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The hike up was very easy and fun and full of attractions like the "Fat Man's Squeeze" and...
Fairyland Caverns.
(Inside was an elaborate retelling of every fairytale known to man. Gnomes and flourescent paint galor. I was extremely impressed by the German woman in front of us who photographed every.single.scene.)
It was a bit cloudy at the top so we only saw two states for sure. (Technically Rock City is in Georgia since the state line cuts through the mountain.)
Once we climbed back down we cashed in our touristy coupon for a free poster, chatted with a co-worker of mine who also happened to be visiting, and hightailed it out of there. We made a pit stop at Wendy's (Satchel's new favorite restaurant) instead of paying $10 for a burger at our next tourist trap: Raccoon Mountain Caverns.
The opening to the caves was literally in the back of a convenience store!
Satchel got his first look at a stalagmite. (Not to mention a stalactite.)
Our tour guide was a sweet young Tennessee thing who reminded me of Chloe Sevigny circa 1980. She pointed out things such as "the most prettiest view" in the whole cave. (Captured here with the help of the night vision feature.)
After 40 minutes or so I started to feel extremely claustrophobic and was delighted when Jiro informed me that he had to poop. Not wanting to repeat our Children's Discovery Museum experience, I quickly informed Chloe that "he can't hold it" as I whizzed passed the group towards the convenience store.
After doing his business Jiro ran wild in the store and attempted to steal numerous containers of Tic-Tacs. Once Satchel and Warren made their way out of the cave, we loaded up and headed for "home."
Jiro fell asleep in the car so we decided to do a little driving around. We went back across the bridge where the sprayground was and scouted out a nice place to eat. A very nice looking Japanese restaurant called to us and I hopped out to peek at the menu. It looked awesome, but since the restaurant closed between lunch and dinner we would have to come back a few hours later.
We dropped the car off at the hotel, freshened up, and then decided to go to the Aquarium. It was a huge two building structure and I doubted I had the energy to make it through--especially with Mr. I Want to Look at Each and Every Display and Read Each and Every Plaque and his offspring. But again, I had to take one for the team, Team Oster.
We started off in the river journey building where they had a pretty cool seahorse exhibit, then travelled through a maze of exhibits. I started to feel really claustrophobic again, but held it together.
The boys really loved the tanks that had holes in them for an "inside look" and...
the hands on "pet the sting-ray" exhibit. (I loved the hand sanitizer dispensers located nearby.)
When we finally made it to the (much less maze like) ocean journey, our first stop was the butterfly house. Jiro couldn't get a butterfly to come anywhere near him, but Satchel seemed to have the magic touch.
Once we completed our Aquarium adventure the monkeys insisted on playing on the water stairs again. While they played Warren and I tried to figure out how we were going to get to the Japanese restuarant on the other side of the river. The water taxis stopped running at dusk and the neither of us had the strength to haul Jiro over the pedestrian bridge. Like true Memphians, we opted to go back to the hotel and drive. What followed was the most horrendous dining with monkeys experience I have ever had. (Which will be described in detail asap...)
Despite being totally exhausted after dinner (it was about 9:45pm), we somehow let the monkeys talk us into going for ice cream at Ben & Jerry's just a few blocks from our hotel. (It had been packed all weekend and every time we had gone by the yelled in unison.) We arrived to find a line out the door as if they were giving it away for free. After a good 30 minute wait, we purchased each of the monkeys a giant $5 (!!) ice cream cone.
It was actually worth every penny to see them attempt to eat them before they melted.
(Jiro dropped his shortly after taking this photo and almost immediately after Warren noted, "The ice cream seems to be packed in pretty tight." The "5 Second Rule" was strictly enforced and after a quick wipe, Jiro was back in business.)
"Maybe we should run them through the fountains again before getting back in the car," Warren half suggested/half moaned.
2 comments:
My quads hurt just reading these.
I love the Aquarium, especially the marine side with the clear columns of bioluminescent jellyfish. I was mesmerized and also had to read all the plaques--even returned home and hit the 'net to learn more.
As far as Ruby Falls, I remember a long elevator ride down into the mountain and being told by the "most prettiest" guide that we were 700 feet (or some such distance) below solid rock. My mind was a bit "loose" that afternoon during my college days and I got really antsy--REALLY, REALLY ANTSY but hung with it. Kinda funny now.
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