10/10/09

Met some friends at R's house, and started on our journey. Traffic was minimal, weather was overcast with the occasional drizzle spot.

Did a bit of window shopping on the way, then to George's for a once again fantastic meal. Excellent Italian food, good service, just a nice place to be. By far my favorite Houston stop.

Off to the fishes! We arrived at the Houston Aquarium without incident. Go Phone! Had a huge lack of communication about getting our vouchers turned into tickets. Oi Vey! Once in, we were off to see da fishes!

Fabulous aquariums! As we entered the first room, there was what looked like a huge off-white artificial turtle display in the tank. My first impression was "ew, chintzy. So much for natural habitat." Imagine my surprise when that chintzy looking turtle MOVED! *giggle* He was HUGE!!! Ack!

There were tanks of saltwater fish of various kinds, snakes, a few lizards, a few frogs and a couple turtles. When we entered a room with the brightly colored salt water fish & coral, I looked at R, and said, "I'll be here, go on ahead & have fun. See you in a few hours! I could sit here all day!" I love watching large tanks like that, focusing on one fish at a time, watching it search for food, chase bubbles, encounter other fish, play in and out of the coral, all of it. Very fun....

Last display of the indoor tanks was a white tiger. Poor fella was one of many, according to the pictures & descriptions. He paced the doors, hoping for either way out to peace & quiet, or food, it was hard to tell. Poor guy. The cage he was in was incredibly "fake looking", and it reflected in his disposition he wasn't enjoying his life very much in there.

Outdoors, we hopped a small train ride into a shark tank! All around us, overhead, sharks!! Very cool indeed! Probably the biggest "wow factor" part of the aquarium. From the train, we took a ferris wheel ride. Wheeeeeee!! Though it was rather tall, all of the elevated highways in Houston made it seem small. Thank goodness for small blessings, right?

On the way home, we stopped at a fine-foods grocery. I grabbed a few things in the store I can't find in our small hometown, happy to find them. Trip home was entirely uneventful, thank goodness.

A very fun day with good friends. All my kids were happy to see us on the way home, as we stopped to give them dinner & sheets. The boys were on their best behavior for company, both offering friendly nuzzles. MacKenzie and Allie were ever-protective, barking their nutty little ears off.