Penguins!

African Penguins to be exact. These guys were very active and seemed to be a very playful mood the day we visited them.

While we were in Atlanta, we went to the Georgia Aquarium. We decided to go on Monday and figured we would have a nice peaceful time since everyone should be either working or going to school. We were WRONG. I think maybe 5 elementary schools decided to go on a field trip to the Aquarium the same day we were there. It was a little crazier inside than we expected.

Here are a few pictures (click to enlarge):

The tank they set up in the next three photos was amazing to see in person. When standing in front of it, you felt as if you are surrounded by the water and fish. This tank featured salt water fish such as Clownfish and Blue Tangs also known as nemo and dory as made popular by Finding Nemo.

The following two pictures are of discus and angel fish. They look small in the picture but they are much larger than anything you can buy in a fish store.

The remaining pictures in this set are of their largest tank. It is about the size of a football field. It has a nice tunnel that leads you right through the middle of the tank. Then you come around and get a good view of the entire contents of the tank through a large acrylic window. The window is about 60 feet across and about 2 feet thick. I don’t remember how tall it is.

The two main attractions of the tank are two 20 foot whale sharks. They are not chasing those small fish in these pictures. They actually don’t eat those fish. Those small guys hang around the big guy to protect themselves from the other predators in the tank.

On March 18, 2006, my girlfriend and I left New York City and headed to Atlanta, Georgia for a little break from school and work. Here are a few pictures documenting our first day in Atlanta.

A view of Manhatten from the plane. My window was a little foggy.

Here is my girlfriend sleeping on the plane and enjoying my Bose noise-cancelling headphones which she initially yelled at me for getting.

Our first stop was the Atlanta Zoo. It was a decent sized zoo with a decent amount of animals. Even better was that almost all animals were out and moving around. I think we arrived at the right time to watch most of them get fed.

An elephant giving us the stare down.

A closer view of the elephant.

A gorilla with a baby gorilla hanging on his leg.

A male silverback gorilla waiting to be fed by the zoo keepers.

Another male silverback chowing down.

A panda bear

Furry bear

The panda is on the move

A leopard posing for the camera. The tail on this kitty was longer than its entire body.

A scary snake at the Reptile House

Another scary snake at the Reptile House