Because it was raining, this weekend’s adventure was to the Virginia Aquarium. A nice little place with a very interesting set up. Which we’ll get to in a minute.
We pull up to the main entrance, and there are cast dolphins with paintings on them. Which is fine. Several of them are quite interesting and reflective of themselves, until we see the one painted with VT* colors. And a football helmet. Yeah.
We head towards the building and there is a seal tank with lots of seals. But since it’s cold and rainy day, it’s hard to see into the tank. We get a glimpse of a few seals, but even the waterproof animals don’t seem interested in coming out of the water and into the rain.
We make a small run for the front doors, walk in and buy our tickets. Here is the second Imax Theater in a thirty mile radius; we couldn’t find one to save our hide in the Philly area and there are two in Hampton Roads. I also just realized that we missed our chance to see U23D, because that stupid Stones** documentary is out. Dang it. Anyway…
We walk down the hall towards the Shark Tank, and don’t you stinkin’ know, the place is under construction.*** They are installing a huge new aquatic display that’s still a hard hat area, and gives us an excuse to go back later this year when they open it. Ha.
The shark tanks are down at the end of the hall past the skates and rays touch tank, and under another huge whale. I saw the whale hanging from the ceiling and started laughing.****“Can I take a picture of the fake whale on the ceiling?” I asked Tom. He just pulled me along. “But it’s for my hanging whale collection!” He just continued to pull me along down to the shark tank.
The shark tank is a very nice shark tank. There are quite a few sharks in it, and they are happily swimming around, not attacking anything. Just swimming. We have also arrived just in time to hear a short lecture about the one in their tank. They are fed twice a week, which why they aren’t attacking. Sharks only eat every two weeks are so, because they have such a slow digestive system. It’s only when they are hungry that they attack.
These guys (and gals) were cruising around as happy as can be. Sharks are cool. They are cool to watch. They are, if you respect them and their environment, gentle and peaceful.
However, the little kids jumping up and down and smacking the plexiglass were not. Tom finally decided that it was too much and pulled me along through the rest of the shark area into some of the other tanks and fish in the aquarium. We passed a turtle tank and listened as a father told his son that the baby Ridley’s sea turtle was a red snapper. I don’t even know that there is a red snapping turtle, and if there is, it sure as hell doesn’t looked like a sea turtle at all. Ah, well.
Not a Ridley's, but a cool picture of a sea turtle.
We meandered through, checking out the displays of fish in tanks, and finally wandered out to the skates and rays touch tank. It was completely surrounded and we had to wait until someone got bored of the display.
I have seen rays before. They had a fantastic display at the Baltimore Aquarium when I went years ago (with R, as a matter of fact. My partner in crime, as it were). It was called Wings in the Water, and it too was a touch tank. So I kinda knew what was coming, but was rudely reminded when I finally touched one of these things.
Slimy.
I jerked my hand back out of the tank and shook it off like I had just been bitten. I hadn’t, but I’d forgotten the slimy part. I put my hand back in and stirred the water a touch with and another one came right up to me. I gently ran a hand down it, and this time, it felt like silk, not slime. It was fun to watch the kids reacting to them, and when you stepped back and looked, they really were beautiful floating in the water.
Someone, however, forgot to warn the one lady that sometimes, rays jump out of the water. She shrieked like she had just been attacked. It was hilarious and we had to leave because I was giggling too loud.
The Virginia Aquarium has two buildings. One is the aquarium with all the fish, one is the marshlands building with the local fish and marsh inhabitants on display.
Now, remember I said it was raining? Well, the marshlands building is at the other end of a ½ mile long outdoor nature area. Remember I said I wanted to something inside because it was raining?
Yeah.
Out we go into the cold wet rain to get to the other building. Had I but realized that it was that long of a walk, I would have gone back to the car (which was closer) and gotten my umbrella and then walked it. Or I would have gone into the store and grabbed two of those stupid poncho. I might not have had any dignity at the other end of the walk, but at least I wouldn’t have looked and felt like a drowned rat.
The marshlands building had otters. Otters are cool. They are neat to watch as they jump in and out of the water. But even they didn’t seem very interested in being out in the rain.
So we walked through the rest of the marshlands. There was a neat water column, a turtle, a snapping turtle, some snakes, some fish, and did you know that there is species of puffer fish in Virginia waters? I didn’t, and I think they are cool, too.
Apparently, I think just about all wildlife is cool, eh?
Well, there was also an aviary at the marshlands. Aviaries are usually just netted in areas where birds live. And it rains through nets. So guess who was walking through the rain again to see a bunch of birds? Yup. You got it.
Still, it was pretty neat. All the birds were native to the area, and I had never really seen a great egret that close (or angry that it was raining). Wood ducks, a turkey, white ibis and, my second favorite animal, a owl. I love owls. This beauty was sitting outside his box in the rain, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw one of the ducks eating at the corner of his cage. Seeing him turn his head and his eye grow wide as he spied that duck was magnificent. Usually the owls are nowhere to be seen during the day. This guy was just sitting there, looking gorgeous.
We walked back into the building to give me two minutes to dry off a bit, and then head back through the rain to the main building. We hoofed it as fast as we could, but I still wound up getting soaked again. When I finally got into the car, I took off my socks and shoes to try to dry my feet.
Didn’t work. I drove home with cold wet feet. But we did have a nice time and we’re going back when the sun comes out. Eventually.
___________________________
* Virginia Tech
**Of the Rolling variety. I am not a fan; there are three songs I like by them and someone needs to Keith Richards that he’s been dead for 20 years and just needs to go find a nice grave to lie in.
***Please see The German Blogs for further information on our vacations and contruction.
****The American Museum of Natural History. Please read and enjoy at your leisure.
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