Show & Tell {Baltimore Aquarium}

How convenient for me that we went on a school trip this week - now I have some pictures for Show & Tell, hosted by CanadaGirl.  Check out her blog for other Show & Tells this week.

Wednesday was our trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore.  I should start out by saying that I didn't expect to get many pictures - there's probably a setting or something on my camera that would make it easier to get pictures of something other than a flash against the glass wall of an aquarium tank or the surface of the water, but I didn't find what it was.  So my pictures are mostly of land animals, which is rather ironic.  Visit to the aquarium = pictures of birds and monkeys. Weird.

We decided to take the metro, which may or may not have been a good idea.  It might have been a better idea if: 1) I had found the information telling us which station to get off at; and/or 2) the "tourist help" signs in Baltimore were consistent and accurate.  At any rate, we walked more than was strictly necessary and I think I have shin splints now.  But we did arrive safely in time to meet our group (barely!)  and the fun began.  Our first stop was for a quick picture with the shark jaws at the top of the stairs:



These are Megaladon jaws.  If you go round the back of it you can see all the rows of teeth too.  Naturally the sign indicates that it is from a "prehistoric" Megaladon.  Whatever.

The main attraction was the dolphin show.  Kennady was really looking forward to this.  We chose seats near the center, one row above the "splash zone" which worked out pretty well.  We had a good view and didn't get wet.  I tried grabbing a few pictures here and there during the show, but they aren't very clear.  I actually snapped and hoped for the best most of the time, and then deleted all the pictures of just a splash.  LOL





(in the above photo, the dolphin is swimming on its back with a little toy dolphin on its chest)







After the show, we went back down to the Aquarium Cafe for lunch.  Does anyone else besides me think it is just a little disturbing that fish sandwiches are on the menu at the aquarium???  I just kept thinking of Bruce from "Finding Nemo" - "Fish are friends, not food."



We shared a pizza and I grabbed a couple of candid shots of the kids at the table.  (And Kennady took one of me.)



Spencer wound up as just a silhouette:









Here's the view from the top of the waterfall:



I got lucky enough later on get a pretty good shot of a red lion tamarin:



I didn't even have to zoom in much for that picture.  These little guys are rarely still for long enough to get them into your viewfinder, never mind close enough to get a good picture! This one found something to eat and decided to sit for a minute.

The feature exhibit this season is "Frogs!"  and it was really interesting.  Of course the frogs were all behind glass, so once again - no pictures.  Harrison and Kennady did pose in front of this picture of a tree frog and I thought this was a cute photo. 



We really had a lot of fun and even Harrison admitted he'd had a good time (to the LORD during bedtime prayers, he would not say that directly to me).  So we don't have a lot of pictures - oh well!

Time to go!