🚙2009 ~ April 13-19 Traveling with family to Atlanta, & Pelham Ga

Day 1; Monday, April 13, 2009

My husband took me to Lora's at 5:20 A.M. We loaded up the van and left about 5:45 A.M. The kids were actually up, ready, and had eaten breakfast.

We arrived at the Atlanta Aquarium around 11 A.M. We paid five dollars for parking. 

We walked to the Aquarium and stood in line for tickets. 

There were buses for school kids, teachers, parents, etc. The Aquarium was full to capacity.

The Georgia Aquarium is located at 225 Baker Street NW, Atlanta, GA.

We started at Georgia Explorer Discover. This gallery was an interactive touch pool full of horseshoe crabs, sea stars, stingrays, and shrimp.

Next, we went to the Coldwater Quest, the chilly unknown, where we saw Australian weedy sea dragons, beluga whales, giant Pacific octopus, Garibaldi damselfish, and Japanese spider crabs hanging among rocky ledges and kelp for food. 

At the Ocean Voyager, we made a journey with the giant fish. Here we walked through an acrylic tunnel where we saw whale sharks, manta rays, Nandi, schools of predatory trevally jacks, squadrons of small and large stingrays, enormous goliath grouper, and hammerhead sharks. 

This tank contains 6 million gallons of saltwater and has over 4,000 square feet of viewing area, with a 100-foot-long window. The tunnel has 185 tons of acrylic windows and is the second-largest viewing window in the world. It is 23 feet by 61 feet and 2 feet thick.

We made our next journey through the river scout, where we found freshwater mysteries from Africa, South America, Asia, and Georgia.  

We saw Asian otters, Electric Eels, catfish, and the razor-sharp teeth of voracious predators: the piranhas. 

Last, we visited the Tropical Diver, the Coral Kingdom. We saw eels popping out of the sand, seahorses, jellyfish, fairy basslets, and yellow-headed jawfish. At the center of this gallery is one of the most extensive living reef exhibits of any aquarium in the world. Living corals and thousands of colorful reef fish are presented in a faithful recreation of a tropical Pacific coral reef.

We ate lunch at the Aquarium, and I ordered a dessert.

Jelly Fish 

We left the Aquarium at about 5 P.M. and traveled to the Ronald McDonald House, located at 5420 Peachtree Dunwoody Rd, Atlanta, GA.

A storm had come through Atlanta, and there were trees, tree limbs, and debris everywhere. 

The power was out everywhere, and the red lights were not working, so the intersection became a four-way stop, but some people did not honor that.

Traffic was being rerouted due to the heavy rain and debris, which were causing traffic jams. 

We got checked in at the RMH and unloaded the van.

We rode to Malibu Norcross at 5400 Brook Hollow Parkway, Norcross, Ga. 

We had a ticket for unlimited go-kart racing, duck boats, miniature golf, and a large pizza with Cokes, complimentary of Malibu Norcross management. 

We traveled through the 5 P.M. Atlanta evening traffic, arriving at 7 P.M., and stayed until 9 P.M. 

We rode back to the Ronald McDonald House, where we took showers and dressed for bed. 

It had been a full day.

Atlanta Zoo

Atlanta Zoo

Day 2: Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Meadow and Marcus, Jr., both have an eye appointment. 

They were seen fairly soon, but Meadow was referred to a Retina specialist on the second floor. 

Meadow finished seeing the doctors at 3:30 P.M.

The doctors said that Meadow will have to come back in May for eye repair.

We rode to the Atlanta Zoo, which will close in about an hour, but off we went. 

Several of the zoo animals had been bedded down for the night, but some were still snoring. 

We ate dinner at Steak and Shake.

Next, we rode to Mountain Marietta Par,k where we had unlimited tickets forgo-kartt racing and gaming. We stayed until 9 P.M.

We had another full day of fun.

 Wild Animal Safari 

 Wild Animal Safari 

 Feeding the animals at Wild Animal Safari 

The pacing Ostrich

A Day 3: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 

We checked out at 10 A.M. and arrived at the Wild Animal Safari in Pine Mountain, GA n 12:00 P.M.

Lora rented a safari zebra van and bought several buckets of animal food. We load into the truck and pass through the locked gate, where all the animals roam freely.

The animals know that we have food, and they start coming toward us drooling. 

We feed American buffalo, deer, cows, giraffes, zebras, kangaroos, rhinos, emus, yakatusi, Blackbuck antelope, elk, and camels as we wind through the 200 areas of the animals' natural habitat. 

We drove past the caged Siberian tigers, the black-maned lion, and the liger. 

Do not roll down your windows if you do not want a long drooling tongue in your face.

The van has bars on the back windows, but the front windows roll down. The kids loved feeding the animals, and we took our time watching them squeal with delight.

After the safari ride, we had a picnic. We sat next to the fence, where an ostrich was pacing back and forth.

