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Over the years since Albany was founded on
the banks of Georgia's Flint River in October
of 1836, the stream has been both the heart
and heartache of the city. From its source near Atlanta, the Flint River
winds its way south through Georgia for 344
miles until it meets the Chattahoochee River
at the Florida border. The two rivers then join
to form Florida's Apalachicola River, but the
Flint begins and ends as an exclusively
Georgia stream. |
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A magnificent anchor to Albany's riverfront
development effort, the Flint RiverQuarium, opened in 2004,
and offers visitors the chance to journey into the
natural history of one of Georgia's most
beautiful rivers. The RiverQuarium is unique among
such community aquarium projects in that it
focuses almost exclusively on the river that
gave Albany life. |
Below: The Flint RiverQuarium and Karen Duquette with the turtle outside the doorway. Unfortunately, the Flint RiverQuarium was closed when the two RV Gypsies got here, so they could not go inside. |
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However, the two RV Gypsies did walk up the outside stairs to the second level, where they looked down at a beautiful staircase waterfall. |
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Below: Views (of the same staircase waterfall shown above) as seen from below. |
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There were several turtles in the town.
Here is Lee Duquette by one of them. |
The back side of the blue turtle. |
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Ray Charles Memorial: The riverfront memorial is a beautiful tribute to the
talented singer and songwriter, Ray Charles who was
born in 1930 in Albany, Georgia. The unique memorial brings
the sight and sounds of Ray
Charles to life on the Flint
River in Albany, Georgia.
The Albany born singer and
songwriter penned "Georgia
on My Mind," the State Song of
Georgia. |
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The Memorial is also a Tribute in Sound because it combines the
sound of falling water with the
voice of Ray Charles to create
a moving experience. Giant musical notes and
piano keys "floated" across the
landscape of the riverfront
park. |
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There was a nice plaque on the memorial that
briefly told the story of Ray
Charles in both type and
Braille. Ray Charles lost his sight by
the age of 6. The photo of the plaque did not come out well enough to post here. |
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Veterans of the Vietnam War Memorial |
WWII Memorial |
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Korean War Memorial |
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