A Fishy Day

We continued our exploration of our new hometown with Brook and Wendi today, heading first to the Seattle Aquarium, which stood in stark contrast to last week's venture to the Science Center. The Aquarium, unlike others I've been to, focuses primarily on marine life in the region (so there weren't a lot of neon-colored fish, but that's OK). The exhibits were very well maintained, and staff were everywhere to both help control the kids and answer questions. Among the highlights: a donut-shaped tank filled with jellyfish, so you could see how they move; an octopus lair, with Puget Sound octopi; a baby squid the size of a grain of rice, that hatched as we watched; an exhibit where you walked through a glass tunnel that went under the Sound, so you could get a good look at the variety of fish in the waters below; a "birds of the Sound" display, where you could watch puffins diving for fish; and the river otters, who look like larger, swimming cats. This may be the "must-do" attraction for when friends and family come, it was probably the best "local" aquarium I've been to (unlike Shedd's, which is more like a zoo o' fish.)

Afterwards, because we happened to be in the area, we went to Pike Place and goofed around for a bit. We didn't buy anything this time, but I'd still like to get one of those large Seattle skyline pictures for above the couch. Maybe when we get a house and have a better idea of where we'll be living and what our setup will finally be, I'll get one. Lunch was Irish pub food at a place called Kells, not bad and a little pricey, but they brew a decent house lager and had a pretty cool pint glass for the collection. We went to Carkeek Park but by the time we got there it was raining pretty hard, so we didn't stay for long before we took off to Brook and Wendi's place for a round of Chez Geek and some chattin'.

Liz is making a lamb roast tonight (yummers), so I'm going to spend my time watching X2 and staying warm. The rain really soaked me to the bone today, in that way that cold sometimes seeps into you and, no matter how many socks you put on, your toes refuse to warm up. Tomorrow is a Game of Thrones tournament at the comic store, and afterwards I'm planning to meet up with Angela and John and maybe bring James and Margo and Kytte along to see Good Bye, Lenin!