter swim around in the River Journey where we began, and then made our way from top to bottom in what I will admit is a dark and somewhat sleep inducing trail to see slow moving fish...OK, I may have fell asleep walking around this one at one point. I think we did get to see the turtle fight in this one where one turtle just bit anothers hand, and hung on for ... as long as we were there.
We also found that the touch tanks were NOT for Ruby, who loved going to them and acting like she would be brave. Even touching the water a little, but never coming close to pet the sting rays, or sturgeons. We did get a lot of recreations pictures here also, as I think Magan and I came here in 1999. The Ocean Journey is probably my favorite because it is here that me and Sam and Davis spent the night with the cub scouts. We found the exact spot that we layed out our mattresses. We remembered being up high in this building and watching them feed the giant turtles from the top.
All of the kids always liked the penguin area, and it seems like both Davis and Anabelle both thought the penguins were there actual friends, and played with them forever. The butterfly area was fun, but none of them would land on you on this day. We all remembered where multiple butterflies were on us last visit. Davis did get to touch one, altho it looks on the picture like he was just enthralled by a wet floor sign. I did not see it, but heard that one landed on Noel, but apparently when you tell someone to "don't move", they tend to jerk and the butterfly leaves, and you don't get the picture. Lastly, I still laugh thinking about Ruby and this machine that uses centrifugal force to help a penny or nickel or any coin to roll around and around and drop into the bottom as a way to entice donations. They have these things in a lot of places, and I thought Ruby remembered the one from the McWane center. I told her to use a penny and watch it work. She walked over to it, and just threw the nickel down into the hole, and looked up at me like "That's It". That cracked me up. I said no goober, use the coin ramp, and when she did, we all watched mesmerized as the coin went round and round and dropped the penny at the last moment.
After the second museum, I looked into eyes of zombies, and when I asked if anyone was ready for Lu..., All said YES before I could even finish. So we went to my new favorite mexican place (I tried it while staying last November downtown) Agave and Rye. Agave & Rye is a vibrant restaurant chain known for its "EPIC" experience, and unique, creative tacos. All with distinctive atmosphere blending street art and fine art. They offer adventurous flavor combinations, and a fun, eclectic vibe with 80s/90s music, arcade games, and personalized decor in each location, aiming to be a culinary escape. The food is amazing here, with the Birria tacos and burritos being the best for me. But the most fun part here is selecting your "flight of tacos" selecting any three of probably 25 different combinations. We had the Birria nachos and shared an order of the Birria tacos for appetizers. Then I got the Quesobirria burrito, while everyone else tried a flight of tacos. Davis got the most unique one that had kangaroo meat. I think Belle had one that was like a cheeseburger. I can't remember what everyone got, but this place is an attraction in itself, and for me, will always be a required restuarant in Chattanooga.
With a full belly, we went back into the River Journey thinking we had missed an exhibit, but apparently the one we remembered had closed. And as Davis and I checked out yet another museum of Medal of Honor recipients (we did not tour, just checking it out for future visits), the rest made their way over to Ben and Jerrys for some ice cream. Our journey finally came to an end. We all packed back into the van and drove in an endless amount of rain all the way back to Cullman to drop off the lovebirds, then on to Chelsea. Another fun trip to Chattanooga, and I will continue to push my TVA friends to host a conference here so I can get a free one up here sometime.
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