San Diego Vacation, Day 5 - Part 2, Birch Aquarium

In our previous post, we had spent the morning at the amazing and fabulous San Diego Zoo. After the zoo we decided to drive a bit so the kids could nap in the car, and headed up the coast just north of the city to La Jolla, home of the Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, part of the University of California at San Diego. We sat in the parking lot for a while, letting the kids get as long a nap in as possible. At 4:30 we got them out of the car for a whirlwind tour of the aquarium, which closed at 5pm!! This is what we saw as we walked up to the building - my new all-time favorite fountain!! These whales coming out of the water were just amazing!!The aquarium overlooks La Jolla and the ocean - the view was spectacular!First priority during our short visit was finding the shark tank - another thing on Carter's mandatory must-do list. He's a bit obsessed with sharks lately. He asked several times during the trip if sharks were in the water - when we were at the beach, at the pier, etc. I swear I haven't been saying anything to make him share my phobia!!! :-)Carter posed with Daddy in a big shark mouth!!He also got to stand inside a shark cage - the kind people go down into the water inside to view sharks up close - yikes!!We were too late to touch anything in the tidal pools, they were already covered with netting and the animals were "resting". But the kids had fun looking through the glass sides of the tidal pool, spotting some anemones and starfish.I thought these photos turned out pretty neat, considering they were taken through aquarium glass!Thanks for stopping by - tomorrow we'll go on a Harbor Cruise and head to another beach!