We started our first full day in Atlanta at the Georgia Aquarium! I had gotten a CityPASS for us that covered a number of attractions that we wanted to do in Atlanta for a discounted price, and this was first on our list to do! The Georgia Aquarium is the largest aquarium in the United States, has the largest viewing tank in the Western Hemisphere, and also home to two whale sharks! This is the only place in the U.S. that you can view these big guys, and let me tell you, they are awesome!
We parked downtown in a garage and walked across to the aquarium. We were planning on also going to the Coca Cola Museum because it is right across from the aquarium, but with the aquarium being more crowded than we were expecting, we didn’t have time to do both. Sadly, we didn’t get back down there to do the Coca Cola Museum, but I have heard from a number of people that it is really fun!
Good morning Atlanta! View of the city driving in. 🙂
You know, no one does paper maps anymore, (thank you COVID!), so I took a screenshot on my phone for us to use while we were there. I thought this would be good to share so you can see how the exhibits are all set up. This entire aquarium is indoors, which was a little different to us, other aquariums we have been to generally have a portion set up outside. It makes sense though with this one being downtown in the middle of the city like it is.
We also had to reserve seats for the shows for the sea lion and dolphin shows, which you could do easily online. Just a heads up to do that as soon as you get there!
Stopped by the sea lion exhibit!
They had so many great viewing tanks!
I thought these guys were so funny, elephant nose fish!
These beluga whales were so funny playing with their toys! They were so entertaining to watch!
Watched the sweet sea otters for a bit!
We grabbed some lunch after walking through most of the exhibits on one side and then headed over to see some dolphin tricks!
Time for the dolphin show! This one was in a HUGE auditorium, and honestly, we enjoyed this show more than the one we saw at Sea World last month!
After the dolphin show, we got to see some sharks!
Always learning! My little shark man!
Next up, the sea lion show!
We loved this show so much! The Sea Lions were so close and were hilarious! They did so many tricks, it was a really cute show!
Back to some more exhibits! This one had a little pop out for the boys to crawl through!
Love this little brother club SO much, they are such a joy to be with!
And now, the grand finale! The WHALE SHARKS! There was this cool tunnel you could walk through and watch the whale sharks swim over you, it was incredible!
The ironic thing about these big guys is that they are filter feeders!
There was also a huge manta ray in this viewing tank!
We just sat and watched this tank for a while before we left, it was so beautiful and relaxing.
We hit the souvenir shop and then grabbed some Grub for dinner back at our hotel! It was a good day!
Jenson curled up with his little turtle he got today to go to sleep, I love this baby boy so much!
Leaving you with a quote from “The Diamond Eye” by Kate Quinn that I was reading this week. It is one of my top books so far this year that I have read! I loved this quote from Eleanor Roosevelt though, I can think of SO many things in my life already that it has applied to and it is just such a good reminder when you’re are facing difficult things in life. This has not been an easy year for us, and there were a lot of days where I wondered how I would make it through, but you do. You do the hard things you think you cannot do. You just keep trying, even when you fail. This is such a good reminder for me personally, I hope it is for you too!
If you missed our first day traveling, you can check that out here! More of our week to come!
The Georgia Aquarium looks like such a neat place to visit! Maybe Dad and I should make a trip sometime!