For those of you who don't know, the National Aquarium is not located in Washington, DC, but is actually at Harbor Place in Baltimore. This is a great place to visit for the day! Lots of shops and good eats. Several old ships to see including the USS Constellation, one of the surviving "Tall Ships" from the American Fleet of the 18th/19th centuries. There is also a submarine, the USS Torsk; the Taney, a US Coast Guard Cutter; LS116 Chesapeake, a light ship (like a lighthouse, only a ship!), and the original 7-foot Knoll Lighthouse that marked the entrance to the Patapsco River and Baltimore Harbor for 130 years.
There is also the Maryland Science Center (while I have never been to the center, it is supposed to be great fun for kids), Geppi's Entertainment Museum (this is fairly new, at least to me) and other things to do. Also, Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles (GO O's!) and M&T Bank Stadium, home of the mighty Ravens are within a short walk. I've seen games at both and they make a great family outing.
Okay, already, stop the sales pitch for Bal'mer and let's hear about the aquarium!!!
OK, hon, here goes:
The National Aquarium just plain ROCKS!!! It can be a bit pricey for a family, but it is way cheaper than a day at one of the Disney parks! We got tickets to see the aquarium, the 3-D show and the Dolphin show. Total for two adults was about $52 dollars, and was well worth it!
We started out just following the displays and tanks with the fish, sharks, rays and such. We learned a lot about the Chesapeake water shed, but also lots of other things as well. Saw a lot of interesting fish (Google the Atlantic Guitarfish, it is waaaaaay cool!) There were lots of sharks and other fish to see. We were lucky enough to be coming around when they fed the regular fish (we missed the sting ray feeding, damn!) Divers in the water are feeding them by hand setting up great shots with a camera. Of course, I forgot ours, so any shots I took were with my iPhone. They are below.
We worked our way through the exhibits and then went over to the Dolphins and Jellies part of the aquarium. We had missed the time for our dolphin show so we checked out the jellies. They were really cool to see the different kinds and learn about them as well. We even learned how a species native to the American Atlantic, had gotten into the Red Sea and devastated fishing. We've heard of non-native species getting into American waters (remember the Snakehead?), but this was the first time I had heard of the reverse happening. Really opens your eyes (and mind) to things happening in the other parts of the world.
Next we went through the Rain Forest exhibit. If you love frogs, don't miss this!!!! Lots and lots of frogs, including a bunch of examples of all of the poison dart species. Really cool!
Lastly we went through the Australian section. This was also worth the time. There were lots of cool birds (mostly finches and doves) and lots and lots of turtles!!! We loved the turtles! They also have several freshwater crocodiles!
Of course we also made the obligatory stop by the gift store and bought way too much stuff...but hey, we were just like any other tourists!
Stay tuned for an update when I finally upload the pictures and a post of the next adventure we had today, August 14.
See ya soon!
Craig and Pam
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