Fish For Sunday

Sunday we made our first of what will become monthly visits to one of the shuttle sites for our company's transportation department. Although our warehouse is located right outside of Atlanta, we deliver to not only the entire state of Georgia, but to the surrounding states as well. To cut down on driving time, we have multiple shuttle sites all over the state. The shuttle site James will be checking every month is about 160 miles south of Newnan. When we were in SC, James was over the warehouse, but since moving to ATL, he is in addition over the transportation department as well.



He will have to go to this site at least once a month and check the trailers and tractors, recording anything he sees out of place. (Below, he is checking the temperature of the unit on this trailer, since it has groceries on it.) And since it's such a long drive, I will be going with him, and we will try to make a day of it every trip. We mapped out all the locations in southern Georgia where we know there are penny machines, and we will pick one machine for each month.



For our first trip down that way, we went over to Albany, where we visited the Flint RiverQuarium and got their pennies. It's a small aquarium right on the river and also right in downtown. I told James I will be glad when winter is over because I am tired of always putting gloomy photos on the blog! We haven't seen the sun in a long time it seems. It was cold and blustery that afternoon as well.



For a small facility, they had plenty to see and do there. These were some of the biggest fish I've ever seen, including lots of catfish and a few gigantic sturgeon.



We were able to get up close and personal with a wide variety of critters. I know James will probably say, if you've seen one aquarium you've seen them all, but I happen to love them and I can spend 10-15 minutes in front of just one tank. And yes, I talk to the animals and the fish, and no I'm not expecting them to answer. Although one little baby gator tried desperately to snap at my camera as it was up against the glass. I don't think my husband is quite as enthralled with wildlife as I am, but he is very indulgent and never lets on if he is bored.















They even had a bird sanctuary outdoors. Most of the birds seemed to be those of the water loving species, because the aquarium is supposed to mimic life on the river. But there were a few song birds in there as well. I'm not sure if they were supposed to be there or just snuck in through the netting to feast on the free buffet. There was a sign at the entrance saying that most of the birds were people friendly and to not be alarmed if they landed on you. But, it was so cold out everyone was just fluffed up and huddling to stay warm. I was sort of disappointed no one paid us any attention, because I was hoping to make a new feathered friend.







Across the way, we checked out the second building which features rotating displays. For now, it's alligators. And here is James, right where any good UT Vol belongs- getting chomped and eaten alive by a Gator!



This little guy was giving me the evil eye, but he was just so darn cute for such a scary little fellow.



We finished up the visit by walking down to the river, where it was swelled with the recent rains. I don't know if you can make it out in this photo or not, but if you can see the tall street lamps down near the trees- well, that's where the sidewalk was. The water was muddy and rushing quite strongly.

We ended the day with a great lunch at Fuddrucker's (oh-so-yummy burgers) and will find another hidden gem and penny machine to visit on our trip next month. It was a long day, we left the house at 8am and got home after 6pm. But it was fun, and if my husband has to make this long drive for work anyhow, we might as well spend those days together and do something fun along the way.