Cat's Litterbox: Trip to the Georgia Aquarium

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Trip to the Georgia Aquarium

I decided last night, that if I felt better today, that I'd take Gus to the Georgia Aquarium. My mom and dad gave us a family membership for Christmas and I've been eagerly awaiting the time to go. Today seemed like as good a day as any!

I have a cold and as a result, I was so exhausted yesterday. I took some Nyquil and went to bed at 8:30. I didn't wake up until 8:00 this morning and Gus was still asleep. He woke up at 8:30 and I went up and got him. We both were well-rested and in good moods (always a plus).

We decided to get on the road and head to the Aquarium (it was 9:30). It took me about 45 minutes going, because my GPS (Gary) gave me the strangest directions. He didn't take me the most direct route (maybe because of the time of day?), so we didn't get to the Aquarium until 10:40 (after parking and whatnot).

Gus absolutely loved it. He was in the stroller for the beginning and then there were things that I knew he couldn't see, so I let him out. I was so afraid that he'd run around and I wouldn't be able to catch him... but he was good. He stayed close to me and liked helping me push the stroller. :-) There were a few times that he wanted to go one way, and I wanted to go another... and as a result I had to chase him (not a pretty sight). Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun he had and how much fun I had.

There's a HUGE room with like a two-story tall glass viewing window... I sat there for a few minutes just marveling at the sights. My pictures don't do it justice... and then of course Gus was ready to move on, so I had to get up and stop enjoying the view.

We went into the tunnel... and it's amazing. Gus was more interested in the moving sidewalk than the fish (lol). I was trying to take pictures and of course was reminded by another guest that his fingers could get caught in the sidewalk and that I should watch him (nice). Yep... mother of the year... right here.

Anyway, he was getting hungry so we went and had lunch. It was VERY expensive to have lunch... I got the cheapest item (a hotdog) and some fries for us to share. I packed him a BeetBox Berry (beets and strawberries mixed in a pouch) which he devoured. I contemplated on buying him a milk, but he had water and I was being cheap. He also had some fruit snacks and a bite of my hotdog. It wasn't the best lunch for either of us.

We saw the frog exhibit (Gus wasn't interested because he couldn't see the frogs-- you have to really look for them). He liked the info booth... so he spent most of his time looking at that while I looked at frogs. :-)

I bought him a cute penguin from the gift shop. It's not something I'll do each visit, but for the first, I wanted to get him something special. He loves it... and it was 1/2 off with the purchase of anything else. So I got him a slinky... that he had been playing with (he grabbed one end and went running... literally through the aquarium and I had to keep pulling the Slinky to get him.. he was a good 50 feet away).

The parking had me nervous. It said $5 for the whole day for the aquarium and I was going to park in the "official" lot, but it was like $10-$20 for parking. I thought I'd see if the $5 parking structure was good. It was literally across the street from the aquarium and when we left... sure enough, it was $5. SCORE!

We had fun and got home just in time for him to CRASH. Coming home took me 35 minutes because Gary had me take 400 (which is how I was expecting to go). Gus has been napping since 1:30... (it's 4:11). He was trying to sleep in the car on the way home and I kept waking him so he wouldn't fall asleep.

It's been a great day. Here are some of my favorite pictures from today: