Chattanooga

We took another one of our mini-vacation trips for the summer this past week to see the Aquarium.  It was scheduled so that both my daughters were off work and my grandson could come too.  But, as luck would have it, schedules changed and the youngest had to work that night.... so the girls followed along behind us in her car so that she could leave early and get to work and we could stay and explore Chattanooga and have a nice dinner before heading home.

So much for plans.....

Half-way there her tire picked up a screw in the road and we found ourselves pulled over and changing to the spare.  It is good to know that she is self-sufficient enough to be able to change a tire herself.... although Dad did help loosen the nuts.  Unfortunately, as often happens... her spare was low on air too!  

Note to all reading this..... 

      be sure to check that your spare tire is fully inflated so that it is ready when needed!

Luckily I remembered I had a can of Fix-a-Flat in my trunk!  It was enough to fill the tire and head on our way.  When I get home I'll have to remember to buy another can.... and I think I'll get a can for each of the girl's trunks too!

We reached our destination and had an enjoyable afternoon trying to keep up with our grandson.  He was quite excited.  After some initial hesitation he enjoyed "petting" the stingray and a river sturgeon.  He loved watching the penguins dive in, swim across the tank and jump up on the rocks, then walk back across to dive in once again.   

He thought the sharks and turtles were scary!

He enjoyed crawling into and standing in the "bubble" so that he was surrounded by the tank of swimming fish

The  Aquarium is separated into three buildings.... Ocean Journey, River Journey and an Imax theatre with an area of water fountains and steps to cool off on hot days.  After the movie we walked down to the river and found a playground with swings and slides and monkey bars to wear him down.

 

On the walk back to the car we found an ice cream shop for a cool snack before driving home.