#12 befriend a sea otter

the ocean voyager

#12 took place while i was on my atlanta getaway vacay. while googling the area, the georgia aquarium continued to make the top of just about every list. so to the georgia aquarium i went! xan and i pre-purchased tickets online and went first thing in the morning. apparently it's a happening place and gets crowded quickly. the rumor proved to be true in no time. showing up early was definitely the way to go. 

while purchasing our entry tickets we also purchased tickets for the sea otter experience. sea otter experience = hang out with a couple of sea otters. how cool is that?! you can also swim with the whale sharks (that one is now on my bucket list), hang out with penguins, dolphins or belugas. with our last minute planning, most of the the experiences were sold out. we got lucky and snagged two to meet the sea otters.

before befriending any sea otters, we visited a couple of the exhibits. you can read about them and see pictures below, but not before i introduce you to oz, the sea otter. the tour doesn't allow cameras, phones, or anything really. so i  checked my bag at the door, then followed my trusty tour guide to oz's home. before entering you have to sanitize the bottom of your shoes. so we sanitized, had a lesson on sea otters and their habitat, then met oz. there were other sea otters that we met, but none like oz. he's the goofball in the picture with me on the left <--. oz loves ice pops made of frozen squid. he begged for them kind of like a needy puppy-- the cute kind that you always give into. so we happily fed him as many ice pops made of frozen squid as we could. then oz showed off some of his tricks and let us pet his soft and wet little nose. i had to restrain myself from just pulling him out of his little watering hole and giving him a big ole bear hug. the entire "sea otter experience" lasted about 45 minutes and was worth every second of it. oz stole my heart

sea monsters revealed

sea monsters revealed

the aquarium is divided into multiple exhibits; sea monsters revealed, the ocean voyager, tropical diver, georgia explorer, cold water quest and river scout. 

one of the coolest exhibits was sea monsters revealed. it was in a darkened and silent area which really added some spook to it. the exhibit was fascinating to say the least. 

the exhibits that we were looking at are the real 'sea monsters'. through a process known as plastination the animals were preserved. so we get to admire the real deal. pretty incredible. there were over 18 sea monsters to look at, some with organs, one pregnant with baby sharks and one roughly 3,000 pounds. we spent a good amount of time going from room to room and just staring at what was in front of us. again, pretty incredible.

after exploring the sea monster exhibit we headed towards the georgia explorer which had a small pool of water with rays and little sharks. there you could stick two fingers in the water and pet them as they swam by. my minimal shark knowledge (all thanks to shark week) had me afraid of this tiny little shark and not so tiny ray, but i felt challenged by the 6 year old having the time of her life petting them next to me. so i accepted the unspoken challenge and reached in to pet the shark and ray. challenge complete.

the ocean voyager tunnel

from the georgia explorer we went to the ocean voyager. this was one of my favorites. there was a tunnel that went directly through a very large aquarium. there were whale sharks (the largest fish species in the world), manta rays and thousands of ocean life swimming all around us. the tunnel was so neat. i felt like i was underwater, walking right next to all the fish. after my amazing tunnel experience, we ventured on to the tropical diver which has one of the largest living reef exhibits in the whole world. that is where i found nemo. then i found dory. lots of nemo's and lots of dory's, actually. the tropical diver was filled with endless color and beauty. 

cold water quest

the cold water quest is where you would find my buddy oz and some of his penguin buddies. it was also home to the most expensive fish in the entire aquarium, the tiny little sea dragon. (oz and his otter friends were a close second.) the sea dragon only eats imported live shrimp and must maintain a specific lighting schedule along with other habitat specifications which become very costly. regardless, he was pretty cute for a high-maintaince little fellow.

tropical diver

visiting the entire aquarium and soaking up all it has to offer takes a good chunk of time, but it is well worth it. there were so many sights to see and there really is something for everyone to enjoy. they have done a beautiful job of displaying such amazing creatures for us human-folk to awe at. the georgia aquarium is definitely the coolest aquarium i've ever been to. doesn't have too much competition being the only aquarium i've ever been to, but i'm walking away from this experience with some amazing memories. 

the ocean voyager

squidward!

