Penguins Rock!

This was one of my favorite exhibits at the Tennessee Aquarium.
I've always been fascinated by penguins and they're so much fun
to watch! The penguin exhibit opened May 3, 2007 and features
Macaroni and Gentoo penguins. The following picture is the only
one I got of them swimming.





I thought it was pretty cool how they gave names to all of the
penguins. Too cute! Check out the names.


One of many interesting penguin facts.




Happy Feet! This is my favorite picture :0)






You can tell this guy gets plenty to eat.








Aquarium personnel feeding the penguins. Can't wait to go back
and see them again!

Tennessee Aquarium Butterfly Garden

One of my favorite parts of the aquarium was the butterfly garden.
It was incredible! If you visit the butterfly garden, be prepared
for high humidity and heat, as the room is kept in ideal conditions
for the delicate butterflies.


There were plates of fruit all around the garden. The butterflies
that live there have it made :0)










The blur on the right is a butterfly heading toward one of many
of the incredible flowers in the exhibit.


They also raise butterflies in the garden. The room was climate
controlled and had cocoons of different butterfly species. This
picture is for my niece, Julia :0)




Tomorrow...the penguins.

This is a sample of the flowers that can be found in the Tropical
Cove at the TN Aquarium.






Tomorrow...pictures from the butterfly sanctuary :0)

The Tropical Cove in Ocean Journey...TN Aquarium

A pair of Hyacinth Macaws at the Tennessee Aquarium.

Reaching heights of more than 3 feet and a wingspan of more than 4 feet,
the hyacinth macaw is a member of the parrot family and has the strongest
beak of any bird in the world.

Tennessee Aquarium

While we were in Chattanooga I spent 4 hours at the Tennessee
Aquarium. It houses the largest freshwater aquarium in the
world. I started my tour with the Stingray exhibit. I even got
to pet one of them.


This pretty little creature is a freshwater Stingray.


Stingrays are related to sharks and are considered docile creatures.


Several species of Stingrays are endangered.


I took over 400 pictures while at the aquarium, so there is more
to come.

Chattanooga

I accompanied my hubby Terry to Chattanooga, Tennessee for
an HR conference. We left Wednesday morning and took Highway
111. I had never gone to Chattanooga this way. It was absolutely
gorgeous. I took the following pictures between Spencer and
Chattanooga. Enjoy!

I called our vet this morning to check on Bullet who was scheduled to be neutered this morning. Kathy at Animal Wellness told me they had time yesterday, so they did his surgery yesterday. He came through the surgery with flying colors and we can't wait to pick him up this afternoon!

We've had a great time in Chattanooga, but I'm ready to go home. Will be posting pictures from our trip tomorrow :0)

We dropped Bullet cat off at the vets this afternoon before heading
to Chattanooga for a couple of days. He's scheduled to be neutered
Friday morning and we'll be picking him up Friday afternoon when
we get back. I miss my little furball already!

To get the effect for this water drop picture, I put a picture of a
sunflower behind the water stream. You can see the reflection
of it in the water drop.

Macro Water Droplets

I found an article on the internet about taking macro pictures of
water drops, so I grabbed my camera and headed for the
bathroom :0) I turned the water on “low enough” so that it was
coming out of the faucet a drop at a time.


Water drops in our copper bathroom sink. I love the reflection
of the sink through the first drop.

Purple Clematis.

Late Summer Sunrise

Hubby took these shots this morning. Pretty!

Late Summer Moon

One thing I'll miss when our Zinnia's die out are the beautiful
butterflies that flock to our garden.