Vacation – Page 4 – ray+ashley+emery

December 29, 2007December 30, 2007

Chattanooga Day Trip: Ruby Falls

Today we took a day trip to Chattanooga, Tennessee.Â Ash and I have alway wanted to check it out being that it’s been talked about as an up and coming city.Â So with Bean visiting we thought Chattanooga would be a good candidate for a day trip.Â We headed out around 9:30 am.Â Of course before we left, Bean had to pose a picture with the local mid town princess.

The drive from Atlanta was short, only about 1 hr 45 min.Â Our first stop was Ruby Falls, a subterrainean mile-long caveren that lead to a 145 underground waterfall.

Ruby Falls is named after the wife of the explorer who found this underground cavern.Â The caveren sits bellow the Look Out Mountain which overlooks the city of Cattanooga.Â Above the cavern is the castle which was built out of the rock displaced by the dig to the cavern.

The walk through the underground cavern (above) was a very cool experience.Â Almost a mile long, the tunnel is about two person shoulder width wide.Â The climate is always a cool 60 degrees and we had to take a elevator deep into the heart of the mountain to access the cavern.

We walked with a guide and saw numerous crevaces and undergroound pools of water giving us the feeling like we were ouselves exploring this underground world.Â At te end of the mile trek, we entered a large domed open area all natrually ocurring.Â The guide purposely dimmed the lights and all we could see what was the dim glow of green flood lights and theÂ louding crashing of water.Â The feeling was similar to Lord of the Rings when the fellowship walked into the city of the dwarves.Â In fact, Bean and I made a few jokes about it as we walked through the cavern.

Then with a creshendow of music, the lights illuminated showing a vast catheral like area with a huge water fall.Â The site was very awesome to see and the crowd gasped and clapped!Â I tried my best to capture the waterfall but the two below the about the best I could do.

The water hollowed out the dome area that Ruby Falls is located; this area is sometimes referred to as â€œSolomonâ€™s Templeâ€. By way of erosion the waterfall carved out this area. The progress of this natural process can be observed by studying the smooth sides of the limestone walls.

Before we left Ruby falls, I took a nice pic of a Christmas tree ornament in the lobby of the castle.Â I am quite pleased with how it came out! 🙂

December 27, 2007December 28, 2007

Water World

Today Ashley and I took Bean to the World of Coca Cola museum and the Georgia Aquarium.Â Ash and I have gone to the Coke museum before but the aquarium was one I have been personally waiting to see ever since coming to Atlanta.

We had a great water themed day from carbonated water to giant fish swimming in large tanks of water.Â Bean had a great time as well and really enjoyed the Coke museum.Â I warned him to be thirsty before he got there and he only half listened…yup now he knows why…

Here are some pictures from our day.

Of course the best part of the Coke museum is the tasting room.Â This time I was able to take down our favorites.Â Here they are!

Ash loved the bitter sour taste of Kinley.Â Bean loved the sugary sweet bubbley drink from South Africa called Bibo.Â I really like the sweet sour apple soda from China-back to my roots!Â Interestingly, when we mixed our favorite drinks together it produced something even tastier.Â Here’s a pic of us inside the tasting room.Â The floor was so sticky!

Our next stop after coke was the aquarium.Â Ash and Bean love verbally abusing each other and I had a great time insitgating and laughing at their smack talk.Â Here’s a great pic of Ashley being cheeky with Bean outside the aquarium.

The Georgia Aquarium is the newest aquarium in the country and is home to the 6.5 billion gallon tank which houses the whale shark.Â The sharks were brought over from Taiwan at the age of 15 and can grow to the size of a school bus.Â There are four of them in this huge tank and the sight is simply amazing.

I think my favorite type of museum are aquariums.Â So far I’ve only been to three, New England, Monterey and now the Georgia Aqauarium.Â Bean says the new aquarium in Da Liang or Ching Dao is spectacular too!

Here’s a picture of Ash and Bean looking at Jellyfish.Â I like this photo a lot, the blue glow and the reflection of Ashley’s face in the glass is especially cool.

No visit to an Aquarium would be complete without a petting zoo.Â Here’s Ash and Bean daring each other to touch sting rays and baby hammerhead sharks.Â I had to call them chicken before they got the courage to do it!Â Meanwhile 5 year olds are trying to jump into the pool.

What a great time we all had!

August 11, 2007August 16, 2007

Soda Overload @ World of Coke

The Chang Family, (Su-Cheng, Wendy and Cadence), Jerry, Linda, Ash and I went to the Coke Museum in downtown Atlanta.

Never before did I think a soda could become a museum but to my surprise it was really fun! Complete with 4D motion rides, human sized polar bear, working bottling factory, movies and huge number of memorabilia displays and historic artifacts all coke related, we dashed from exhibit to exhibit like it was Disney world! Of course the constant “drink coca-cola” brainwashing slogan was everywhere but in the end you a make yourself utterly sick of coke with soda buffet exhibit.

There was over 70 beverage flavors from Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. Some of the familiar brands like Fanta and Sprite were there but there was many more strange ones that we never heard of.

Some tasted quite good, but other were ghastly, tasting either like bitter water or listerine. It was a great time and we enjoyed seeing it with our good friends.

July 29, 2007August 10, 2007

Sequoia National Park-Largest Tress On Earth

I’ve always wanted to see the largest trees on the planet and we were so close being in California that it would be a shame not to take a look. Two days before we left California, Ashley, the dogs and I drove 4.5 hours south to Sequoia National Park. The drive was calm and not particularly scenic. We passed by the typical California small towns, farms with rolling hills and yellow grass.

Sequoia National Park is divided into two large parks, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park. We entered through the northern entrance and took this picture. America’s national park entrances are not auspicious and always involve this form of a wooden sign.

Our first stop was the General Grant Tree, the third largest tree in the world. “The General Grant Tree is a living memorial to the men and women of the United States who have given their lives in service to their country. It was proclaimed a National Shrine on March 29, 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The official dedication was made that year on Veterans Day, November 11, by the president’s personal representative, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz. Each year during the Christmas ceremony, park rangers place a large wreath at the base of the Grant Tree, remembering those who gave their lives. ” (from www.nps.gov) The tree is over 267 feet tall, 40 feet across its base and over 107 feet around. Estimates of its age range from 1500 to 2000 years old.

The trees were so large it was very hard to take photos that captured the size and majesty of each tree and the feeling of walking amongst giants. We took a fee photos of some giant sequoia trees which had fallen which show a better sense of their size.

Our next target was the General Sherman tree, about one hour drive south from the General Grant Tree. “The General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park is the largest (by volume) tree in the world. ” (from www.nps.gov) The height of this tree is 275 Feet tall. This tree is still alive and growing. It is so big that every year it produces enough wood equivalent to a regular sized tree! Seeing this humongous giant was truly awe inspiring, never in my life could I have imagined a tree of this size. To think that this tree has lived over 2000 years is truly amazing!

July 9, 2007July 27, 2007

House Hunting in HotLanta

What a week, I got back from India and two days later Ashley and I flew out to Atlanta.Â We had to find a condo, negotiate and sign the contract in about 5-6 days.Â We’ve never been to atlanta before.Â Yes, it’s a bold move and knock on wood we made the right choice.Â The house hunting went well, our Real estate agents were wonderful and we were able to sign a contract on the place that we both really liked.Â Our new home is called the Tuscany located in Mid Town Atlanta!Â Thanks to Michael and Christie for helping us out, hosting us for theose couple of days.Â It really helps to consult with some locals.

The picture below is the view outside our condo window.