Aquarium!

Back in early August, Ed and Denise came out to visit for a week or so. Hurray! I was teaching, but did have Thursday afternoon and all day Friday free. Plus, Monday was a holiday. So while Ed and Toby worked lots and lots, Denise and I got to hang out. We went to the Central Park Zoo and watched the snow monkeys and the cotton-top tamarins and the polar bears! We also went to the NY Aquarium and Coney Island! We had to have Nathan's hot dogs, of course. And fought with day-camp kids for good views of rays and sharks and fishies. I'm still amazed that the sea otters aren't a bigger hit here! I mean, they're so furry and adorable, what is there not to like?! We got front row viewing for the otter feeding, while munching on watermelon that Denise had brought. It was a lovely day! These photos were taken by Denise (her camera was obvious better suited for indoor tank photos!).

I'm not sure how much longer Coney Island will be around. There has been much talk about development. I haven't really been following the debates, but there is definitely an old-world gritty charm to this amusement park as it stands now!


Approaching the Aquarium from the Coney Island Boardwalk, you get to see this amazing mural on the back wall of one of the Aquarium buildings!


Anenome are such weird and beautiful creatures!


Rays are so nifty! Did you know that they're closely related to sharks? And that they and sharks have only 5 gills (unlike the 7 that most fishes have)? Thankse Denise for telling me that factoid! Unfortunately, I can't remember exactly what happened to the two other gills - did they fuse and become jaw bones? Hmm....