The rest of the park was a walk-through where we saw 

pigs, monkeys, American Black bears, American alligators, rabbits, capuchins, baboons, donkeys, parrots, peacocks, skunks, swans, turtles, foxes, and wolves

We arrived at Andy's at about 8 P.M., and the kids were excited to see their cousins, eager to get out of the car after the three-hour trip.

Getting licked by Sampson

Day 3: Thursday, April 16, 2009

Sierra and Madison spent the entire day playing in Sierra's roo,m only coming out to eat.

The boys played outside, building a playhouse in the woods. They were covered in dirt, but they were having a good time. So, we just let them have fun that day.

For supper, we had two large pizzas from Pizza Hut.

We rested on the sofa watching TV.

That night, Meadow, Lora, and I slept in the same bed. Madison and Sierra slept in one bed, and the boys slept on the floor.

There was a time when the boys put up a tent, and they all slept outside. 

Have fun at Wild Adventures Theme Park 

Day 4: Friday, April 17, 2009 

Today, Marcus, Jr., Nevada, Madison, and Sierra walked to the cemetery across the road, and I gave Madison my camera to take pictures of the tombstones.

We went to Wild Adventure Theme Park from 1:00 to 8:00 P.M.

We ate corn dogs, funnel cake, and French fries.

The bigger kids ride all the big rides, while Meadow and Montana enjoy all the smaller ones. 

We ate dinner at McDonald's.

While at the park, Madison put her leg between two boards of a fence and got it stuck.

Lora had to grease her leg with suntan oil, and Madison slowly worked it out. 

Montana and Meadow rode the Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, airplane, bug out, wild safari ride, snake, and swings.

I rode the Smore miniature rides with the kids, and I took many pictures.

We had another full day.

watching the fish at the Flint River Aquarium 

Day 5: Saturday, April 18, 2009 

Lora, Meadow, and I rode to Flint River Park. The bigger kids want to stay and play, and Andy said he would watch them. He was going to watch the Alabama football game that afternoon.

Lora, Meadow, and I left about noon. Charity said she didn't want to go with us, so she went shopping with her friend Heather instead.

Lora, Meadow, and I went to Flint River Park, where we walked around the park and looked at the Ray Charles Statue.

 We went to the Flint River Quarium to see the animals and fish that live in the Flint River, including various types of catfish. 

We ate at Barb Q sandwiches and fries at the Flint River Barb restaurant. A lady came over to our table and told us about a special school for children like Meado. She said the Lord told her to come over and tell us about the school. We told her we were from Alabama.

After we ate, we walked along the overflowing Flint River, where we met this lovely couple from New Jersey. There were misquotes, and they started to bite us, so we headed back to the park. We stopped at Winn-Dixie, and I went in and got a two-gallon bucket of Napoleon ice cream, two packages of cookies —pecan sandies with chocolate chips —and two packages of ice cream cones. I went to bed with Meadow because she was tired.

Lora washed clothes until 9:30 P.M.

When Charity returned, she and Andy went to Outback Restaurant for dinner and brought their leftovers home.

Montana is asking if he can go!!

Sierra and Madison

Nevada and Marcus

Montana in his Sunday Best.

Day 6: Sunday, April 19, 2009

On our last day, which was Sunday, Madison, Marcus, Jr., and I dressed and went to Sunday school with Andy. 

Lora and I packed and cleaned.

We left about 10:30 A.M. Montana came up to Lora and said," Aunt Lora, if you will take me with you, I will give you all the money that I have in savings."He was earnest about that.

Andy came back to say goodbye; it was between Sunday school and Church. 

Inside Desota Caverns

Inside Desota Caverns

Riding the tubs 

Riding the potty seats

Visiting Desota Caverns 

Going inside the Caverns

We stopped at Childersburg, A, at Desoto Caverns.

We stayed until they closed at 5 P.M. 

We bought some fudge, Cokes, and snacks.

We toured Desoto Caverns, which took an hour. We saw stalactites, which are rock formations that hang down, and stalagmites, which are rock formations that reach up Other mnemonics to help us remember this are that the two words differ in the sixth and seventh letters — using the sixth letter, stalactites come from the ceiling, and stalagmites come from the ground. 

We saw a light show that began on the first day of creation. On the seventh day, God rested. It was awesome.

We exited Desoto Caverns and went to the park area where there were rides, archery, a cave crawl, and a mine for gemstones. We walked through a maze of lost trails.

Lora, Marcus, Jr., and Madison rode the Hamster wheel, and we all rode the bathtubs and potty seat scooters.

A man walked up to Lora and said, "The Lord told me to give this to you." He handed her some more tickets, wrapped in a twenty-dollar bill. 

Lora thanked the man, but she did not know about the money until he had walked away.

We stayed until the park closed at 5 P.M. 

Lora fed Meadow, and we rode home in the rain. We did not know that there was a tornado warning all around us.

The Lord was looking out for us that da,y and we made it home safe and sound.