Saturday, July 10, 2010

The Mighty Mississippi meets the Merrill's

Mid-week, Jeremy said he was thinking of going to Dubuque on Saturday to pick up a part for his jeep.  Jeremy asked if Landon and I would like to ride along and go to the Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium.  I felt like a giddy little school girl!  I have been wanting to go there for some time -  I am a wannabe museum nerd!  I was literally counting the days to go and was up super early on Saturday morning!

We hit the road early and stopped to get the necessary Jeep accessories.  Then it was off to spend a few hours at the Museum and Aquarium.  
We got started right away.  I would have loved to spend more time looking at the various exhibits, but Jeremy and I just scanned them as Landon was already bored.  Hmm...  They are working on a new gulf exhibit.  That will be really interesting when it is complete. 
We hit up the second level and let Landon play in the kids exhibit.
We stayed on the second level and hit up a 3D/4D film.  Yes, 4D!!  The seats shook, water dripped from the ceiling, the wind gusted, it was awesome.  Not to mention, Landon reached out several times to try and grab fish that were floating by, and I totally bolted to the side when they threw the anchor out of the ship.  AWESOME!!
This is what it looked like without the 3D glasses.  Blah.
After the short 15 minute film, we headed to the main area and ordered some lunch.  Then, it was over to the aquarium.  I have to say this was probably the most fun part of the Museum.  Landon was absolutely in love and squealed several times!  He had people laughing!
When you walk in the front doors, there is a huge aquarium that is full of tons of fish, ducks, turtles, and yes, I even saw a snake.  It is open so you could put your hand in there, but I'm pretty sure that you would be kindly asked not to do that.  Landon did not want to leave this tank and tried to grab the fish through the glass.  So cute!
There are so many different tanks and exhibits throughout the two floors.  They even had a hands on kids show where you had to guess the animal they were talking about.  Guess what animal they had out when we were there.  Of course a snake.  Yup, I was out of there and luckily Landon and Jeremy followed!
Then we went on to see alligators and more!  This picture doesn't do justice.  This was a big guy.
A baby that was a couple feet long just chillin on a log. 
This turtle says - get me out of here!
It was a great time and I would love to go back again.  You could literally spend the WHOLE day there.  But we had things to do at home and I was missing the Elke, so we headed back.  On a side note, can you believe that Landon stayed dry all day.  Yippee!

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