Weekend in ATL, Georgia Aquarium, and Zoo Atlanta

Whale shark and a diver at the Georgia Aquarium

It pays to have friends in cool places.  Last weekend, Jen and I hopped into the car and took a trip to Atlanta to visit her friend Heather who works at the Georgia Aquarium with some of the freshwater fish.  We planned the trip a while ago so both Jen and Heather could take time off so we could have the whole weekend to explore the city and of course Zoo Atlanta and the Aquarium.

We left early Friday morning and got to Heather's in the early afternoon.  It only took about five and a half hours plus a little time to stop at Wendy's for lunch and try their new Wildberry Frosty (which was delicious btw).  We hung out at Heather's apartment for a while and then went for a walk around the neighborhood.  She lives in a very cool neighborhood that has plenty to do within walking distance.  It had almost a "main street" type feel with all of the bars, restaurants, and stores.  There were even some art studios and cool little niche stores that would be fun to explore.

Later that night we went out for sushi and then to a bar that had a ton of bar games like pool, darts, and shuffleboard.  It even had two huge bocci ball courts in the basement with a sign up board that took up the entire wall.  We played a few games of darts and had a few beers before calling it a night.  From all of the places we walked or drove by on our way to dinner and to the next bar, it looked like one could explore the city for years and not make it to all of the bars and restaurants.

Awesome sign at the Zoo Atlanta parakeet feeding exhibit.

The next day we hit Zoo Atlanta.  After actually getting charged to get in after showing our Association of Zoos and Aquariums membership cards (more on that in a minute) we headed straight for the cafe to grab a bite to eat, which was convieniently right next to the giant panda exhibit.  Giant pandas are one of the rarest of the "popular" zoo animals.  You can only see them in the United States at the San Diego Zoo, the National Zoo in Washington D.C., and Zoo Atlanta.  They also happen to be one of Jen's favorite animals. 

Giant panda munching on some bamboo.

We got lucky and they had just fed the pandas, so they were up moving around.  They have a pair of pandas and also a baby, who was sleeping in tree the entire time we were at the exhibit (and when we came back later in the day).  The only other time that I had seen giant pandas was on a trip to San Diego a long while back and the panda was sleeping the entire time, so it was an awesome treat to see them moving around and chowing down on some bamboo.

The rest of the day at the Zoo was a blast, even though it was pretty warm.  Midsummer is not exactly the best time to be doing much outside in the South, but we stuck it out.  It even rained a bit on us, which cooled things down.  Zoo Atlanta has some great exhibits and we especially enjoyed the primate areas.  We stayed at the gorilla and orangutan exhibit for a long time and watched a young organg show off for the crowds.

On our way out we wanted to talk with member services and get a refund for our admission.  They gave us the standard 50% discount for a reciprocal membership, but being a member of the AZA is an entirely different thing that having a membership at another zoo.  I've never had to pay to get into a zoo with my AZA membership and have gotten some good discounts at Shedd Aquarium (who doesn't participate in any other reciprocal program).  After some hemming and hawing, we finanally got them to refund our admission, which we appreciated.  We e-mailed the AZA membership department and told them of the difficulty we had at the entrance so if nothing else they could update their reciprocal list if Zoo Atlanta didn't want to participate anymore...I just checked AZA.org and Zoo Atlanta is still on the list, so hopefully they have their stories straight now.

Two lovely ladies ready for a night out.

After the Zoo, we hit the town and bounced around to a few different places and had a great time.  We hit a mexican place for dinner that had some good sangria, went to a salsa club, and hit an underground bar that was rather dead...but we still had a good time:)

The next day was our Aquarium trip.  Heather gave us a couple passes (our wallets thank you!) and we walked around amid the crowds of screaming children for a couple hours.  We grabbed lunch at the cafe and then Heather gave us a behind the scenes tour, which was awesome.  My favorite part of the Aquarium is the big tank, which has more than 3,000 fish in it including four whalesharks and manta rays, which I don't believe you can see anywhere else in the country.  They also have dolphins, belugas, sea otters, and a ton of awesome exhibits and tanks.  Here are some photos from the "guest view."

Manta ray playing in the bubbles from the diver.

Whale shark!

Now for the really cool stuff...behind the scenes!  Heather took us topside of the big tank, which was amazing.  One of the staff was feeding a whale shark and the manta rays kept coming up toward the surface to say "hi" to Jen.  We also got to take a peek at a pair of hammerhead sharks that they have in holding.

Feeding a whale shark.

Manta ray!

Hammerhead shark.  This is the first time I've ever seen one...they're very impressive animals!

One of the coolest exhibits that they have (IMO) is a coral reef exhibit that every two minutes simulates a big wave going over the top of the exhibit.  The glass is curved so that guests are standing right underneath where the wave starts, which makes for a cool effect.  Here are a couple videos of the wave machine at work from behind the scenes...

We packed a lot of fun into three days and I got to cross two more zoo/aquarium type places off my list!  I buy a magnet from each zoo/aquarium I visit and stick them on a filing cabinet at work.  I need to get around to counting them to see how many I've visisted so far...but that's a blog post for another day!