Greetings from Boston

We drove through snow-covered Connecticut on a beautiful clear morning to Boston, where we parked near Rowes Wharf and walked to the New England Aquarium. We had been there briefly once before, in 2004, when we were in town for the Lord of the Rings exhibit at the science center, so I was delighted to get to spend the better part of an afternoon there. For anyone who does not know, there are three kinds of penguins at the New England Aquarium, as well as five adult sea turtles plus many rescued babies, a moray eel, an anaconda, sharks, rays, jellies, and many, many wonderful fish and amphibians. There was a demonstration of training behaviors of the aquarium's fur seals, plus a penguin information talk and feeding.

We went out a bit in the afternoon while the sun was still up so we could see the Old State House, site of the Boston Massacre, as well as Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, but we went back to the aquarium later to see the deep sea tank, seahorses, tide pool touch tank, and shore bird exhibit. Near closing time, we came back to the hotel, where Paul served us veggie chili he had made at home and frozen to bring up. Then he took the kids swimming and Dementordelta and I watched Galaxy Quest on my little tiny DVD player. The Ravens playoff game against the Colts did not go at all well, but I didn't pay a lot of attention after the first quarter, and the Saints won, which pleased me. Tomorrow we get to see the Harry Potter exhibit and the Antarctica IMAX, which pleases me even more!


Four very happy Rockhopper penguins got a bath from the sprinklers at the New England Aquarium.


Adam visited the African penguins under a sculpture of a whale shark.


A penguin keeper -- a job Dementordelta, Adam and I all covet -- fed the Little Blue or Fairy penguins, the smallest at the aquarium (and in the world).


The fur seals showed off targeting behavior and other tricks at this demonstration.


Dementordelta took this photo of my family with the Giant Ocean Tank behind us.


One of the loggerhead turtles swimming in the tank -- though this is not Myrtle, the famous gigantic green sea turtle, largest turtle at the aquarium.


This is Boston's Old State House, where the Declaration of Independence was first read to Massachusetts citizens and where the Boston Massacre took place.


My kids in front of Samuel Adams' statue at Faneuil Hall.