Stone Mountain Field Trip

Ari's taking a Georgia history class this year at our local homeschool center, and the class includes lots and lots of field trips (to which parents and siblings are invited). He's actually off on one right now, but the rest of us are having to miss that one owing to some snotty miserableness in certain small members of our family. (I feel like I am doing some very strange and unnecessarily complicated things with prepositions in this post thus far. I will try to stop that).

But last week, we went to Stone Mountain, and no one was sick, so we all got to go. You can do lots of things at Stone Mountain like hike up the mountain or ride a terrifying tram up, or ride bikes around the bottom, or take a train ride, or watch a laser show....but we didn't do any of those things. We need to go back and do them soon, though. We're only 45 minutes away from Stone Mountain, and I remember going there fairly regularly as a kid, but my kids had never been before. For shame.

Anyway, this was the first field trip for the Georgia history class, so it focused on really old history....like the part with all the rocks. We visited the new Discovering Stone Mountain Museum and the quarry exhibit.

We met up outside, where kids climbed on rocks for awhile (I am, incidentally, keeping my pictures to my kids and the kids of people I know are okay with me posting them. If you were on the Stone Mountain field trip and you're reading this, that's why I didn't put in any pictures of your kid. Not because your kid isn't adorable. Exception being that one up at the top. All the kids are in that (or at least most), but they're so far away you can't make anyone out. I hope this is all appropriate blogging etiquette. I try.):

Then we went inside and learned about Stone Mountain's history:

The exhibit is, I understand, pretty new, and it's really nicely done. I learned a lot about rocks. I think maybe the kids did, too.

Stone Mountain when it was just a baby!!! Squee!

Also there was a tunnel to run through. I don't think that's what it was FOR, really, but that's what the kids did with it.

We learned that Stone Mountain is a monadnock. Which is fun to say and means "a hill or mountain of erosion-resisting rock rising above the surrounding countryside."

Since we didn't go up the mountain, this picture of a picture is the best thing I have for you to show you what Stone Mountain actually looks like. Rocky.

Abe was there, too.

Well, here: this is what the bottom of the mountain looks like. If you're going to walk up it, you start here.

On to the quarry exhibit! I was surprised to learn that they kept taking granite from the mountain right up until the 70's. I'm surprised they haven't started up again with all the money to be made these days selling counter tops.

I was also surprised to learn that granite is really heavy:

Also we learned that working in a quarry sucked. But I think we already knew that.

Looking forward to more field trips to force us to get off our butts and out of the house! Also for the education and stuff.

Rainy Chattanooga Trip

I know we're probably all pretty nostalgic for my summer Disney series that I finished last week ;), so I thought I'd ease you back into the whole boring fall routine (I know it's still firmly summer for a lot of you, but Dave went back to work last week, so it's fall to us) with one more summer travel post. I'm very considerate that way. Also, I've been meaning to post these ever since we went to Chattanooga, which was over a month ago now.

Dave's mom (henceforth known as Nana) came to visit last month, and we decided to mix things up a little and spend a couple of nights in Chattanooga while she was here. Nana had never been to Chattanooga! (trip courtesy of Nana--thank you, Nana!)

We stayed at the Residence Inn downtown. We'd stayed there a couple of times before, but not for years. The location is amazing: very close to the aquarium, the children's museum, the baseball stadium, the river, tons of restaurants, etc.

We left the morning of July 2 and got to Chattnooga around lunch time (it's a 2 hour drive for us, so perfect for weekend trips). We ate at the Terminal Brewhouse, a relatively new restaurant/brewpub in a cool old building right next door to the Chattanooga Choo Choo:

After lunch, we spent some time walking around the Choo Choo grounds (this is an old train station converted into a hotel. You can stay in actual train cars or....really dated 70's hotel buildings that have been added. We've tried both). Ice cream was involved.

In a room off the lobby, there's some paisley wallpaper. Dave loves paisley, so I took a picture:

I spent much of the trip forcing everyone to pose for pictures. Like in the lobby of the Chattnooga Choo Choo:

These are new! Bike rentals everywhere downtown:

Next stop was Ruby Falls, a few miles away from downtown, on Lookout Mountain. It's really, really scary to go there, because you have to drive part way up a MOUNTAIN. Umm, for me it is really, really scary, at least.

