Precious babies chirp outside our bathroom window
Woolly friends grazing
Lush green landscapes perfect for postcards
Fresh sweet berries at the neighbor's Amish produce stand
Our cherry tree shows us some love
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Whatever happened to May flowers?
Continuous rainy forecasts dashed our hopes of one last jaunt to the Phillie Zoo (fun fact: the oldest zoo in America and a really great one at that), before our annual membership ended...therefore onto Plan B: the National Aquarium in Baltimore, roughly an hour and a half's scenic drive from Lancaster County.
While this is a large and wonderful aquarium that we've visited many times, this visit we've noticed it is lacking in the inter-active portion of its' exhibits and doesn't seem to be updating their exhibits as many aquariums have.
Noticeably missing is a "touch" station where children can actually handle and learn about live sea-life. The only sensory station actually had a plastic spider, a replica of a nautilus shell and a handful of sponges and miscellaneous items that didn't seem to overwhelm any of us. (Kudos to Ripley's Aquarium in Myrtle Beach & the Monterey Aquarium in CA for incredible touch and learning stations!)
Apparently one of the dolphins recently had a baby (no pictures or videos of the baby to be found), therefore the dolphin show was cancelled. We spotted 4 birds and 1 turtle in the Rain Forest and enjoyed a short walk through the new Australian exhibit. The shark tank, ray exhibits and jelly fish were the most impressive, as was the customer service everywhere we went within the building.
Overall words of advice:
All in all, Plan B gets a "B" rating. Not sure this trip was really worth $160 for tickets and a lunch none of us finished (2 adults/2 kids) but I'll part with these fun photos of the jellies.
While this is a large and wonderful aquarium that we've visited many times, this visit we've noticed it is lacking in the inter-active portion of its' exhibits and doesn't seem to be updating their exhibits as many aquariums have.
Noticeably missing is a "touch" station where children can actually handle and learn about live sea-life. The only sensory station actually had a plastic spider, a replica of a nautilus shell and a handful of sponges and miscellaneous items that didn't seem to overwhelm any of us. (Kudos to Ripley's Aquarium in Myrtle Beach & the Monterey Aquarium in CA for incredible touch and learning stations!)
Apparently one of the dolphins recently had a baby (no pictures or videos of the baby to be found), therefore the dolphin show was cancelled. We spotted 4 birds and 1 turtle in the Rain Forest and enjoyed a short walk through the new Australian exhibit. The shark tank, ray exhibits and jelly fish were the most impressive, as was the customer service everywhere we went within the building.
Overall words of advice:
- Pre-purchase tickets online - quick and easy & you avoid long lines.
- Will-call for those tickets is behind the main ticket counter (no signage to get you there).
- Arrive early as it gets packed. (We arrived at 10:30am on Sunday and it was busy w/in an hour.)
- Arrive really early so you can leave when you're hungry for lunch! The cafe food is tasteless and overpriced, but there are some really great seafood and other restaurants throughout the inner harbor.
All in all, Plan B gets a "B" rating. Not sure this trip was really worth $160 for tickets and a lunch none of us finished (2 adults/2 kids) but I'll part with these fun photos of the jellies.
And...one cool shot of the only octupus, which apparently I was not supposed to be taking,
so my heartfelt apologies to Mr. O and the Aquarium.
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