Tennessee Aquarium--a fishy experience

Today's field trip took us 10 minutes away to the Tennessee Aquarium. We spent just under two hours there with the whole gang... and a double-stroller.

We drove up just past 10 am, which turns out to be the opening time of the Aquarium, and the best time to go with a crowd. AND... the best parking spots. You can, of course, park in the $8 lot, but we parked at a 2 hour meter for $2 today. The meters were booked by the time we left at noon, though.

You can find all kinds of information about the aquarium from its website, www.tnaqua.org, but what you can't find is this:

1. Park at the meters! You can use meters on Chester St., and if they're full, you might be able to find some on Riverside Dr. (also known as Riverfront Pkwy in places), which is the front side of the Aquarium. You will have to walk up a fatal amount of stairs, though, if you park there.
2. Use the restroom before you start your tour. They only have public restrooms on the floor where you start and the floor before you start.
3. Bring swimsuits and towels for after your visit. The kids can splash around in the riverwalk.
4. Be prepared to walk and stand a lot. Seats are available in viewing areas, but they are few and far between. I rested on an informational sign today for a quick break.
5. If you have very young ones, like we do, bring some kind of restraining device, like a backpack or a buckle stroller or a teddy-bear leash. While the exhibits are roped off, they certainly aren't climber-proof, as we found out the hard way today!
6. If you choose to get a membership, don't stand in line at the general public first. Go directly to the building labeled, "Members."

Don't you hate it when you spend 30 minutes with five cranky kids standing in line, just to discover you're in the wrong line, and you have to start over? Don't make the same mistake we did! I recommend the membership--it's $100 for free entrance to both buildings for one year for two adults and all their kids under age 18. You can add a guest for $35. Our family had to pay $85 just for one visit, because kids ages 3 and up are charged for tickets. What I don't like is that the IMAX and parking aren't included. Members get discounts, of course, but hardly anything is free anymore.

If you DO get a membership, you have to go to the Members door every time you go to get tickets printed. You also have to show your ID and tickets like 400 times throughout the visit--so wear pockets to keep them handy.

Don't be confused by the layout--in the Ocean building, you start on floor 4, after, of course, you use the restroom on floor 1 and show your tickets and your ID to the Escalator Guard. If you're lucky, you can then saunter up the 4-story escalator, but in our case, the double-stroller had to use the elevator. (We were nervous to try to sneak onto the escalator with aforementioned Escalator Guard eyeing us suspiciously.) The tour starts on floor 4 where you can touch Manta Rays and view Sting Rays, Eels, Sharks, and other fishy things that you shouldn't touch. They also have Hyacinth Macaws in an open exhibit. Tyler, 20-months, quickly got the idea that we were looking for animals in the water, and it took me 3 minutes of pointing and wildly gesturing to attract his eye from the empty water at his eye level to the two giant macaws up in the tree.

Purell your hands with the handy dispensers, and move on.

Floors 3, 2, and 1 host other nifty ocean life exhibits, the favorite of which in this family is the jellyfish. In a life uninterrupted by the squeals and skirmishes of toddlers, the jellyfish room might be quite relaxing. One mirrored room hosts a lit jellyfish wall tank, accompanied by music, that made me want to build a little bed and curl up for a nap. (Of course, I want to curl up for a nap almost any chance I get!)

When you finish the Ocean building, you must exit through the gift shop (at which members get a discount!). This is a dirty little trick to pull parents with kids into buying something "educational" for their kids as they're hurrying to depart, perhaps, like us, to head to the restrooms again. We resisted and bought nothing! Mwah-ha-ha!

Over to the River building we headed, IDs and tickets in hand to show to Escalator Guard number 2. This exhibit starts on Level A, whatever that is, because all the other levels are numbers. Is it a floor they forgot they were going to have, and then after they labeled all the floors figured it'd be cheaper to just call it 'A' than to re-number and re-print all the labels? Sounds like something I'd do!

But here's the funniest thing! You start at Level A, which I think is Seahorses--VERY cool--which actually IS below level 1, and then you go to the fourth floor? Is there no logic here? My slightly-OCD nature rebelled inside me, but we went with it, in the elevator, of course.

At the top, you have the pleasure of interacting with river otters, if they choose to grace you with their presence, which today didn't happen. The River building is one four-story (I guess) hall with floor-to-ceiling fish tanks on either side guiding visitors throughout on one enormous ramp from top to bottom. Watch for runaway strollers and wheelchairs! At each floor, the ramp exits into a Discovery Hall which houses various exhibits. It's awesome.

When my daughter, Kora, was 2, I took her to the Memphis Zoo, and at the penguin exhibit, a stranger made a comment to me. In the time I turned my head to respond, my child had climbed up the concrete wall and over the iron rail to find herself INSIDE the exhibit. So, I am now on my guard against any type of dividing device that is not completely slick or made of jello. The River building galley area has a rail fence about 4-feet-tall, with a piece of plastic over the bottom rails to keep hands or feet from finding their way through. However, the plastic can be stood upon, and the three rails above the plastic can be climbed. Bring on the leashes! A fall could potentially last four stories in that place!

Overheard in the Galley:
Octogenarian: "That's a {some kind of} catfish. I used to catch those on the bottom of the Mississippi!" They have local fish, too, from Nickajack Lake and the Tennessee River. There's also a room overlooking the Tennessee River.

Again, be on guard as you exit through the gift shop. We whizzed through the bottom half of the Galley to catch our parking meter. I suppose 2 hours isn't quite enough time. I imagine we could have spent the whole day in that area--with the Aquarium, the Riverwalk, the IMAX, and area restaurants. But, that's too much for our kids to handle without succumbing to irascibility. So we came home at noon and had naps.

Here are directions from the website:
From I-24:
I-24 to downtown Chattanooga.
U.S. Highway 27 North
Take exit 1C right on 4th Street
Left on Broad Street (second stoplight)
Go two blocks and you’ll see the Aquarium. Paid parking and free shuttle available.

On our way to our car, we were given $5 coupons to the Southern Belle, a dinner-cruise ship on the Tennessee River. Another adventure on the cheap! Woohoo!