A while back we made the promise to each other to always make time to seek adventure as a family (you can read about it here). Exploring new places and going outside is a big part of our daily lives and once in a while I like to share a little peek into our adventures.
Now that summer (and all the crowds) are gone and my work schedule is a little more flexible, we have a bunch of little adventures on our to do list. Something we have been planning for the last few months is a trip to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Lucy has all kinds of little obsessions and interests that seem to come and go and one of her latest is all things from the sea- jellyfish, starfish, sea anemones and her favorite... sharks. She talks nonstop about sharks, has a tiny shark toy that she takes everywhere, we watch videos on sharks and spend a lot of time researching and learning about them. The Oregon Coast Aquarium seemed like a perfect day trip for the entire family (we all love the ocean) and a perfect place for Lucy to see some of her favorite sea creatures up close and personal!
The Oregon Coast Aquarium is located in Newport, Oregon which is about 3 hours away from us. It sits along Yaquina Bay next to the Yaquina Bay Bridge and adjacent to the Hatfield Marine Science Center.
The facility is a non profit aquatic and marine science facility that sits on 23 acres and has both indoor and outdoor exhibits.
My favorite part and the real reason we wanted to visit the aquarium is the Passages of the Deep exhibit- a 1.32 million gallon tank that is home to 5,000 marine animals with giant tanks and tunnels that give visitors 360 degree view of rockfish, halibut, ling cod, rays and many species of sharks. I've seen a lot of cool things but these underwater tunnels are one of the coolest experiences I've had- it was AMAZING
But for Lucy, not so much! All that hype and excitement she had to see a real shark, all came crashing down when those sharks swam over her head. After a few tears and lots of coaxing, we finally convinced her to come into the tunnel and with more coaxing she finally opened her eyes. Andy captured the entire episode (like tons of photos) on camera and I have a feeling we will have fun looking at the photos when Lucy gets older!
While Andy and I could have watched the sharks all day, at Lucy's request we moved on to see all the "cute" creatures!
Needless to say, the trip (while it had a few unexpected challenges) was a huge hit and totally worth the 3 hour drive! We will definitely be going back.
15 comments:
Che posto spettacolare! E che belle foto!!! Quelle delle meduse sono eccezionali!!!
Presto porterò anche il mio bimbo in un posto simile (l'acquario di Genova) ma non ci sarà il tunnel da attraversare...
What a spectacular place! And what beautiful photos !!! Those jellyfish are exceptional !!!
Soon also bring my child in a place like this (the Aquarium of Genoa), but there will be a tunnel to cross ...
Looks amazing, and wonderful photo's of it all. Glad you managed to help Lucy feel safe enough to open her eyes!
What a fun family trip!
i always loved taking my kids to the Baltimore National Aquarium! It's a great memory!
THANKS for sharing yours = )
My friend's little girl is completely obsessed with sharks! She loves them. We have one of those cool underwater tunnels at the Pittsburgh Zoo but instead of being for fish, it is actually for the polar bears. It's kind of neat! We got to see them swimming around above our heads.
That aquarium looks amazing! We were in California and Oregon this time last year and loved the aquarium at Monterey:)
I visited this aquarium several years ago and the shark tunnel is quite amazing, but I can see why Lucy would be scared--that one photo of her with her eyes wide open says it all! There are lots of wonderful other exhibits there-I'm glad she enjoyed them and you got some great photos!!
Beautiful photos! What treasures they will be as Lucy grows older!
Gorgeous!!! The pictures are amazing and it seems that the aquarium is fantastic!
LOVE! and too cute about lucy and the sharks.. :D xoxo
I love aquariums! Lucy is so adorable, but I can imagine that tunnel was a bit overwhelming for her. When she's older I bet she'll love to see it again.
The pictures are fabulous!
Oh now I have to go! We had a similar experience with Forrest in the tunnel at the Maui Aquarium - Sharks are all well and good until they swim by the window. = )
Looks like a lovely day out! There's an underwater tunnel in an aquarium just outside Edinburgh, near me, that I haven't been to in years, but now really want to go back to
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It looks like you had a great time and now I want to visit our aquarium. I love that picture of Lucy looking at the starfish.
I so love the picture where you are both open mouthed. Actually all your pictures are amazing! my son (who is 6) and his best friend (who is 7) and my nephew (who just turned 8) are all obsessed with sea creatures too! but around that age for me is when jaws came out...we were terrified? do you think its where we like to be scared sorta? anyway, I loved meme I saw once that said "sharks are much less a big deal than I thought they would be when I was a child" so true....we all thought, as children, we would be dead from sharks by the time we were teens....NinaC (who still can't post through google at work!)
I don't know how could I have missed this post... The photos are amazing, looks like great fun!
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