OK, this was bad. Not the aquarium's fault at all though. If I were to pin the blame on any one person, it would my own self. I'm the one driving the jeep and deciding when and where to stop it and let everyone out, after all. :o) This outing was squeezed between some other events. I was in the area and needed to have something fun for the kids for a couple of hours and this seemed to be the best option, since otherwise we would have been roasting at a public park. So I parked the jeep and we all got out.
Eight dollars for me (ouch, for how small the place is!) and six dollars for my five-year-old. Two and under are free. Though I've little experience with aquariums, it is clear that this one is a work in progress. Still, I thought they had some neat things to offer.
LOVED the jellyfish area. I could stare at those for a long time and Zach thought the fish themselves were changing colors, though really it was probably a cool light bulb nearby. I just loved looking into those dark waters and watching those beautiful glowing things.
LIKED the octopus. The thing was all suctioned to the side of glass, and it was kindof ew, gross, wow, weird, amazing, gonna gag, all at the same time.
LIKED the 100-yr-old lobster. I wondered a little if the poor guy is just ready to be done already. Very big, the biggest lobster I've ever seen.
HATED that fifteen minutes upon arriving, things went sour at the stingray petting area. For the kids sake, I reached my two fingers in to touch the slimy back of the passing sting ray. Ben enjoyed watching them only and standing up on the rock step he was right at level to peek in at them. Then one began oozing its way up the side and showed its slimy pink alarming face to Ben. He let out a yelp/scream/cry as he backed away. I felt so bad for him, it scared me too! Then things turned into full-on crying, which woke up Sean. Then the rest of the time felt lame and rushed and involved my fussy infant and a freaked out preschooler.
LIKED that I had a moment to re-group a little in the sunken pirate ship -- an area with some wood puzzles and where they host birthday parties if you like.
LOVED the shark tank. Remembering the good times when I kayaked over leopard sharks not long ago. This was Zach's favorite part and no one felt too scared when we were looking at things safely on the other side of the glass.
LIKED the huge starfish. My kids had never seen anything like it, and I hadn't since being on the Oregon coast eight years ago.
LOVED the south america exhibit. My children enjoyed the buttons on the wall that made different frog sounds and I liked the mini crocodilian creatures. This spotted stingray was small and almost cute.
LIKED the Utah waters section. We saw four different types of trout, which wasn't too thrilling to be honest. But what do you expect when you go see an aquarium in the middle of the desert? At this part my kids really liked the boat turned play area, where they could sit in a driver's seat and watch a movie that made them feel they were really on a ride.
This is a different boat, just a cute little picture spot where I didn't get a very cute little picture. But both kids are looking at the camera, and that's very good.
HATED that they make you exit right past the gift shop. It just wasn't my day to add that icing on the cake.
I think we'll go back. Someday, when they're bigger and better. The aquarium, my kids, or both. :o)
1 comment:
At least you gave it a try, right? And seems like you did like some of it :)
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