Went to the Newport Aquarium. We’d gone several years ago with Andy and Susan, but I was glad to go again. I really like their set-up; there is a underwater tunnel that goes through the main tank-the tank with the sharks. There’s just something about watching the fish swimming above me that I find absolutely fascinating. Not to mention the fact that it gives you a view of the fish that I presume typically only scuba divers get. I don’t know if other aquariums use a similar set-up, but I really like it. They had added two new exhibits since the last time we were there, an otter exhibit and a lorikeet exhibit–both part of “The Rainforest”. If I’d seen otters before, it had been a long time ago, and at a zoo, so I didn’t realize (okay, these is where guys can wander off for the rest of the paragraph.) how absolutely adorable they are. They weren’t swimming, which was too bad, but were instead all curled up together on the rocks in the sun. They very much reminded me of cats, the way the curled up together, and interacted, and even moved. As I said, they were very cute, and I only wish I’d have seen them swimming.

They also had some very nice jellyfish, including a “Lion’s Mane” that I recognize from a Sherlock Holmes story.

At this moment we saw the man himself. His head showed above the edge of the cliff where the path ends. Then his whole figure appeared at the top, staggering like a drunken man. The next instant he threw up his hands and, with a terrible cry, fell upon his face. Stackhurst and I rushed forward — it may have been fifty yards — and turned him on his back. He was obviously dying. Those glazed sunken eyes and dreadful livid cheeks could mean nothing else. One glimmer of life came into his face for an instant, and he uttered two or three words with an eager air of warning. They were slurred and indistinct, but to my ear the last of them, which burst in a shriek from his lips, were “the Lion’s Mane.” It was utterly irrelevant and unintelligible, and yet I could twist the sound into no other sense. Then he half raised himself from the ground, threw his arms into the air, and fell forward on his side. He was dead.

They also had several sting rays, which I think are fascinating. They also had a thing going about sea turtles, but although they were interesting, they just don’t have the same draw for me as the sharks and the sting rays.

They still have the penguin exhibit. Penguins are so awkward on the land, that I always imagine them to be elegant swimmers. Although they are efficient, they just don’t seem elegant to me. I’m sure that penguin enthusiasts are going to come down on me for that, but I just don’t see them as elegant. Efficient, yes. Interesting, yes. Elegant, no.

After the aquarium we had lunch at the levee plaza (I think that’s what it was called) at Mitchell’s Fish Market. After watching all the fish swimming, Michael said he wanted fish for lunch, so… It was quite good, although I thought that my garlic shrimp were a little bland. Could just be me. I had a bit of Michael’s salmon, which was quite delicious. (He and Susan had the seafood platter, with salmon, shrimp, and scallops.) I would definitely go there again if we go back to the aquarium. Yum!

Although variety is the spice of life, Dinner was again at the Thai Cafe, and I again had the Drunken noodles, although I only ate half, which means that I’ll end up having that three days in row, which is perfectly alright with me. Dessert was Graeter’s, and then on back on the road to home.

Not, I know, everyone else’s idea of a vacation, but for us, it was perfect.