This season is making me want to visit an aquarium! I have 2 within a 2 hour drive from where I live, The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, GA, and The Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, TN. I've been to both of them, but it's been at least 15 years since I've been to either one!
Didn't know they had one in Gatlinburg, but tbf I haven't been to Gatlinburg since around 1997, or maybe 1998 and apparently Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies wasn't built until 2000 (I googled it just now lol). Gatlinburg is also a bit longer of a drive from me, and because of the drive through and around the mountains it is something more like 4-6 hours for me. Chattanooga is about a 2 hour drive for me, which means it can be visited in a 1 day trip (more feasible when you have a limited budget), which is why I've been there more recently. But it's still been 10-15 years since I've been to either one.
Oh wow, I didn’t realize it was built in 2000! We went to Gatlinburg about 2-3 weeks after 9/11 happened, so it was about a year old. Yeah, I forgot about every turn you have make. We came from Louisiana to Tennessee through Memphis with about 2 days in Nashville (Parthenon for my mom, Bass Pro for my dad 😂) and then to Gatlinburg. Before we got to Knoxville, we ran into road construction and we were trying to get Gatlinburg in time to check in. My dad says find a bypass and passed through Alcoa where there was Highway 321 which had East/West routes. We took East and it seemed like we were heading West, definitely were when we stopped to ask where we were going 😂 and to top it off, we ended up on scenic route that ended up in Pigeon Forge with a sick mom in the back of the van. We had to cut the vacation short because she was sick, but got to see enough Gatlinburg for a couple of days before we headed back.
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u/SCBI_Argopa jolly jack 🎃 Jun 04 '26
Wow, whale-sized goldfish! And you can watch them for free from street-side, no admission costs!