Beautiful Tennessee

Sometimes we neglect our hometowns. There are tons of neat scenic areas and tourist spots here in Chattanooga, but I often forget about them. I'll travel near and far, yet it never occurs to me to "see Rock City."

So I tried to change that today. I went with 6 friends on the new Tennessee River Gorge explorer, an extension of the Tennessee Aquarium. It's a high-speed catamaran hydrofoil, and it travels up the Tennessee River to view some of the spectacular scenery.

It was a beautiful day - in the 80s (lower temps than we've experience of late), and sunny. Not a huge crowd, so we could roam around the upper deck and see some of the scenery and wildlife.
Here's a blue heron - we saw a bunch of these, as well as ospreys, hawks and vultures. There is also a nest of bald eagles, although they seemed to be away from home today.


Here is the Tennessee Aquarium - it's really a great facility to visit. It houses a butterfly garden, as well as the largest freshwater aquarium in the world.

If you've ever been to Baltimore, you probably recognize the design - our aquarium was designed by the same team that designed the one in Baltimore.

So a fun day for a stay-cation (although I've had several away-cations this summer!)

Back to school tomorrow :(