It was a long drive to Atlanta, but the aquarium was well worth the trip.  We all arrived safely at our hotel on Friday night. We walked over to Peachtree street which was only 2 blocks from our hotel and had a nice dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe'. Friday night we were awakened by gun fire a few blocks from our hotel. Apparently a common occurrence in Atlanta because the same thing happened on Saturday night. Needless to say, you don't want to be out on Atlanta streets after dark. Saturday morning after breakfast most walked to the aquarium, and a few were shuttled in Ray's van. The aquarium was amazing. The Titanic exhibit had room recreations and numerous artifacts brought up from the ocean floor. The main attraction was the over 6 million gallon tank that the giants of the sea called home. There were 4 whale sharks and a manta ray named Nandi along with several species of sharks, including hammerhead and black tip. There were different species of  grouper and rays, mullet, and a giant humphead wrasse. We walked through a 100 ft long underwater tunnel and sat in front of a 23' high by 61' long viewing window of the large tank. Some of the other exhibits included beluga whales, octopus, giant spider crabs, sea dragons, otters, turtles, alligators, piranha and many other varies of sea life.

After a long day at the aquarium we all went back to the hotel to rest for a couple of hours then we were off to Mary Mac's Tea Room for some authentic southern cooking. Our dinner included back rubs from the Goodwill Ambassador, Jo. 
It was a great weekend.
 
Many thanks to Carmela Donegan for her help with this trip. She and Barry were greatly missed.
 
Those who made the long trip were:

Ray and Linda Smith
Bob and Janet Miller
Kay Owen
Jerry and Sandy Canning
Barry and Priscilla Erhardt
Walter Wilt
Nancy Fuentes
Marianne BargerAl and Jerri Ritz