Then you go way down underground in an elevator and walk around in a cave, looking at cave stuff, until you get to "the tallest commercial underground waterfall in the United States." Which does not actually sound that impressive to me, but I guess they're pretty proud of it because they tell you that. Anyway, the first few minutes underground are also really scary because maybe you're afraid the whole mountain is going to collapse on your head. But then you get used to it and stop panicking quite so constantly.

Baby underground:

So you get to the waterfall, and they do a big dramatic thing where the lights are off, and then they turn them on, and it's SO TALL and amazing. Like this. With colored lights:

But if you try to take a picture of your kids in front of the waterfall, this happens:

(I don't think Milo actually was as angry as he looks here)

The part that blew my mind is when our guide told us that they have no idea where the water comes from. They've tried to figure it out by putting dye in the water of various streams above ground and stuff, but, yeah...no luck. This made me start thinking again about how maybe the mountain was going to collapse on our heads, because if they don't even know where that water comes from how do they know it's not slowly destabilizing the whole place?!

But we made it back out right before it collapsed (just kidding. As far as I know that STILL hasn't happened) and survived to check out the TERRIFYING look out tower:

And on the way out, this sign was really crying out for a forced group picture:

The next day we were supposed to go to the aquarium and then go see the fireworks over the river. Only the fireworks were rained out, so we only did the first thing.

I already talked a lot about the Tennessee Aquarium here, so I won't rehash the whole thing. We had fun. We posed for group pictures (well, I didn't. I took them instead):

And we watched a diver get eaten by a shark.

I'm just kidding again. She didn't get eaten. They have another diver stand next to her with this stick to make the sharks go around her instead of eating her:

So there you have it. Our summer travel: completed!

Summer Disney Series, Part 2: Where to Stay? Off Property vs. On

If you missed the first entry in this series on what time of year is best for your trip, check it out here.

Not so very long ago, in this very blog, I said that I strongly preferred staying on property at Disney World because it's more magical.

I'm ready to say now, after our second try staying off property, that I can really see some non-magical but still important upsides to staying off property, particularly with a baby and/or a bigger family. I'm no longer willing to make a blanket recommendation that everyone should stay on property if they can swing it financially. We had a really good off property experience this time around, and I'll be mightily conflicted next time we go about which route to take.

How about some pros and cons?

Pros of staying on property:
1. Disney transportation: this is potentially a very big deal if you fly in. We drive, so it's not as big of a deal for us. We don't need to rent a car either way, and we tend to drive more often than use the buses even when we're on property. If you're lucky enough to be staying in a monorail resort or in one of the walking distance to Epcot resorts, this is an even bigger deal. Also, even if you drive while you're staying on property, you don't have to pay for parking anywhere. And the cost of parking every day for a week is nothing to sneeze at ($14/day, I believe).

2. Proximity: not actually as clear cut as you might expect. Some of the places off property are pretty much as close to the parks as some of the farther out on property resorts. You can easily find somewhere less than a 10 minute drive from Disney property. Again, if you're able to stay in a deluxe resort very close to Magic Kingdom or Epcot, things are different.

3. Extra magic hours: if you're staying on property, you can stay late or arrive early to certain parks on certain days.

4. MAGIC! You're just more immersed in the whole experience if you're staying on property. You forget the outside world exists. Everyone is incredibly friendly and helpful. It's impossible to buy gum (true story: they don't sell gum on Disney property). This can be a great thing, if you love magic, or a bad thing, if you're a black-hearted, cynical human being. Just kidding. Not everyone wants magic 24/7, and that's okay.

5. Free dining (and other discounts): this is the one that usually reels me in. If you go during the off season, when great discounts are being offered to on property guests, on property prices can start to compete pretty well with off property. You can always save money by staying somewhere off property with a full kitchen and making most of your own food, but if you plan to eat out most of the time either way, free dining can really close the on vs. off property price gap. For a few years it seemed like it was all free dining all the time more or less, but now it looks like it's headed back to just being offered for short periods in the fall.

