30 Days of 30: Day 4: Tennessee Aquarium and IMAX Hubble 3D

So, remember how I said we might be getting too old to stay out so late? Today was why... We had to get on the road by 8:30 to make it for our 11:00am start time at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. Which meant we only got about four hours of sleep. Yikes...

We've heard several people say they prefer the Tennessee Aquarium over the Georgia Aquarium and thought we'd check it out. There are 2 buildings - River Journey and Oceans Journey. The flow of the buildings is definitely better than the Georgia Aquarium, though I still love the belugas there. Overall, we were really impressed. It was crowded, but there was enough space to move around and get a peek at everything. My favorite room featured the jellyfish. They are so mesmerizing! They also have some outdoors elements and areas with non-water creatures I really enjoyed: a butterfly garden and a tropical area with macaws.

After the Aquarium, we headed over to the IMAX theatre to watch the Hubble documentary in 3D. It's only $5 if you go to both, and I would highly recommend it. If you're a space nerd like Adam and myself, you should not miss it. It tells the story of the astronauts' mission to repair the Hubble telescope. The 3D is insane, the images from Hubble are amazing, and I actually had tears running down my face when they showed the shuttle in lift-off. There is something really humbling about realizing that no matter how much time, training, and preparation the astronauts undertake, the possibility that they may not return home is always there; and yet they still take that risk for the chance of following their dreams. NASA rocks!

Adam checking out the fish