My Town Monday: Birch Aquarium

Money-saving tip: Present your AAA or CAA card to save $1.00 off the ticket of each person in your group.

I am very late posting this week's My Town Monday. BUT this is really what I did today, along with my visiting sister, her three children and a couple of my children. AND, technically, it's still Monday...

So, we went to Birch Aquarium. And had fun. And even learned stuff.

The first thing we did was eat our picnic lunch. Let's just say that we're a slow-moving group, and we so did not get there when they opened the doors at 9 a.m. Not even close. Also, my THREE wrong turns, even with my navigator (I'm a poor listener), didn't help matters.

This is a sarcastic fringehead. It's my favorite fish. Although only 9 inches long, it's feisty and loaded with attitude, even charging scuba divers. It has bushy eyebrows. You can find it hanging around off the California coast about 10 to 200 feet down. The sarcastic fringehead lives in holes and old bottles, especially beer bottles. Females usually mate with the largest male and then leave the eggs in the male's shelter where he'll guard them. HOWEVER, females do not like to mate with males who live in old and dirty shelters.

I can just imagine the conversation:
Him: Hi there, baby. I can eat my weight in fish. I'm easily the buffest fringehead on the reef.
Her: Do you pick up after yourself? How often do you clean? When was the last time you dusted? Let me check out the inside of your bottle.

(BTW, I did not take this photo as my camera (which must be squeezed tightly in order to keep light from sneaking through the right-hand side) is messing up more and more.)

Below is some Birch Aquarium poetry to help you remember marine facts. (Which you can recite at cocktail parties, impressing everyone to no end!)

And, last but certainly not least, I leave you with a shot of me and my little sister in a shark's mouth.

Yes, we are naturally that cool! It's a family curse.

If you're in town, you'll want to take in Birch Aquarium. It's interesting and educational with some very cool exhibits. It's not even particularly expensive. There's a neato tide pool area outside. I personally poked at a sea star and a sea cucumber today. The view of the ocean below is stunning. You'll get a decent dose of info about environmental issues (easily skipped if you're not in the mood) such as the green house because this IS California. Here's the contact info: 2300 Expedition Way, La Jolla, CA 92093-0001 phone: (858) 534-3474

Tomorrow: the beach! I'm the proud owner of a brand new boogie board. Oh, you didn't know I was an expert boogie boarder? Okay. Fine. I'm not. But I do catch the odd wave. Especially when Child #2 stands next to me in the ocean and shouts, "Jump, Mom!" just as a promising wave approaches.

For links to the other MTM participants, please head over to our My Town Monday blog which was set up by the lovely and talented Clair Dickson.