An Ocean Journey

One of the highlights of this past week was going with my family to the Tennessee Aquarium!! I'd been there several years ago, but it was still great fun to see it again. I think my favorites were the butterflies and penguins...well, I'll stop jabbering and let you start looking at my photos!

~Photobug

^^Mom, Dad, and Alison at the entrance to the "Tropical Cove".

 ^^Sting rays.

 ^^I'll admit, I don't know many animal, bird, or plant names--but I am an admirer of them!! This red flower really caught my attention.

 ^^Photobug himself! ;)

 ^^I think these were manta rays, but I'm not sure. You could actually "pet" them, with two fingers!

 ^^Doesn't this fish look like he's smiling? ;)

 (above and below): next few shots are of the lovely flowers in the Aquarium.

 (above and below): now to my favorites! The butterflies are just so pretty. I think I could stay in there all day taking pictures of them!!

 (above and below): Continuing on, we come to my second top-favorite exhibit: the penguins!! They are just so cute and cool.

 (above and below): Me and Alison with some penguins...well, sort of! :D

 ^^We visited the Aquarium in the evening, so naturally the penguins were tired after a long day of entertaining people. By the time we came by, they were giving us the cold shoulder, literally! ;)

 ^^This guy was nice, though.

 (above and below): Next several pictures are of fish...and sharks, and more fish. They are all housed in one tank, and there are multiple viewing areas and levels from which you can see the fish and sharks.

 ^^"Why did those Aquarium folk let all these people in, late at night?? That means we have to stay up past our bed time!!"

 ^^Jellyfish, I think...

And finally, the tunnel you can go through which is under the big fish/shark tank. It has some really cool viewing ports!