Family Vacation: Part Last
Yup, finally coming to the end of family vacation pictures. Last I left you, we had finished up at Old Mystic Seaport and we were off to explore the other attractions around Mystic.
The next big event was the aquarium in Mystic. Now we have recently been to the New England Aquarium in Boston, the National Aquarium in Baltimore and Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. The aquarium in Mystic......one of them. Though it isn't on the scale of any of those, it is nicely done for the scale and size that it is. 
Their main exhibit was the large outdoor pools with beluga whales. 
Also in outdoor pools were the touch and feel rays. They were used to being hand fed as when you put your hands in the water, they nibbled fingers. Odd being tasted by another animal.
Really where this aquarium excelled was in the small animals department.
The boardwalk over a swamp was an interesting exhibit. Lots of frogs! Frogs are cool.
And here is a picture that makes me wish I could paint.
And what aquarium would be complete without a bunch of budgies tent. (I think it was actually billed as the "Birds of the Outback!" but "tent of parakeets" is much more accurate.) Total hoot regardless.
Everyone received a popsicle stick with bird food glued to it to attract the birds which flocked around each new human entering the tent. Some people dealt with this en masse interest better than others. The occasional screams from the entrance let you know which kind of person had just entered.
Oh yeah. There was the ocean.
And lobsters....
And submarines....
And giant dinosaurs....
Perhaps the submarine and dinosaur warrant a bit more explanation. We went to the US Submarine Force Museum which everyone found interesting. I love museums with hands-on displays. And The Dinosaur Place (Yes that was the name. Creative that.) really was a total tourist trap. But a well done tourist trap -- the scale dinosaurs through out the park were accurate and scientifically labeled. And I mean recently scientifically labeled, not the 1950's labels that sometimes accompany dinosaur models. And you have to enjoy a human sized maze where you get to be eaten by a giant dino head at the end. (Though we could have done without the college student dressed as "Lady Lava" and the "erupting" volcano was less impressive than a 2nd grade science experiment.)
That concludes the Ross Family Vacation 2011 -- thanks for flying with us.
(More yarn, spinning and knitting to come.)
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