Cons to staying on property:
1. Price: this is the big one. Really, if you have unlimited funds, get yourself a room (or two! if you have kids) at the Polynesian or the Beach Club or somewhere and have a great time. But most people don't have unlimited funds, and Disney hotels cost more. Lots more. The cheapest hotel room you can get on property is at one of the value resorts. The lowest those rates get are $85/night + tax. You might be able to get 15% off on top of that, assuming you aren't doing another discount like free dining. That's for a nice, clean, but tiny hotel room with 2 double beds, maximum 4 people (plus a baby in a crib; you can't put a rollaway in there). For the same price, you can get a nice 2 bedroom condo with a full kitchen 5 minutes from Disney property. Or for half that you can get a decent, no frills hotel room close by.

2. Space: I talked about that a bit up there, but, yeah....if you want room to spread out, you can get it (affordably) off property.

Personally, I am normally a stay on property and suck up all the magic kind of person. But being able to leave the parks when it got crowded and hot, come back to our big ol' rental house and let the big kids swim while the baby took a nap....that was really nice. As was being able to eat a lot of meals at the house, because eating out twice a day with a 4 month old is not exactly relaxing.

We were also able to save money on boarding the dogs by finding a place where they could come with us (except for Fiesta; she stayed with my mom. But my mom only keeps small dogs, which leaves out Lucy and Gable).

We were really pleased with the house we rented, so I'll give them a shout out. We stayed at Luxury Stay Rentals 4 bedroom house in Indian Creek (they also have a 5 bedroom in the same neighborhood). The house was nice and well maintained, rates were reasonable, their local property manager was friendly and helpful, and it was pet friendly (the property manager also does petsitting, so they can come and walk your dog during the day for an additional fee).

As for what we'll do next time? After I wrestle with the internal conflict? Yeah, I don't know. When Abe is older and we're back to being able to do all day in the parks without a break, using the room mostly just to crash at night, I might well be back on property. Especially if we go during free dining. I am a sucker for all the magic, after all. But it will be a tough choice.

And now....Day Two! Our Animal Kingdom day and also Milo's 10th birthday! We were there for both Ari and Milo's birthdays.

First up we stopped by Guest Services for a birthday button. They're FREE

and they don't even check that it's really your birthday. But it was. Milo's birthday.

He wanted to ride Expedition Everest as many times as possible for his

birthday. I think we made it to four. I told them to look scared so I could

take this hilarious picture.

No one can accuse Animal Kingdom of not being themed enough. This is from the Everest queue.

Safari--the lion was out!

Flights of Wonder: baby's first bird show

Finding hidden Mickeys at Conservation Station

Also petting a goat.

Everest!

I promise that Ari was there even though he's not in any of these pictures. We closed out the night at Boma, Dave's favorite restaurant in the whole world and Milo's choice for his birthday dinnner.

Linking with:
Monday Funday
Tatertots and Jello's Weekend Wrap-Up

Aquarium Showdown!

One might think, based on my posts from the last few months, that the only thing we ever do during Dave's breaks is go to aquariums. But it is merely a coincidence!

Still, since it just so happens that we've visited two localish aquariums recently, I thought I'd do a post comparing the two instead of just more pictures of cute kids and fish.

Chattanooga is about two hours north of here. When I was a small kid, one could go to Chattanooga to see tacky tourist attractions such as Rock City, with its many gnomes and terrifying suspension bridge:

Rock City

But then, in 1992, the River Journey portion of the aquarium opened. I remember going there when I was in high school with my grandparents. This was very exciting for everyone in the metro Atlanta area, because this was back when people thought aquariums should be built near water, so before this you'd have to drive closer to the ocean to get to an aquarium. River Journey is still, Wikipedia tells me, the largest freshwater aquarium in the world. Chattanooga is on the Tennessee River, so the idea was that the aquarium focused on rivers and the things that live in them. Like otters! River otters, that is. We should stop for a moment to note that there is nothing cuter than a river otter, and that, really, the Tennessee Aquarium could have stopped right there and not wasted all that money on fish, because who wouldn't drive a couple of hours to watch otters frolic adorably? 

