Sometimes the best laid plans are just that. Last weekend, the forecast was for beautiful Spring days. We had all decided to take a trip to the Mystic Aquarium on Saturday to spend some family time together. However, when Tyler crawled into our bed that morning and announced that his stomach hurt and proceeded to vomit for the next 12 hours, well, those plans changed. On to plan B. Stay at home this beautiful weekend, and we will simply make the trip next weekend.
Fast forward a week to the following Saturday. In the forecast? Rain, rain, and more rain. Oh, and wind, and cold, and just plain yuck. But the show must go on! We packed ourselves up and made it to the shoreline in Connecticut through the driving rain. (The next morning we would wake up and discover that there was flooding in many of the towns in the area!) Part of the reason we were looking to take the trip the weekend before is because the aquarium is build so that you are outside seeing many of the exhibits. Not realizing really how cold it was or how much it was really going to rain, we were severely under dressed! However, we decided that a little rain would not hold us back and into the aquarium we went! We were glad we did, too. You know what rain + cold means? No crowds! It was wonderful. We made it to all the shows and exhibits despite the conditions outside!
First stop? The Ray Touch Pool. I hung back to shoot some pictures, and Tyler was a but freaked, but Frank was a trooper and was lucky enough to have some of the Rays swim by and graze his hand. They are so graceful in the water and were amazing to watch, we were simply mesmerized!
Many times when we travel to the Zoo's and Aquarium's , there are such huge crowds, we usually don't make an effort to watch the special shows. Today was the exception. We caught the whale and shark feeding sessions, and the seal show! Our seats were in the third row, middle. That meant one thing-- a great seat for the show. The seals were each featured right in front on us, it was fantastic!
One of Tyler's favorite exhibits? The sharks, of course! He stood, nose glued to the glass, each time we visited the tank (which was many). Camera in hand, I waited for the perfect shot. Needless to say, his expression is priceless!
A close runner up to the most visited exhibit on the day? The Beluga Whales. The whale exhibit, despite being outside, was very captivating. At first, when the whales swam by, Tyler would back up. After a few swim-bys, he realized that there was very thick glass and stayed glued to their activity. We were even treated to feeding time in the whale tank and watched as the trainers interacted with these huge animals. 
Taking a break towards the end of the day, Frank caught a shot of Tyler and I. If you look closely, you can see how wet the bottoms and backs of out pants were. Despite being wet (we will dry, right?) we had a fantastic day, it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. We made it to all the shows we could and saw each exhibit. Even the penguins, way out on the edge of the park, which meant a walk through the rain (and the puddles if you are Tyler!). The irony? The penguins were all huddled in a cave together! we had a fantastic day!
0 comments:
Post a Comment