Instead of driving, we took the train. This was my first time on a train so I documented it with a picture! I loved the train ride. It was so convenient for $5 unlimited rides all weekend, it was a better option than driving and dealing with traffic, directions, parking, etc. It was also a smooth and relatively quiet (even though the train was packed) ride.
Then we took a short bus trip from the train station to the aquarium. This was also my first time on a public bus. I've ridden school buses and charter tour buses, but never a city bus....so again I documented it with a picture! haha
Andrew was with us too!
We got off at the Museum Campus Bus stop which is near the aquarium, planetarium, etc. and had a short but beautiful walk to the aquarium. Don't ask what Peter's doing because we don't know hahaha.
This is the pathway up to the aquarium. With all the snow it was very pretty!
On our left the entire walkway was a view of the Navy Pier with a lighthouse far out in the water. It was very picturesque.
Getting closer to Shedd Aquarium...
We could also see some of the Chicago skyline and part of Lake Michigan. It was pretty cool because it was frozen close to land but we could see where it turned to water too.
This is another view of the Navy Pier:
Even though it was pretty cold out, it was very enjoyable with all the views to take in. This park looked so inviting and I would love to go back in the springtime-which we plan to do next year before Andrew graduates!
Proof that the 3 of us were together on this adventure:
The next shots are all from inside the Aquarium. No flash photography was allowed (even though we saw some rude people doing it anways) so I used the iPhone for many of the pictures since our digital camera didn't pick up the pictures good enough with no flash. It was so pretty and had so many different reef tanks and fish tanks. When you first walk in, there's a huge tank with a hammerhead shark and a giant turtle and Shedd staff actually go into the tank and answer your questions while they feed some of the fish.
Before we explored more of the aquarium, we grabbed some lunch in the cafeteria there since it was lunch time and Peter was hungry! :) This is us on the steps down to the cafeteria.
Some tanks had one species of an aquatic creature, while others had several species mixed together.
Jellyfish!
This is one of my favorites:
These were cool dragonfish. I don't know if that was the "exact" name but something close to it.
Seahorses:
Another favorite:
Even though we paid for the cheaper admission that didn't include all exhibits (we figured it wasn't worth it because we wouldn't have time for it all anyways) we got to see the penguins and whales and dolphins. The whales were hard to see because the water was really cloudy and they were on the other side of the tank. We did however watch the penguins for like 15 minutes which was really fun. We kind of "snuck in" but no one said anything haha. Our plan was to plead innocence and act like we didn't know better.
All in all it was a very fun Saturday afternoon at the aquarium. We went ate dinner at the cafeteria at Wheaton and Peter and Andrew played pingpong for a while. We must be getting old though because we headed back to the hotel around 9PM to crash.
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