I’m spending a week in Atlanta for the Christmas/New Years break. I arrived on Sat, Dec 24th, and am leaving on Mon, Jan 2nd. The last few months of working have been a bit hellish for me, so I’m finally happy to have this vacation to relax and recoup. I had planned to visit lots of friends and have a lot of fun while I was here. However, my body decided it was time for a break as well, so I’ve been sick for over half the time that I’ve been here.
On the bright side, I got to enjoy some of the wonderful and beautiful nature of Georgia on Monday. My friend Cam took me out to a nearby nature trail overlooking the Chattahoochee River where we went for a nice jog along the dirt paths and did some rock climbing up the cliffs nearby the river. The Georgia air was refreshing and the greenery (evergreen trees and small shrubs) were a treat since I’ve only been seeing dead, brown stuff in New Mexico for the last couple months.
On Tuesday, our family spent the day at the new Georgia Aquarium which opened on Thanksgiving weekend. With over 8 million gallons of water and 500 species of marine animals from around the world, it’s the largest aquarium ever created. There are five different sections of the place to visit, each with its own theme of habitats. There’s even a petting zoo where you can play with stingrays, horseshoe crabs, starfish, shrimp and sea anemones. The best part of the trip was the largest tank in the aquarium housing over 100,000 fish. They set up a moving walkway where you can travel under the tank in a tunnel and view all the fish from underneath. There is also a 60 x 23 foot wall where you get to view all the fish that pass by. Everything from small schools of golden fish to stingrays to large whale-sharks. It was really an amazing trip, and I’m looking forward to coming back in another 6-12 months to see how it changes over time.