Alaskan Expatriate

It appears I haven’t downloaded the pictures from my camera in weeks. Once I did, it was all the inspiration I needed for posting.

About a month ago, I went to the Seattle Aquarium. It was a Saturday afternoon, which would be a really good reason to avoid the pier area. Any day with decent weather (or not so decent) means that the piers are crowded with tourists. On this particular day, the aquarium was swarming with children. Too many children, uncontrolled by careless parents. Maybe I’m a curmudgeon, but kids wear on me very quickly. The well behaved ones are tolerable, but those left to run from display to display, yelling and being under foot — those are the ones I can’t handle.

Suffice to say, the experience was dampened by the children. Sure, it’s a learning experience for them, but only if there parents are involved in the activity and teaching them. Otherwise it’s a “let’s poke the starfish” play time.

Besides the children, the aquarium doesn’t strive to be more than it can be. Most of the species are native to the area, and the exhibits look like the beaches and tide pools on the Washington coast. The water movement imitates the ocean, which is actually pretty interesting to observe. There are also birds (some wild that have found their way inside) like puffins and shore birds. They have the sea otters, seals and sea lions that make aquariums slightly more appealing. There is also a dome tank where you are surrounded by big trout, salmon and sharks. I’ll admit I got a bit of vertigo, but it was really cool to see.

I appreciate the Seattle Aquarium for not trying to be bigger than it can. Since all of the creatures are local, and the tanks are ocean fed, you learn about your local environment, rather than sea turtles and sharks that are native to warmer waters.