Sunday, July 6, 2008

Rollin' on the River

I hope everyone out here had a wonderful holiday weekend! We had a low-key 4th, but decided to venture out yesterday for some family fun. Here's the recap.

I live in a city that is split by a pretty major waterway. The Tennessee River. Hence, we have lots of bridges in this area. This bright blue one is called the Market Street bridge. I'll give you 1 guess as to why it has that name? Anyway, the bridge behind the Market Street bridge is called the Walnut Street bridge. Are you catching on here? A number of years ago, the Walnut Street bridge was turned into a pedestrian walking bridge. It's walking surface is wooden planks and it's the site of many festivals these days. It's a very cool bridge and something I highly recommend checking out if you're ever in the Scenic City. My infatuation with this bridge is also family pride. My grandmother was the very last person to drive across that bridge before it was closed. Kinda cool, huh?

And so to our journey yesterday. My city is home of the Tennessee Aquarium. This consists of 2 structures. The original building houses River Journey, which houses all freshwater fish and animals. The new building is Ocean Journey, which houses our really cool penguin exhibit and the ever popular sharks and sea turtles, among other things. My girls love visiting this new building especially!

Last week, the TN Aquarium launched their newest acquisition, which is a vessel called the Tennessee River Gorge Explorer. Here's a picture of her.

She's a gorgeous boat who is built like a catamaran. So, she can move pretty fast and efficiently on the water while carrying lots of people. The mission today is to take this beauty down to the mouth of the TN River Gorge. The TN River Gorge is an amazing ecological achievement. It houses one of the most bio-diverse habitats outside of the coastal states. There are so many varieties of plants and wildlife that can only be found right here. Very cool. These are just a few scenic shots that I grabbed.

This was something really cool that we saw on the way back. On top of this river marker, is an Osprey nest. Mom & Dad are nursing 3 chicks in this nest. Ospreys mate for life, which is something that I found to be really cool.

And last, but not least, a family pic. Here's hubby, myself and the 2 A's. We all had a great time and followed it with a yummy meal at a local restaurant. You should check it out too for a good meal if you're ever in our neighborhood!


Have a great Sunday! And make sure you come back tomorrow morning. I have decided to permanently house the Monday Morning Eye Candy exhibit. It will be here waiting for you!

6 comments:

Jane In The Jungle said...

I'm so jealous! The boys have been begging to do this. And you picked a nice, cooler day for it!

Angela said...

Oh, man, I miss the river! The one here's not anything like home :-) Looks like a great time was had by all! I will check in tomorrow - lots of fun reports from this weekend, but I'm going to bed now (as soon as it's dark!) if that tells you how exhausted I am :-)

Michelle said...

So fun! I love the outdoorsy fun things like that.

And I have to ask -- how did you grandma get to be so cool as to be the last one to drive across the bridge?

Angie's Spot said...

Jane: I highly recommend the trip. It's not cheap, but it's definitely cool.

Angela: I can't wait to hear about the weekend! Rest up and enjoy your vacation this week!

Michelle: My grandma is this amazing woman who has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. Not sure how she pulled this off, but she bragged about it for years. :-)

Rhea said...

Gorgeous boat and what a cool learning experience!! I loved learning more about your area and the cool bridges. Thanks for sharing!

Angie's Spot said...

Rhea: It's my pleasure! We're doing staycations this summer, so I'm trying to do more touristy stuff around here that we don't usually do. There will be a trip to Rock City before the summer is over I'm sure, which should be quite interesting. :-)

 

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