Aquarium of the Pacific

I headed out from our house super-early (which for me, is 8:00) to head down to Long Beach.  I was meeting my friend Linda and her family there.  Linda and I used to teach together in Kettering, and she was out visiting her son, who is a Marine (hooah), and stationed at Camp Pendleton.  I was SO excited to get to see her, and so happy that they made time in their schedule to meet me halfway!

We decided to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific, which is located on a marina in Long Beach.  It took me about an hour and 40 minutes to get there, due to a HUGE traffic jam on the highway.  I had to go the long way around, but I didn't mind, because it gave me a great view of Highway 1, which snakes it's way along the coast.

 I arrived at the Aquarium a little early, so I went on a little walk.  The Queen Mary was moored in an adjacent marina, looking majestic (and oh, so Titanic-like, I might add):

This next photo is for Logan Coulter:  :)

The Aquarium itself was nice.  Very clean and well-organized.  Because it is Southern California, there was a large portion of it that was outside.  There was a lot of hands-on exhibits, too....sharks and turtles and jellyfish. Several different tanks, which seemed like a lot in comparison to other places.

I always enjoy watching the jellyfish.  They are constantly moving and changing.

Linda's granddaughter Lauren really enjoyed all the exhibits.  We liked finding Nemo, Dori, Crush and Gill.

I would love for my kitchen to be in this pattern/color scheme. :)

We happened upon a scuba diver who was cleaning/repairing one of the tanks.  Lauren was fascinated.

"Ess-kah-pay.  Hey! That sounds like escape!"

After the Aquarium, we headed across the street, and had lunch at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.  Linda's husband Frank and I ruled at the trivia game.  I got my picture taken in Forrest's shoes!

My dear friend, Linda.  I am so glad we were able to meet up!!

After lunch, we took a stroll around the Aquarium, and took some photos.  PERFECT weather!  If this shot isn't SoCal, I don't know what is!

The Aquarium was a fun trip.  We went through with a 2-year old in about an hour and a half, but you could easily spend more time here.  And the Long Beach weather was perfect--we had a nice time just sitting outside and enjoying the weather!