I know…I should be writing part 2 of my first 2014 trip.  Instead I am going to give you a side bar trip that was a lot of fun!

With the merger at my company we now have off on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a Holiday.  Well, I decided to make the most of this unanticipated day off.  I have been wanting to visit the Georgia Aquarium for YEARS.  It is the only place in the United States and one of only a very few places in the world that have Whale Sharks in their collection.  The biggest fish in the sea!  They can grow to a length of almost 50 feet. I have wanted to see one for a long time now.  A few years ago I tried to do the Georgia Aquarium on a visit to a friend that was living in Atlanta…but the timed entry meant that you had to buy tickets well in advance.  So, no whale sharks on that trip.  My second chance came when were had been planning on visiting my sister who was performing at Universal Studios Osaka.  The aquarium there also had whale sharks.  The trip fell through.  But this new holiday was going to be the day!

I planned with my sister to bring down my two nieces and nephew to pick me up at the airport but to not tell them anything.  It was all a total surprise.  My sister used her iPhone to film the kids behind her in the car as she was pulling up to the pick up area at ATL Airport.  It is the most priceless moment!  They were so excited to see me…and then to go to the aquarium.

I did the whole day as a day trip. Took the first flight from DFW to ATL in the morning, then was back on a plane that landed just before 9pm.  Perfect day!

After entering the aquarium you are funneled to this huge rotunda type room.  From there, each zone of the facility branches off.  It is a wonderful design.  The room kind of reminds me of the Animation rotunda at Disney California Adventure. Where there is music and things happening then you can choose what you want to do from there.  We started with the Whale Sharks (of course)…and they did not disappoint!  It was amazing to see these creatures in real life.  So graceful for being so large.  They live in the world’s largest single environment tank.  I cannot begin to describe the size.  It is truly massive with walls that are up to 2 feet thick. They also have the only Manta Ray on display in the United States.  Now, I had seen one before at Atlantis in the Bahamas, but they are still an amazing creature.  This one likes to do loop-the-loops in the tank.  Such a show off!  I could have sat and watched this tank for hours.  But there was LOTS to see!

The facility also has a collection of 4 Beluga Whales.  Having visited SeaWorld parks for many years, I have seen many Belugas.  I did not realize that they are actually quite rare and endangered.  The man doing a small presentation at the window took a poll to see how many of the crowd had ever seen a Beluga…only about 4 of us raised our hands and he said that was more than usual!  These are times that I am grateful to have been given the chance to travel as much as I have.  Sometimes, you can take that for granted.

They have an interesting penguin exhibit with a “crawl through” that puts you up close and personal with the birds.  There may or may not be some incriminating photos of my big self crawling through a glass tunnel.

The aquarium is also only the second time I have seen an indoor dolphin show.  The first time I saw such a thing was at Dolphinarium in Harderwijk, The Netherlands. I love combining the theatricality of an indoor show with lights and music and special effects to the amazing power of a Bottlenose Dolphin.  The show in Georgia has a storyline of a ship that had been guided by dolphins that was sunk by some evil group that didn’t like the dolphins or the StarSpinner (an actor who sings throughout the story).  It was a little hokey-er than some, BUT still had original music and live singing.  So, I LOVE stuff like that.  I bought the soundtrack and am listening to it as I type this.  The style is quite reminiscent of  the ‘Believe’ show that used to be at Shamu Stadium (a quick trip to Wikipedia just confirmed it was the same guy…dang I’m good!)

They also have many touch tanks, lots of habitats, and even a 4D original movie!  Quite a fun way to spend your day!

All too soon the day with those great kids and my sister was over.  I cleared in First Class on one of our new Airbus A319s for the trip home.  I was actually on ship #001…the first one delivered to our fleet.  It has some wonderful seats in First with great entertainment.  In all of my trips back and forth to Atlanta since my sister moved there, I have learned there is just enough time to watch a movie if you start it as soon as you board.  For this trip I selected Fruitvale Station with Michael B Jordan and Octavia Spencer.  Powerful film!

Ok, well its now 2am…I am almost down from the high that is playing the Big Bopper on Tuesday nights.  I should try to get the maximum of 5 hours sleep I can get before its time to go to work.  Thanks for reading.  Travel safe!