One of my favorite places that we visited on our trip was definitely the Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography! It was beautiful and very reasonably priced at $18 a ticket for adults, kids 3 and under get in free. They also have discounts for military, students and seniors. If youre ever in San Diego California, definitely do check it out. Its in the La Jolla area, which is absolutely beautiful! It was very easy to find with signs leading the way. Scripps is actually part of the University of San Diego so this is truly more than your average aquarium. As you walk around, youll notice many students walking around, examining different fish and jotting down notes, while talking with each other, sharing facts. There was even a school trip of elementary kids running around and it was still enjoyable! LOL
When you first enter, theres an area that has a little restaurant and a souvenir shop. As you venture inside, theres a large desk with a couple ladies who have worked there for years. They are very knowledgeable in the aquarium. Theres also pictures on display that will blow your mind, taken by their photographers. Keep on walking out the back doors and theres an area where you can actually touch the fish. Of course we came at a time when most were covered up for the fishys "nap time"! I doubt Sophie wouldve put her hands in there anyways! But we did at least get to get up close views.
After getting some close ups, we ventured inside the actual aquarium. We started off in the "Deep Sea Area". This was home to the deep sea creatures. This area was kept extremely dark making it very hard to get good pictures but I did manage to get a couple!
These are little jelly fish! They were tiny! Sophie seemed to like these the most out of the "Deep Sea Area".
Sophie called these grandpa fish! LOL They had a major underbite issue! Not the prettiest fish to say the least!
We then continued on to the more lit up area of the aquarium. We found soo many different kinds of fish, all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors. Of course Sophie was super excited when we found Nemo and Dory! There was another little girl her age there when we came up on them. They shared their thrill of meeting the celebrity fishes! :P Dannys favorite was the huge crab, which we took a picture of with Dannys hand there for size reference. I had several favorites. Some of these guys were soo delicate looking. Their colors so vibrant. Some looked straight out of a fairy tale. Heres some of our favorites! I dont know all the names but I will try to list the ones I think I know! ;)
Tiger fish
Heres a couple Nemos! Otherwise known as Clownfish.
Ocean Ray
He posed for me!
This one was crazy! It was about 15 inches wide and all those little "hairs" moved!
Dannys crabby friend!
Just check out the color on this Yellow Tang, beautiful!
This isnt the best picture but this guy was too funny! At one point he was itching his head with the tip of his tail!
Sophie loved watching the Seahorses! She was mesmerized!
My absolute favorite, a Leafy Seadragon. Beautiful!
This was a MASSIVE tank. It had to be 15 foot high and covered the whole room. Insanely beautiful!
I was in awe of the size of that fish! Trying to get a good picture... didnt happen!
Sophie "swimming" with the sharks!
All the colorful coral! Theres also a Dory in there, aka Royal Blue Tang!
And one last picture before we left! My two favorite people! <3
It really was a wonderful day and we all learned so much! This was actually the first time, that I can remember anyways, that I had ever been to an aquarium but certainly not the last. Do yourself a favor and look it up if youre in the area, great fun for the kiddos and the adults. Hope you all enjoyed the pictures!
Until next time Steemians,
Peace, love and fishies!
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