TN Vacation: Aquarium

Since the schedule for Saturday got shot out of the water, we let a visit to the aquarium holdover until Sunday. It was well worth it, and well worth the near $100 for all of us to get in. There are actually two buildings, River Journey and Ocean Journey. I thought the River building was the more dramatic of the two: the seemingly endless descent through layers of river water was pretty cool. The attempt at "surround" in the Ocean building was nice, but not as all-enveloping as the Seattle Aquarium.

Saturday night we went back downtown to walk along the riverfront, hoping it would be calming and somewhat interesting. It was a lot more spacious than Richmond's riverfront and it's like they planned for people to be able to visit and park, with lots and meters and such. We arrived near the aquarium buildings and found a water cascade park area. One could begin at street level and descend a water ladder (a couple of hundred feet long, descending maybe 30 feet toward the river) of sorts and finally arrive at a very shallow, but graciously proportioned wading pool. The whole thing is an artistic installation celebrating Cherokee culture and mythology. People of all ages were there and our boys enjoyed it tremendously. And except for the $1 to park, it was free!