Road Trip: South - inalnd trip
Day 5: Sunday, May 24, 2015 - Atlanta, GA
Weather: Low 80's. Partly cloudy.
Steps: 10,559 (Steve), 10,240 (Linda)
Drove: 233 miles
We endulged in another great breakfast - enough to have a late lunch / early dinner (and nothing else or a light snack).
Today we were making the last two stops of the Atlanta City Pass - Zoo Atlanta and the Fernbank Museum of Natural History.
First up, the zoo. On our way to the zoo we came across this John Lewis mural:
Here are some highlights - though there were quite a few others (plus we were there not long after the zoo opened and some of the animals were still sleeping [seriously... it was early.]). Keep in mind that most of the animals were photographed through a fence, cage or glass.
A White Headed Buffalo Weaver, a Pied Imperial Pigeon and a Victoria Crowned Pigeon:
A Raggiana Bird-of-Paradise and a pair of White-faced Whistling Ducks:
A Hooded Vulture, a King Vulture and a Double-wattled Cassowary:
A Doube-wattled Crane, a Major Mitchell's Cockatoo and a Laughing Kookaburra:
A Euraasian Eagle Owl, a Milky Eagle Owl, a Venezuelan Troupial, and a Malayan Great Argus Pheasant (2):
A White Crested Laughing Thrush (2), a pair of Tawny Frogmouths and a Blue-breasted Kingfisher:
A wreathed Hornbill and a Kori Bustard:
A Komodo Dragon:
A Geoffroy Tamarin and a Golden Lion Tamarin:
Flamingos:
There was a large birdhouse that you actually walk through. I didn't get any of the
names of the birds, but they were colorful and nice to look at anyway:
Separate from the bird house - which had number of different birds - there was a parakeet house. With a lot of parakeets...
There really were a LOT of parakeets. Here are some... yes, it was petty noisy.
We walked through the Reptile House. There were reptiles at the reptile house.
Kangaroos:
Wolf's Guenon:
A Red Panda:
Ruffed Lemur Monkey (I think):
Pandas:
An Orangutan and a Sumatran Orangutan:
Gorillas (2) and Western Lowland Gorillas (4):
A baby Western Lowland Gorilla at play:
Giraffes:
Elephants:
Lions:
And a few other animals:
After our fill of animals, reptiles and other creatures, we headed to the FMoNH. On the way to the
Fernbank Museum of Natural History (FMoNH), we spied these two dogs enjoying a car ride:
One of the secuirty guards told us that the floor had natural fossils in them. So we took some pictures:
The atrium in the center had a number of dinosaur bones too:
There was a children's section of the museum. One of the stations was a green screen weather simulation. Here are our attempts to be weather people:
There were a few displays but not too many pictures were taken. One of the last things we watched was the "Unseen World" iMAX movie. It was entertaining and informative.
On Memorial Drive, IIRC, there was an unusual light situation. Much like there would be a red X indicating not to drive
in a particular lane - especially because there would likely be on-coming traffic - this roadway had a red X indicator too.
We has worked up an appetite after the zoo and museum. I had previously read about a location called
Daddy D'z Barbeque. It received good ratings and it wasn't that far from the
museum (we actually drove right past it on the way to the zoo). Frankly the place looked like a dump - which I was
expecting based on the reviews - but don't let the looks fool you. The food tasted pretty good.
Linda had pulled
pork (that she said was very tasty and juicy) with mac and cheese and cole slaw and cornbread:
My ribs and chicken were a little dry. OK, the ribs were a lot dry. I ate two ribs, slathered the other two
in sauce and went at the chicken. The ten minute soak in sauce did help the situation some... there was also
baked beans, cole slaw and cornbread:
After washing up, we hit the road - Interstates 26 and 81 - on our way to Asheville, NC. The mountain scenery is so nice.
We arrived at our hotel - late, again - and checked in.