Go Fish

It was a sudden cast of shadows over a cloudless sky when I first found out about our company’s vacation policy revision. This change revokes employee’s right to carry over the unused vacation days to the following year. I was extremely frustrated because it was such a short notice that there were only a few weeks left before this policy took its effect.

Melissa, my best female friend in town, is a regional sales manager as well as a road worrier with a flexible work schedule. She has accumulated 4-week of vacation after working loyally for a giant greeting card company for 20 years. We have been contemplating on a visit to Atlanta ever since we met yet we never managed to find the opportunity. With the extra vacation hours on hand to consume, I immediately thought of Melissa and she gladly accepted my last minute invitation. Lucky me!

Departing on Sunday, April 13, we cruised leisurely along I-85 across NC, SC, and GA with multiple coffee breaks and shopping sprees at the outlet malls. It took us 7 hours, which was 3 hours longer than the normal travel time, to arrive at our final destination. The famous Georgia Aquarium located in downtown Atlanta was our main agenda during this visit. We toured this colossal gallery filled with six million gallons of saltwater in one short day.

No sense to wait for that expensive scuba diving trip to the Caribbean because you could duplicate that visual effect right here in a 100-foot-long underwater tunnel. There was also an interactive exhibition, which enabled us to "pet" several sea creatures including Horseshoe Crab, Sea Stars, even baby Stingrays and Sharks while they were in motion. Have you seen Moon Jellyfish? Do you know how enormous the Goliath Groupers are? If any of your answer to the above questions are no, then you might want to add this aquarium to your “100 Places to Go Before You Die” list. The miracle of God’s creation is truly beyond comprehension. So let’s “Go Fish” and let the ravishing aquatic species captivate and mesmerize you!