Rafting the New

In Summer 2004 my husband and I went to Pennsylvania and West Virginia for vacation. On our last day before heading back home we went white water rafting on the Lower New river and had a great time. Before this we had only gone rafting on the Ocoee, which is fun, but not as wild as the New.

The company we went with was Rivers Resort. While I'm sure most companies offer a similar experience, that is the one we went with and the guides were very good. This is very physical, but also very fun. You should be a confident swimmer, but you will of course have a life jacket. The river offers from class II - V rapids, and they are mostly one after another, which is what makes it so difficult. The highlights of the ride were stopping to jump off a tall boulder into the water, and flipping the raft, more or less on purpose. Let me explain: after going over a particular rapid, all the rafts pull over to the side and wait their turn to "surf" the rapid. You come at the rapid from the side, and then paddle like crazy to get into the current between where the water goes down and the white water churns up. When you get there you can stop paddling and stay in the middle of the current. After a few moments the current spits you out, and sometimes that involves flipping the raft. So, we did this twice, pretty good, no flips, and were laughing at all the people who had flipped, but then karma kicked in I suppose. It flipped our raft, and I did bump my temple on a rock, despite my helmet. When I resurfaced it took me a while to realize I needed to swim to the side if I didn't want to go downstream alone. I swam sideways, until I was in the current that circles back up into the rapid. This is where all the rafts are floating and waiting for their turn. Well, the rules are supposed to be, if some one's in the water, pull them out, even if they're not with your group/guide company. so I get sucked up to the first raft and I'm like "hi" and they just look at me blankly and don't help me. At this point, I can feel my legs being pulled under the raft, and I really do not want to go under, because on the other side of them is another raft, and another, and another... I wouldn't be able to get back to the top... so I push off from them and try to make it to one of the Rivers rafts which, after being squished a little between some other rafts waiting for their turn, I finally manage to do. We get reorganized, I get back in a raft with my husband (who has lost his paddle) and the others from our raft, and we're on our way again.

Thankfully, we stopped shortly after that for a riverside meal, and we were all able to compare our scrapes and bruises. The meal consisted of sandwiches you make your self from huge piles of deli meat/cheese and etc., chips, and some Oreo Refrigerate-to-make type desert. By the way, pieces of cheese are really hard to separate with a plastic spork. After the end of the ride, we went back to the saloon which is run by Rivers at their campsite. Everyone was given two free drinks, and we all watched the video, which had been shot along the way, on a big screen. So, of course, we bought the video for maybe a little too much, but how could we resist? Recorded on the video, in all it's splendid glory, is our flip. I'm proud of my husband because instead of going into the water in a jumble like the rest of us, he held on to the top of the raft until the very last. The drinks after were nice bonus, even though I was limited to soda, it being a few months before my 21st birthday.

This is definitely worth doing if you like rafting, but this probably shouldn't be your first trip. The upper New is milder. The Ocoee, in South East Tennessee is good, and I'm sure there are many others.

Some advice: make sure you bring extra clothes, and make sure you eat a good breakfast. I'll give this an A, and I'd do it again, brain damage and all.

Incredible Aquarium

My husband and I were first drawn to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta shortly after its opening in late 2005. On that visit, we were astounded by the Whale Sharks most of all, but also impressed by the quality of the many other exhibits, and so we returned in January of 2007 to introduce some friends, who, though local, had yet to visit. And while the dynamics have changed as the tanks have matured somewhat, the Georgia aquarium remains an incredible experience.

The aquarium has several touch tanks, with sharks, rays, sea urchins, starfish, and anemones, and the best part is everything feels you back! They have a wide variety of animals, including a sea otter that seems to have a bad habit of sucking his thumb. Even the fresh water tanks are enjoyable, though I have seen a lot of them.

There are a few major areas: the cold water exhibits house the belugas, sea otters, urchin touch tanks, penguins and more. The fresh water tanks have exhibits from around the world. There is a also tropical exhibit and the whale shark exhibit, which I discuss below, and there is even a kid's play area.

This isn't just a bunch of fish tanks. This aquarium is designed with a real theatrical flare. Each of the main areas of the aquarium has a passage that you follow in a loop, which leaves and returns to a main lobby. The lobby has a soaring ceiling, and a snack bar, which has prices to match the ceiling.

When you enter the tropical exhibit, you walk into a dark and narrow hallway, drawing attention to the many tanks filled with brightly colored fish and sea creatures. Then, you walk around a corner and suddenly, you find yourself standing fifteen feet under the ocean looking at a beautiful tropical coral reef. Magical music floats through the air, and you are faintly mesmerized. Just as you are almost over the initial awe, the surf crashes onto the beach which is just out of sight above and behind you. You'll just have to see it for yourself to understand. At least, that was my experience the first time. The second time the wave machine had been turned off and there was a largish fellow in a wet suit dusting the muck off the corals. A somewhat less magical experience.

But the tropical exhibit is nothing compared to the whale shark exhibit. The pathway for this exhibit simply loops around a single massive tank. A tank with 100,000 fish. A tank with currently 3 whale sharks, hammerheads, leopard sharks, groupers, and schools of rays. It is fantastic. This display is as well directed as the reef exhibit. You walk around the tank, at first being given only small windows to peer through, that mask the tank's true size. Then you come to the tunnel, which is truly impressive. the light shines down through the water like a dozen suns, the school of rays soar overhead like graceful birds, and a grouper, with an entourage of yellow fish surrounding him goes by. After this, there are more widows, of many shapes and sizes, all giving limited views of the tank. Finally, you arrive at the main attraction: A single huge window. It is larger than a movie theater screen. Just as with the coral reefs you are suddenly actually there, underwater, gazing at the fish from the ocean floor, only now you are much further under the surface. .

I wish I was still sitting on the floor my face practically pressed to the very thick acrylic and just watching ocean life play out right in front of me. On my first visit the tank a single school of fish was the most dominant feature. They were yellow and smallish, about the size of your hand or smaller, and they were REALLY schooling. They were like a whirling tornado, spinning and swimming, and turning as one entity. The whale sharks circle the tank, which is so large they sometimes disappear into the depths as they reach the other side. If one of the sharks swims through the school, they feed on its back, and as the shark emerges it pulls a golden finger of the fish away from the main school with it. The rays go by like birds migrating, and the smaller sharks circle the tank, or lay on the sandy ocean floor. The dynamics of the tank had changed when I visited in January. The yellow fish are mostly gone, and there are more large fish about. There is music here also, which could not be more perfectly epic. This is worth the trip, and the cost. Parking is about $8 and tickets for adults are $23 per person w/tax. I only have 3 suggestions: bring a camera; you'll be sorry if you don't, as I was the first time I went. Eat before you go, you can't bring food in, and it's too much inside, though the deserts are tempting. And finally, if you live within range to visit more than 2 times a year, buy a pass, you'll be wanting to go back every day. I give this site an absolute A