tropical diver

sea monsters revealed

the xanimal

to learn more about the georgia aquarium and purchase your tickets to meet oz, click here:

georgia aquarium

most people are perfectly afraid of silence.

e. e. cummings

#11 escape to stone mountain

#11 happened on a spontaneous trip to atlanta, georgia to visit a dear college friend. i had been wanting to pay xan a visit for quite sometime. so two days out i thought, why not? yolo, right? kidding. but really... yolo.

for a trip with zero preparation, everything was going smoothly. i even made it to the airport early. that never happens. with time to kill, i pulled out my lap top, found an open outlet and parked it on the floor. after about 15 minutes i felt a pair of beady little eyes on me. they followed me as i lined up to board the plane. every step i made, they made too. i made my way to an open row and had a seat. my shadow sat right next to me. i immediately knew what was going on. i was katniss everdeen and she was my rue. after chatting i found out 'rue' was traveling alone for the first time. for whatever reason, she clung to me. she was timid at first but judging by the way she was sound asleep and snoring on my shoulder mid-flight, she felt comfortable in no time. once we landed, in true katniss fashion, i made sure 'rue' found her aunt who was waiting for her at the gate. then, my mini vacay began!

after a quick google search for activities in atlanta, i stumbled upon stone mountain. i had heard about stone mountain for some time. i thought it would be just another mountain to climb, but nope. it's an entire theme park. there are festivals, special events, a golf course, sky rides, zip lines, camp grounds, laser shows and so much more. it is pretty incredible. upon entering the park, you are charged a minimal fee (about ten bucks for the day) and handed a map. i may be directionally challenged, but xan is not. with map in hand, we got lost. we ended up taking the scenic roundabout route to find the mountain. can't complain-- i got to see plenty of park! 

once we found the mountain, we hopped out of the car and started the trek! the first stop was at the goodie goodie gum drop tree. it's not really called that, but it should be. i'm not sure how this became a thing, but apparently sticking your chewed gum to this tree is a georgia tradition. so i got a stick of gum from a fellow hiker, popped it in my mouth and started chewing. when in georgia...


as i got closer to the tree i realized that this tree was a giant germfest. think about it... the goodie goodie gum drop tree 
is the tree o' saliva.  but on with tradition! once i chewed up my gum i stuck it to the tree. as you can see, i did well hiding my disgust.

after my gum adventure i decided to start jogging the trail. the first half of the mountain is pretty rocky and it is more of a hop, skip and a jump than a walk. the second half goes at a steady incline and turned out to be a fun run. at a particular point on the mountain there are guardrails to hold onto because the mountain becomes very steep. running up that part of the mountain was a workout. (using the guardrails are a definite necessity on the way down)

feelin' the love

the sweet lovebirds

the view from the mountain top is beautiful. you can see all of atlanta. it makes the hike up there well worth it. aside from the breathtaking view, the first thing i noticed once at the top was this adorable couple sitting side by side just soaking up the scenery. i creepily took some pictures of them then got the courage to ask them if they would like me to take some of their own. the woman, beaming with joy, smiled at me and proudly said, "we've been married for 29 years now. we would love that." i took a number of pictures for them, even egged her husband on to give his lady a smooch on the lips for a picture then headed back over to join my hiking buddies. we took some pictures of our own, i was pretty proud of my l.o.v.e. (above) and from the corner of my eye i could see that sweet couple hugging, smiling and pointing at their new pictures. that right there was the highlight of my climb. seeing two people so happily in love and just living in that moment. it was so refreshing. truly, a beautiful sight.

can't climb a mountain without a photo-op

i jogged most of the way down and stopped every now and then to play on or admire the rocks. many of the stones have carvings on them. family names, so-and-so loves so-and-so, symbols, etc. some of them are actually pretty intricate and impressive. definitely adds lots of character. the mountain as a whole is not a tough climb. i'm fairly confident that any level climber, beginner to expert, could conquer this one. the park itself would take an entire weekend to explore. i'll be back one day for the light show, that's for sure. we had some lovely cool georgia weather the whole day and our hike was very enjoyable. turns out the odds were ever in my favor.

to learn more about stone mountain click here:
stone mountain park

the earth laughs in flowers.

e. e. cummings