Good evening. I’m Chevy Chase, and you’re…not.
So, Hubski gang, I have been somewhat out of the picture and not on Hubski almost entirely at all for the past…Well, it’s like five or six days. When I say “not on Hubski almost entirely at all” I of course mean in comparison to my regular standards, as well. It feels like I’ve missed so much! Where was _refugee_, not commenting on the Watchmen discussion at all? And I don’t know what else I missed because I wasn’t here.
Well, as it happens, I almost completely unplugged from the internet and I went on a little trip. I went to Baltimore. Before I went I asked wasoxygen for some recommendations and in lieu of recommendations he asked that I contribute to the #tripreport tag. Hence this post. It is no protest in Turkey but I thought I would share.
Baltimore is, to be honest, not very far from me. It doesn’t feel terribly exotic as a result. I went to Baltimore this weekend for the sole purpose of showing someone the National Aquarium at Baltimore. If you haven’t heard of it, the National Aquarium at Balitmore is one of only two National Aquariums in the US (the other is, perhaps of course, in D.C.) and it is positively wonderful. It is frequently top-rated among aquariums, it consists of five floors of exhibits, and highlights several amphibians and reptiles as well as fish.
We spent several hours in the aquarium. Please go, if you have the opportunity. My favorite exhibit is on the top floor of the Aquarium where they have a greenhouse which has been created to reflect a rainforest environment. There are no enclosures in this exhibit; birds fly freely, turtles swim in pools and streams that go around and under wood plank walkways, and there are other animals such as frogs and fish that are loose in the exhibit. Sadly, we were taking advantage of the Aquarium’s Friday After Five deal and as a result the rain forest exhibit was moon- and little-electric-light-lit, so not conducive for pictures. I found it terribly romantic but, true to form, could not bring myself to say the word.
There is also an on-going, changing exhibit of jellyfish. It is small but the jellies are beautiful. It is very easy to take what appear to be artistic, beautiful pictures of them. I don’t know how long this exhibit will be there.
There was some debate as to whether this skeleton was real and as to whether one could jump from the escalator onto the skeleton. I proposed that the additional weight of a body, plus the force of impact, might cause the whole structure to go tumbling down into the Blacktip Reef exhibit (first picture) below, to swim with the sharks and manta rays. Perhaps as a result, we opted not to attempt it.
The pufferfish was quite the camera-whore. He was very friendly and posed perfectly. On a side note, the aquarium was extremely crowded and if occasionally interacting with small children isn’t your thing, I would suggest you either go on an off-day mid-week(personally, that is when I prefer to go) or as soon as they open on the weekend. I also prefer to go in the morning as well.