Baltimore Aquarium Adventures

I love aquatic life...from afar. I would normally be deathly afraid to be within close proximity of most water creatures, but I like to watch shows about them on tv, or go to where the creatures are enclosed. The fact that I'm so frightened of these types of things makes me want to get within controlled proximity even more, knowing they can't hurt me (I know, I know they are more afraid or me yadda, yadda yadda). So when my friend Christina told me her family was going and that there was a special deal going on, I couldn't help but makes plans to go with them. They got there early and graciously bought tickets for us so we didn't have to stay in the very long line, (after a lot of bad traffic) which would've made us late to the dolphin show, which is what we saw right when we got there. It was so cute and amazing to see the dolphins do tricks and splash people on command. It looked like the trainers were having so much fun and just loved the dolphins, as scary as that profession seems to me. The tank was 24 feet deep and you can see through the side walls so we got to go up to the side at the end and really be within a few feet of them. They're just so cute. I could probably get rid of my qualms and pet a dolphin if I ever get the chance. Btw, Christina was teasing us about all the pictures of us kissing in the past, so I humored her with the picture above.
We then proceeded to the frog exhibit. I'm constantly amazed at the different shapes and colors these animals can be. Some frogs were hard to spot even though there were right in plain sight.

There was a little tank for kids, mostly, to reach in the water and tough some Horseshoe Crabs, and gigantic snail looking things (I can't remember their name but they were like the size of my shoe.) I even did a little touching myself. The Call boys were so hilarious at how excited the were at every corner. They loved telling other people to look at the fish, even if it wasn't particularly fish we were looking at.

We went to the huge tanks where the sting rays were seriously so big, it looked like you could lay down and take on a nap on one as they glided through the water. There were a lot of seperate exhibits showing the different types of environments the fish live in. There were some very intricately designed fish, and some huge odd looking fish. There was only one tank we saw with a Clown Fish. Who can name a famous fish from this family? Yep, Nemo, and we really had a hard time finding him. He would seriously hide in the anenome, just like where he lived in the movie, and only give us little glimpses when he popped out. It was so cute. I have watched this movie several times lately while I babysit, and I really love it so it was so delightful to me to see the sweet little bright orange and white striped fish playing with us.

There was also a cool rain forest section complete with mist, colorful birds, and a sloth hidden up in a tree. He was so high, you couldn't see much.
And I must not forget about the sharks. There was a very dark walkway that took you lower and lower into the building where you were circled by several huge sharks. They even had eerie music playing. The sharks have a pretty sweet pad there if you ask me.
Baltimore is so beautiful and I think it has been years since I was there. When you drive into the city, you feel so invited by the water and lighted sky scrapers. I am so happy that we went to the aquarium. Especially with the Calls. They are such a fun family. I recommend the aquarium to anyone. You probably won't get the steal of a deal that we got, but you will get the cool sensation of being under water, but feeling safe and dry at the same time. And they have a 4-D movie we didn't see. That will be something to go back for. Here are some more pictures for you viewing pleasure if you didn't already get enough.