We arrived at the aquarium just as it was opening. We knew as soon as we walked in that it was going to be a fun adventure. There was so much to see and do just based looking at the map and were overwhelmed when we first walked in. Immediately Ellie was mesmerized. Our first stop was to touch some jellyfish. Yep, we touched jellyfish. They were moon jellyfish that don't have stingers so it was perfectly safe. Ellie was a bit shy at first, but then she was super excited about touching them. She said they felt soft.
There were lots of fish. Big fish. Small fish. Colorful fish. Endangered fish. Fish from the Cali coast. Fish that were poisonous. Sea horses. Gigantic fish. Eels. Seals. Otters. Penguins. It was pretty awesome.
Cal seemed to love the whole experience as well. He slept for a while but then he woke up and I put him in the carrier where he could see more and at a better angle. He seemed to really be engaged with the colors and sights and differences in light.
The most exciting part of the aquarium was the exterior touch tanks that had horseshoe crabs, sharks, rays, and all sorts of cool stuff. Ellie was a little scared at first, I mean these are sharks and sting rays...but after seeing Nick touch quite a few of the animals she was cool with it. She then thought it was awesome to touch sharks. But also adjacent to the shark touch tanks was a giant tank that had huge sharks, rays and even a sawfish. A sawfish!
After checking out the aquarium we headed over to the Queen Mary. We were able to leave the car parked where it was and take a free bus over to the Queen Mary. It was Cal's first time on a bus! The Queen Mary was pretty cool. We got to just wander around the ship. Ellie wasn't quite sure what to think about it and to her credit the whole ship was aimed at an older target audience. However, she did enjoy wandering and checking out some of the exhibits. There were quite a few artifacts and exhibits which were fun. They had dining room tables (with dishes) and cabins decorated for each class. They also had a whole WWII exhibit (which was cool to see since Great Grandpa Van had been on the Queen Mary when he shipped over to Europe during the war). They also had a set up where you could see the propellers under the water which was a bit amazing. Also the bridge and boiler room was open which was pretty awesome. Plus we had a nice little snack on the deck and were able to enjoy the weather on the ship.
After the Queen Mary we went back to the aquarium for more touching and hanging out with sharks. Then we walked to have a quick dinner followed by some ice cream. It was an awesome day that we all (including Cal) enjoyed. I'm sure we will be back to Long Beach for the aquarium soon, maybe when Cal's a little older so he can enjoy it even more.
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