Atlanta: Zoo and Aquarium

I was very excited to go to Zoo Atlanta, because they have pandas! 

Perhaps because it was Fall, but the weather was absolutely perfect.  Not too hot or cold. Perfect for a day at the zoo.

Or to take a nap.

It took this lil' guy a full 15 minutes to crawl up and find a perfect comfy spot. Panda's aren't the fastest creatures.

Seriously, nap time.

Red panda vs. giant panda..CUTENESS BATTLE!

I liked how the fences were kinda "modernized" to look like bamboo. Nice touch, but it'd be more realistic if they were different heights maybe?

Need more cute? How about Rufus? Hehe.

Or Caterpie?

The creepy part - he's not part of an exhibit. Wild caterpie appeared!

The birds were loving the weather.

And we got to see the very rare, endangered intern! Heh. Sorry. XD

But the most memorable thing for me - I learned that Tanuki are REAL ANIMALS.  OMG.

I always assumed they were Japanese myth like Kappa or Tengu. Insane. Even Sak didn't know they were real.  They were kinda cute too! Like a badger racoon or something.

Their exhibit had a persimmon tree in it, and we saw a persimmon fall off the tree, the tanuki ran over and ate it! Cuuuuteee.

Speaking of tanuki, if you haven't seen Eccentric Family yet, you should - it's pretty cute and the art is interesting. (the ears, so weird.)  I'm not quite sure about the ending, but it's a good anime.

Next, the aquarium.  I heard a lot of good things about the Georgia Aquarium since it is relatively new and has whale sharks! I think the only place in the US that has them, actually.

The whole place felt very new and modern - considering the aquarium was built within the last decade.

There's even a dolphin show, which is weird for an aquarium!

electric eel!

I'm just gonna pretend that's me cause this is a cool shot, lol.

They made good use of the place, with lots of overhead tanks.  The moving sidewalk in the water tunnel was a good way to keep people from clogging the tunnel.

And the whale sharks were amazing, of course.

The aquarium was beautiful, and I SO wanted to get married again when I saw they offer ceremonies in their ballroom above the whale shark tank. The place was probably also the most corporate/commerical aquarium I've ever been in as well, since most the exhibits listed their sponsors right next to the tank.

Anyway, that about wraps up our short trip to Atlanta for anime con and tourism!  The rest of our time was spent combing every sort of grocery store for made-in-georgia food for omiyage. (No one appreciated the bag of corn bread pancake mix I brought back. lol. XD)

Atlanta, may we meet again someday!