One Day in Atlanta

Madison and I had one full day in Atlanta before we had to leave for Alabama.  We decided to go into town and have some fun.  Our lineup for the day?  A quick stop at Whipstich Fabrics, a trip to the Georgia Aquarium, and a showing of the new Batman movie.

The fabric store was not originally part of our plan for the day.  I happened to remember just that morning that Whipstitch, which I'd heard about on a favorite craft blog, was in downtown Atlanta.  When I looked at a map and realized that it was just a couple of miles from the Aquarium I had to add it to our itinerary.  We got there a little before the store opened so we stopped at a coffee shop down the street and had smoothies before walking over to Whipstitch to explore.  I found some cute Oliver + S patterns for the two younger girls, a couple of fat quarters (because I love fat quarters), some labels to sew into clothes I make, and enough fabric to sew myself another Schoolhouse Tunic.  I loved looking around at all the beautiful fabrics and Madison was kind enough to patiently wait and play on her iPod while I browsed.

Enjoying a wildberry smoothie at the world's hippest coffee shop

After that, we headed to the Georgia Aquarium.  When we purchased our tickets online we had to select an entry time and arrive at the aquarium as close as possible to that time.  We got there ten minutes before our chosen time and then waited in the world's longest line.  It literally wrapped halfway around the aquarium.  It's the world's largest aquarium so, yeah, it was a long line.  We finally got inside and started looking around.  The place was crowded; really wall to wall people.  It was divided into different exhibits each one exploring a different marine habitat. Tropical diver had jellyfish, seahorses, clown fish, and an amazing reef exhibit with live corals and thousands of fish.  The reef was beautiful and relaxing; I could have sat there watching the fish all day.

The glow-in-the-dark jellyfish were my favorite

Almost the whole coral reef

I loved the cute little yellow fish

After the tropical area we went to the ocean explorer exhibit.  The first part of the exhibit took us through a tunnel with a clear ceiling.  Swimming above us we saw whale sharks, manta rays (the largest ray had a diameter of nine feet!), a saw shark, and lots and lots of groupers.  We got to the exhibit just in time for the dive show.  We were able to watch as divers entered the 6.3 million gallon tank and interacted with the fish.  My favorite was the manta ray because it kept doing back flips in the water.  I learned that it wasn't just showing off, but that rays do flips like in the wild as well and that it's a feeding behavior.

Whale shark,

manta ray,

and divers in the water.

We also saw beautiful beluga whales, penguins, Alaskan king crabs and sea otters in the cold water exhibit.  There were albino alligators, river otters, tree boa, pirannah, and a river flowing overhead in the river  scout area.  We also watched a very cheesy 3-D movie about the importance of caring for oceans, rivers, lakes, and streams.  The message was good, but the delivery was too over the top cheesy for my taste.

After lunch in the cafeteria (pizza for both of us) and a trip to the gift shop it was time for the highlight of our visit to the Aquarium, the Dolphin Tales show.  The dolphin show was what convinced Madison that the aquarium would be more fun than Six Flags.  We stood in line, and stood in line some more, until they finally opened the theater doors.  We were lucky enough to get seats in the third row right in the center.  They were in the "splash zone" but we didn't end up getting even a little bit wet.  The show was a lot of fun and definitely worth the wait in line.  There was singing, special effects, a fun story, audience participation, and (best of all) some amazing dolphins doing spectacular tricks.  We weren't allowed to take any pictures or videos during the show.  If you want an idea of what it was like you can watch this clip from the Aquarium's website.

On the way back to our car, we saw this wonderful building.  Madison and I are both missing Germany so it was nice to see a little bit of home, even a pretend bit of home, when we're so far away.

Der Biergarten, the restaurant that made us both feel a little homesick

Next up was the movie, which Madison was super excited to see.  I think she was even more excited about seeing Batman than she was about going to the Aquarium.  We got our tickets and then spent some time walking around a truly huge mall.  It was actually kind of overwhelming after being away from stuff like that for so long.  The movie was quite good, Madison especially enjoyed herself.  She's something of a geek or a nerd.  For example, there was a preview before the movie started for the new Superman movie.  I couldn't figure out what movie was being advertised but Madison knew it was Superman right away.  When I asked her how she knew it was Superman, she told me that the DC Comics logo was shown before the preview started.  She decided that since we were watching a Batman movie the only other DC Comics superhero it could be was Superman.  She was funny to watch during the movie as well.  If she wasn't smiling from ear to ear, she was covering her mouth in shock, or quietly talking to the characters on the screen.

I was so happy to have that time with Madison before sending her off to Space Camp.  She's made me promise not to have any more fun, or at least not too much fun, without her so our day together is all the fun I'm getting this week.