The fam and I got a free chance today to visit the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Museum. We had a good day. Not a huge crowd, weather was great, and like I said a free experience thanks to Alma’s co worker. And this was also a GREAT chance to try out the new camera and lenses!
Dirty glass marred the chance at getting really good shot but hey I got a few good ones of the otters.
A little Fisheye Lense fun
A fun day and a great group of photos.
We had a GREAT visit with my mom. One of our spontaneous things was visiting the Zoo Atlanta in downtown. The weather was great, the traffic cooperated, and there wasn’t a crowd. Plenty of time to see each animal habitat. A wonderful outing for this vacation getaway.
This guy was just chilling in the early morning hours.
This giraffe was sparky while we watched him. He was running around and even chased another habitat animal trying to play.
Lazy days!
The Silver back Gorillas presence was obvious!
The Orangutans were super Lazy.
The otters are always cool to watch. There was even a pair doing a little voyeurism while we were there.
These flowers really stood out to me.
Pandas were cool to see. The baby was even out showing off.
Somehow they tricked Gisselle into getting stamped up!
My mom had a special friend at the petting zoo.
I want a Kangaroo!
Right across from the Georgia Aquarium was the Coca Cola Tour. There they house educational tours,4-D rides,cool historic galleries and of course the tasting room. The tasting rooms has 60 different coca cola manufactured flavors from all over the world on tap ready for you to sample.
Entering the building there are a few pieces of decorative coca cola bottles representing China, Russia, Spain, Africa and a few others. My favorite has to be Africa due to the intricate bead working.
In the first part of the tour there is a little bit of history on display from old advertisement posters/signs to figures,clothing and a few old school dispensing machines.
And walking through a mini manufacturing/bottling area you can see how everything gets down behind the plate glass windows. Just imagine working in the MAIN plant manufacturing and bottling a couple hundred thousand units an hour.
The 4-D theater was great. A motion sensitive video, where you sit in seats that move around with the movie,blows air on you and splashes whether at specific moments in the show. Definitely kick ass!
Right across from that is the Taste It area. This is where the sampling of the 60 Coca Cola varieties are. I dug a few from each continent. Japan has probably the best for me out of the several offerings.
We welcomed the US stations to get that good ole Coke taste back in our mouths
As you exit the building you see a HUGE spiraling machine to your left. With all the bottling they do below you through the tour, these products are then offered as gifts to you as you exit. you can pick out whichever one you want (1 bottle per person). Pretty cool momento of this trip!
My family and I got a chance to visit my mother and brother in Georgia for memorial day. What a really quick 8 hour drive that was! Easy traffic flowing down there and the way back. we stopped at a few tourist spots while we were there but mainly tried to relax a little in between running around seeing the town. Selle had her own little blast at the pool.
This is MAX my brothers cat. Big as he is and only a little over a year old.
They must have alot of DUI problems in Georgia….
A little snapshot of the Atlanta skyline during the day festivities…..
And fighting the rain everyday we were down there Selle finally got to hit the swimming pool with Grandma…
She even is becoming quite the diving daredevil
Crazy look!!
This weekend we decided to visit The Norfolk Zoo. The weather was right for it. None of us had ever been there before so we decided to check it out.
A few quick shots while we wait to get to the admission window.
Miley the Build-a-Bear had to come along to see the animals as per Gisselle.
You know spring is here when pretty flowers bloom!
A Peacock decided he would chill and pose for us:
I don’t know what it was but the majority of the animals today all wanted to lay out and take naps..
BY FAR the LARGEST pig I have ever seen!
This cow was chewing its cud as it was sleeping…weird…
Sheep dog meets Billy goat
One of the smallest deers in the world as per the placard on the exhibit
I tried getting several pictures of the indoor animals but do to extremely low lighting and the filthy windows everything came out terrible.
A little American Pride in Animals The American Bison and the Great American Eagle:
A cool train to ride around the Zoo(a WHOPPING 10min ride that cost $2 per person over 2 yrs old). Definitely a cash cow for the Zoo. Full every trip making almost $400 an hour! I need to get in that game!
The meerkats and foxes laying out
I thought this was a cool shot for the day! That is the life!
The Elephants were cool,though I bet they could have used a nice pool to lay in.
This was Gisselle’s HIGHLIGHT of the day.She was talking about Giraffes since we pulled up to the Zoo. She almost had one actually lick her hand but some ignorant kids next to us decided to freak out and start swinging at the Giraffe as it leaned toward the walk way.
There were a few African Bongos running around along with some Antelopes
These birds must have a GREAT Hairdresser!
This Guy just sat in the corner of the exhibit.
All I could think about at this moment was Marc Ecko:
Another fun Day for Gisselle. Something she can talk about at school about her fun weekend trip.
As we ended the day with a Wild Wing Cafe Dinner Gisselle got her shirley temple and mac n cheese…a stoked ending to cool family day!
Well the Halloween weekend was a wild one! After trick or treating into the night and spending family time until late, we woke up early Saturday (5am) to embark on our Washington D.C. Trip. Wishful thinking to miss any traffic or delays which worked out really well!. Made it to D.C. in a little under 3 1/2 hours with a breakfast stop. There were alot of cool things to see. And Alma and Gisselle’s first time in the Capitol City. We all didn’t realize yet the tiring day we got ourselves into!
Alot of cool architecture and statues lined many streets in D.C.!
We headed through a few museums, where Gisselle had her fill of button pushing and level pulling!
Something about this scene was just wrong….in sooo many ways!
Crazy guy mean mugging someone!
I never knew the Egyptians used to mummify animals as well as humans. This is a sacrificial bull that was buried with the same respect as royalty.
This little crazy guy was running all over. Selle made a clicking sound and he ran right over. Probably thinking we had food for him. He came right up to the camera and Gisselle without hesitation!
AWWWWW
Can’t forget the Fishies!
The Vietnam War memorial, WW2 Memorial, and Lincoln Memorial, all three very special places for us Americans, and moving in their very own ways!
The WW2 Memorial to me is very new. It had all 50 states and U.S. Territories named on pillars surrounding the fountain pool. Each corner had a massive pillar/tower that had general areas for each state groups (i.e Pacific, Atlantic). And each pillar had battles listed with quotes from very powerful military officers or presidents regarding each battle. We have/had SOOOO many great soldiers in our nations time, and this memorial honors each of them!
And I think besides the Vietnam and WW2 veterans memorials, El Dia De Los Muertos exhibit at the Native American museum was the BEST part of our trip! I totally dug the vibe from that Museum!
They had native sugar skull painting,tissue paper flower workshops, mini flags, mini pinata type sculptures for kids, and cool pieces of art!
I think this was the MOST POWERFUL piece that can be interpreted many ways. But I felt it meant death is yet another journey in life, and you make of it what you will. Death isn’t dark and dreary, yet colorful, warm, surrounded by happiness paddling into an unknown future.
I have tons more pictures on my Flickr. Check them out and comment if you want!
Just Jdm Photography 