North Carolina Aquariums (Charlotte: price, friendly, aquarium)

[barndog]

ma2nc - i second the acquarium at pine knoll shores. i've been a couple of times, and children always seem to be having a great time. plus, in the general area, there is fort macon (i have yet to meet a child who did not love to explore the fort)...and also some pretty beaches in emerald isle.

have fun wherever you go!

[MA2NC]

Thanks for the info everyone.....it is greatly appreciated!

[mullman]

Originally Posted by MA2NC

Thanks for the info everyone.....it is greatly appreciated!

Have fun and post your opinions in this thread of wherever you visit!

[uncletupelo]

Chattanooga has an awesome freshwater aquarium right on the banks of the Tennesssee river. The downtown/riverfront area there is wonderful. Filled with restaurants, water taxi's, a kid's museum, duck boats, a waterfront public park etc. I highly recommend it. They have added a second aquarium that last year had a great penguin exhibit.Always rated as one of the best in the country. Lots of hotels and a shuttle service makes Chattanooga's riverfront a highly walkable place. They also have the world's longest pedestrian bridge that spans the Tennessee river. tennesseeaquarium.com

[mullman]

Originally Posted by uncletupelo

Chattanooga has an awesome freshwater aquarium right on the banks of the Tennesssee river. The downtown/riverfront area there is wonderful. Filled with restaurants, water taxi's, a kid's museum, duck boats, a waterfront public park etc. I highly recommend it. They have added a second aquarium that last year had a great penguin exhibit.Always rated as one of the best in the country. Lots of hotels and a shuttle service makes Chattanooga's riverfront a highly walkable place. They also have the world's longest pedestrian bridge that spans the Tennessee river. tennesseeaquarium.com

+1, forgot about that.
But you really need a weekend to drive that far.
But IF you are going you can See Rock City!

FWIW, the Chattanoogan Hotel is great.

[uncletupelo]

The Radison Read house is my favorite.It reaks of history and served as a hospital during the war of northern aggression. Av wonderful place. The Chattanoogan is very nice as well.

[mullman]

Originally Posted by uncletupelo

The Radison Read house is my favorite.It reaks of history and served as a hospital during the war of northern aggression. Av wonderful place. The Chattanoogan is very nice as well.

You and I would be amiss if we did not mention the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel as well.

[uncletupelo]

or Chickamauga Battlefield, which was the second bloodiest battle of the War for Southern Independence with almost 5 thousand dead in two days of fighting on Sept 19 and 20th 1863. Lookout Point national park is also a must see. The so called "Battle above the Clouds" took place at what is now a beautiful park. You can still see the boulders mid mountain that the glorious Rebel boys used to try and deter the Yankees from making to the top.

[NCN]

We used to go to the one at Fort Fisher every time we went to the beach.
Fort Fisher is very good fun and also very educational for school age children.
The picnic lunch is a good idea too. We always went to Wilmington and bought KFC and took it to the park to eat.
Another favorite place for our children was the USS North Carolina. I have wonderful pictures from times past with the children pretending to shoot the guns on the ship and be a sailor. Guess it took, our son served in the Navy.
And we also took the ferry over to Southport and saw the ruins and Orton Plantation.

We did those things during the hot part of the day and went to the beach in the mornings and the evenings. We stayed right beside the ocean at Carolina Beach. The hotel is very old now, but it was fine to us then.

We are not into commercial places. One is pretty much like another and the biggest goal for most of them is just to take your money. I like natural and historical places and Wilmington and the Crystal Coast is that. The Outer Banks has a lot of historical places to visit also, not to mention the wild horses. North Carolina has a wonderful coastline.

[Tober138]

Originally Posted by uncletupelo

Chattanooga has an awesome freshwater aquarium right on the banks of the Tennesssee river. The downtown/riverfront area there is wonderful. Filled with restaurants, water taxi's, a kid's museum, duck boats, a waterfront public park etc. I highly recommend it. They have added a second aquarium that last year had a great penguin exhibit.Always rated as one of the best in the country. Lots of hotels and a shuttle service makes Chattanooga's riverfront a highly walkable place. They also have the world's longest pedestrian bridge that spans the Tennessee river. tennesseeaquarium.com

I stayed right across the street from it many times, as I used to go to Chattanooga once a month for work for about 3 years. Although I do have to point out that the aquarium there (and the surrounding buildings such as the science center, IMAX theater, etc) were all basically modeled on the Inner Harbor area in Baltimore - the aquarium even looks very similar.

Not a dig - just giving props to my former hometown

That aside, yes, that whole area in Chat. is nice and it seems they have a lot for kids too. There are also three hotels within two blocks of that aquarium and, now that all of the downtown roadwork is done, its a nice area.