Thursday, August 9, 2012

Monday August 6th – Back to the Aquarium


 
We slept in a little later then I thought this morning, but we managed to get ready in decent time. The kids made their beds and did everything they could to help out once they found out where we were going. We were on the road by 11:00, off for our second tour of the New England Aquarium in Boston, or as it’s also known, Xavier’s favorite place in the whole world.

I was about to get on the interstate when I realized that I didn’t have any cash for the tolls (you have to pay for all the highways down here – 8 bucks to drive to Boston! Like I’m not supporting the local economy enough buying gas for the Escalade) so we kept driving on the main drag until I found an ATM. I followed the GPS which brought us all the way to Biddeford before we could get back on the highway.

The kids were really good all day. The drive was a bit long, but no one seemed to mind. The GPS (and Google maps for that matter) took us on the US 1 through some pretty ……uh…..interesting neighbourhoods. And go figure, it doesn’t work in a tunnel either, so I lost the satelite and missed my exit, and got stuk driving around downtown Boston looking for the aquarium.  The truck always seems much bigger when I’m lost and don’t know what lane I’m supposed to be in. We got to the parking garage and they have a sign up that says the lot is full. Guylaine put down her window to ask the attendant where there was more parking, but he said there was still room (good thing cause I don’t know of any other parking garage close to there), so in we went.

Guylaine waited in line like last year while me and the kids watched the harbor seals in the outdoor aquarium. This year though, they have an outdoor photographer take your picture like in Niagara Falls and try to sell it to you later superimposed on a background of the aquarium. (ya, I bought it. I’m a sucker for memorabilia)

The aquarium was the much the same as last year, with a few changes to the sharks. The nurse sharks are gone from the main aquarium, and the small hammerheads from the petting aquarium have grown and have been moved into the main aquarium. In spite of the minimal changes, the kids still loved going. By 5:00, we were all wiped out and decided to head home. We went bak to the parking garage and rode up the elevator with an older well dressed gentleman who asked the kids if they had been to the aquarium. I didn’t think muh of it at the time, but once we got to the truck, Guylaine pointed out that we had rode up the elevator with the same man and had the same conversation with him when we came here last year. And she’s right. Once she said it, I remembered it too. That’s just weird.

We got out of downtown OK, But the GPS got us off the Interstate trying to find the US 1 again, except now it’s rush hour and traffic is at a stand still. I missed a turn and we had to do some backtracking, but it wasn’t too bad. We were supposed to get some supplies at WalMart, but we had just enough time to get to the beach. Low tide was at 9:15, and it’s usually dark by 8:30. We hit the beach at 8:00. Guylaine already had extra bathing suits and towels in the truck, and I won’t pass up an opportunity to practice with the camera. The kids picked the beach over eating an (earlier) supper. They just love it so much. We stayed until dark, then stopped for the essentials (bread and milk) and headed home to rinse off the sand and eat hambergers. No trouble getting them to sleep tonight. Everyone is exhausted.










































No comments:

Post a Comment