Day 332 (Shedd Aquarium)

So, my mother and I may actually be aquariumed out. And, museumed out. We're finding that a lot of tourist attractions seem to come in very similar packaging. We went to the Shedd Aquarium today, but it might have been a little too soon after the Underwater Adventure at the Mall of America. To be fair, the Shed Aquarium is much, much, much better than Underwater Adventure, but Mall of America has the whole glass tunnel going through the huge tank going for it. Too much of the Shedd Aquarium felt like I was at a tropical fish store, with just rows and rows and rows of smallish aquariums with less than spectacular life forms in them. The Rising Amazon exhibit was done really well though, showing the different stages of the Amazon at different times of year, and we even got to see a huge anaconda shedding it's skin. The Wild Reef exhibit was similarly as engaging, but I think many parts of the aquarium need to be redesigned. Of course, I hail from California, land of the aquarium, so I may be a little bit elitist about these things. Still, it was an enjoyable experience, and I would recommend it for anyone in the area, unless they have been to an aquarium within the last year or so. Otherwise, it's kind of redundant.

For dinner, my mom and I cooked pancit for three of our new TAMFS friends that live in Chicago and had a little reunion on the shore of Lake Michigan. Chicago's been almost as oppressively hot as Minneapolis, but the breeze off the lake is nice. Unfortunately, once you'reabout a block into the city, you loose that benefit. Good times, good people, good food. One more day in Chicago, and I'm still not sure how we're gonna use it. Hopefully it'll be cheaper than today was! So far, I've spent $35.00 on parking in this city! No bueno!

PICTURE OF THE DAY: These eels were really funny.