Recently, Ward's cousin, Cynthia, was visiting from Guatemala. One of our outings during her stay was a visit to the National Aquarium in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. It's been several years since we last visited, and we were pleasantly reminded of how much we like it. Below are pictures from our outing. Probably more than you want to see, but the animals were just so darn interesting.
First up are the jellyfish, perhaps my favorite exhibit. They floated and glided so effortlessly that I found them mesmerizing.
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| Fluorescent flower hat jellyfish |
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| Egg-yolk jellyfish |
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| Upside-down jellyfish that lie on the bottom with their tentacles up. |
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| Tiger jellyfish |
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| Not sure what kind these are, but we got to pet similar ones in a petting pool. They felt firm with a squishy layer on top. |
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| Spotted jellyfish |
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| And the giant display of glass jellyfish. 😉 |
On the top floor of the aquarium, you leave the water and enter the tropical rainforest. Cynthia felt right at home here, as many of the plants featured grow where she lives.
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| This banana tree, with its blooms and bananas forming, reminded me of the one time we got bananas from our tree in New Orleans. (Look to the right of the big yellowed leaf near the top to see the bananas.) |
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| There were colorful birds, including parrots... |
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| and scarlet ibis. |
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| The real star of the rainforest display was the sloth. |
The poison dart frogs were not allowed to roam freely like the rest of the rainforest animals, so we saw these brightly colored frogs behind glass. It was pretty dark, so not the best pictures. The frogs ranged in size from about 1/2 inch to 2 inches.
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| This tiny frog had a very big voice. |
A few other things we saw:
I had no idea there were so many kinds of jellyfish! And they are beautiful too
ReplyDeleteNow I think i need to visit the aquarium! It looks amazing.
I think you should do a road trip and visit it. The Inner Harbor has many other things of interest, all easy walking distance from each other.
DeleteLove the pictures! So beautiful! Isn't nature fascinating. I don't think I have ever seen a headshot of an eel, what a face.
ReplyDeleteThat eel was so brightly colored, it didn't look real. And yes, what a face!
DeleteThanks for these very excellent photos...and especially the varieties of jelly fish!
ReplyDeleteThey had music playing with the jelly fish exhibit and the jellyfish seemed to be dancing to it. I could have spent hours in that part.
DeleteThese are beautiful photos! I love the Tiger jellyfish photo and the photo after it. Those frogs are so beautiful but I wouldn't get close. And then you went dancing. Love that.
ReplyDeleteI think the tiger jellyfish were my favorites.
DeleteCynthia is a flamenco dancer, but had never done line dancing. Not surprisingly, she caught on quickly.
i was there oh, 35 or 40 years ago, and loved it. I think it may have been my favorite aquarium I've ever been to. What a great experience to share with Cynthia!
ReplyDeleteI've been to a few aquariums and enjoyed them all, but this was, by far, my favorite.
DeleteI have a horror of jellyfish, which overtake our beaches from time to time, but they look gorgeous in your photos.
ReplyDeleteAmalia
xo
According to the signs, most jelly fish aren't poisonous, but some are. I was surprised that we could pet one because I thought we could get stung by all of them.
DeleteThe various jellyfish or sea creatures looked so pretty.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely day.
There were so many different shapes and colors of sea creatures which made the visit very interesting!
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