Hoosier Family Vacation Day 3 - The Aquarium

On Tuesday, the families all split up & set off on their own separate adventures.

Since Addy is an animal lover, the 4 of us decided to check out the sea life at Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg.

As we entered the aquarium, we started on the upper level and saw...

spotted eagle rays

and pirahanas!

Then we made our way down the ramp to the coral reef area and saw...

seahorses

leafy sea dragons

and angelfish.

And then we watched a show with 'real' live mermaids!

After the show ended, we stepped onto a moving pathway that took us through an underwater tunnel in the shark tanks! It was really cool!

Watch out Nick, there's a sawfish above you!

Look at the face of this thing! It's so weird!!

After that, we explored the Discovery Center where we were able to...

Touch horseshoe crabs

and jelly fish.

And look through the tanks from the inside out.

Hey look, it's Nemo!

And Dory!

Next up was the Gallery of the Seas where we saw...

lionfish

scorpionfish

and these ever so creepy looking Japanese spider crabs!

And then we ended our visit at the Penguin Playground.

We were starving by the time we finished up at the aquarium, so we walked across the street to eat a late lunch at No Way Jose's.

Unfortunately, the food was okay, the hot sauce was not good and the service was terrible. But it could just be me since I'm a little biased. No Mexican restaurant can ever come close to Carmela's! (Or it could be because I was eating Mexican food in Tennessee, which is no where close to Mexico!)

On the way in, we noticed a few ducks in the river by the restaurant, so we took a few tortilla chips with us when we left & went over & fed them.

Then we headed back to the cabin to spend the evening with the rest of the family.

It was another great day in Tennessee!