Gone fishin'

My mom is in town visiting so we played tourist this morning and trekked down to the Shedd Aquarium. I usually have mixed feelings about going there. My memories of previous visits (and my wife concurs with me on this) are very dark rooms with creepy fish and a fear that the tanks are going to break at any moment and we'll all get eaten by some strange fish that should be in the Amazon. But this is not your father's Shedd Aquarium.

It really is a remarkable place (despite the $23 fee for adults and $16 for kids) and put me in continuous awe of God's creation. Beauty and ugliness (in the eye of the beholder, I suppose) are right next to each other, existing peacefully, I would imagine.

A tourist tip for those visiting Chicago and Chicagolanders going downtown: if I had to do it over again, I'd skip the dolphin show and spend most of my time in the Wild Reef section, which was, for lack of a better word, inspiring. The dolphin show? Eh. Unless you have kids who are dying to see the dolphins do a few jumps, you'd be better off doing something else.

I must say, though, that the whole thing made me want to buy an aquarium. I know now, though, to wait a few days on those impulses.