Tennessee Aquarium Blog

Meanwhile, in Atlanta, back when I was a kid, we didn't even have Rock City. We had NOTHING. Well. There were some things. For example, there was a toy museum. I thought maybe I was the only one who remembered the toy museum, but then I googled and found this guy who thought he was the only one who remembered the toy museum, too. It was there from 1978 to 1984, and I was born in 1975, so it was around for pretty much exactly the years when I would have been most fascinated by a toy museum. It was mostly antique toys, and, as I recall, they were grouped by theme. Like there was a doll room, and a trucks and cars room, and the very best of all was the dollhouse room, of course. But then they also had this sort of surreal Star Wars room, which was supposed to show you what the antique toys of the future would look like. And.....OMG, WHY DON'T THEY BRING BACK THE TOY MUSEUM??!!

Where was I?

Oh, yes. Fish.

So. For a long time, there was the Tennessee Aquarium with its River Journey, designed to revitalize downtown Chattanooga but also with a noble educational, research-minded vision. 

Then someone decided to build a big, flashy aquarium in Atlanta, nowhere near the ocean, and not at all interested in sticking with this regionally appropriate freshwater crap.

(I'm not sure how accurate my aquariums history lesson is here. This is my understanding of things, though).

And the Tennessee Aquarium panicked, because do you know what they don't have in rivers? Beluga whales.

So the Tennessee Aquarium tossed up the "Ocean Journey" building in 2005, the same year the Georgia Aquarium opened. They still don't have Beluga whales. But they do have penguins, which are pretty much the saltwater competition for river otters, as far as cuteness goes. 

We went to the Georgia Aquarium back in January. To sum up: it was really crowded, and the dolphin show sucked.

Last Friday we went to the Tennessee Aquarium. We bought a membership there because it was, at $115, only $20 more than just paying for all of us to get in once. Do you know how much a membership for everyone (minus Abe, who's free) would cost at the Georgia Aquarium? $270. True story. You might already see where I'm going with this showdown.

The first thing you do when you get in the aquarium (whether you choose Ocean Journey or River Journey to start off with (we picked Ocean Journey)) is get on a big old escalator and go to the top of the building. Then you wind your way down through the exhibits. I took this picture of the kids (we went with my friend Kristi and her kids: Lula, Marcos, Cormac, and Leo) on the escalator, and then I felt all woozy and vertigo-y and decided to put the camera down before I fell:

The first animal you come to in the Ocean building is the macaws:

Last time we were there, these guys were completely hilarious; they were repeating everything we said and then laughing back at us when we laughed. It was awesome. And Gus remembered it vividly, even though it was over two years ago. But this time the macaws were, apparently, totally bored with all the visitors, and they weren't saying a thing. Gus was very disappointed.

Okay, so second comparison, aside from price: the Tennessee Aquarium was crowded, but NOTHING like the Georgia Aquarium when we went over Christmas break (this trip was over spring break). No one told us to hurry along while we were trying to gawk at penguins. We did not feel claustrophobic and overwhelmed. I will never go to the Georgia Aquarium during a school vacation again. 

The Tennessee Aquarium has a butterfly garden. The Georgia Aquarium does not:

We saw many penguins! Penguins are great (Georgia Aquarium has penguins, too, but don't expect to be able to get anywhere near them if you go over Christmas break):

We wound our way down through the ocean building, taking pictures. I think there are more jellyfish at the Tennessee Aquarium than the Georgia Aquarium:

I took this bad picture of Lula and Ari just to prove they were really there:

And this one turtle was being mean to this other turtle who didn't even have any back legs to fight back with. Bad turtle!

After our ocean journey, we took a break for lunch, then went back for the river journey:

Then I remembered why I never get many pictures in this building. It's really dark in there!

Also, the otters were sleeping. Boo! They were curled up together adorably and all, but they weren't frolicking. At least we have a membership, so we can go watch them frolic another time.

We did get to pet sturgeon:

There were a lot of fish:

Then we drove home. It took a long time. Next time I think we will stay overnight.

So? Can you guess which aquarium wins? I know a lot of people prefer the spectacle and the Beluga whales at the Georgia Aquarium, but for my money (less than half as much of it), I'll take the low key, less crowded aquarium with otters (disclaimer: the Georgia Aquarium has otters, too. And they were awake. But by the time we got to them I was very tired and mostly just wanted to go home and get away from the crowds).