Living Planet Aquarium

The last day of Denisa's Mother's trip to Salt Lake City was already here, and it was also the day of Mark's Father's surgery back in Oklahoma.  We waited around the motor home until we got the news that the surgery was successful, and the prognosis is good.  Recovery will be tough for his 89-year-old Father, and Mark is glad to be there to help his Mother as well.  

Still wanting to stay close to the telephone today, we picked the Living Planet Aquarium as our last tourist attraction to visit. We would highly recommend it, as we spent several hours looking at everything. We had our favorite things, but I would say that we enjoyed it all.  Some of our favorites were the big fish in the South America section of the aquarium.

Among all the the fish and water creatures, there were also a few birds thrown in for good measure and sound effects.

We probably spent the most time in the penguin section of the aquarium.  We were lured in by the billboards along the interstate that proclaimed the baby penguins had hatched.  We were hoping to see babies, but the billboards must be old because they all looked the same size to us. One thing we love about being retired is having the whole day to see an attraction.  So we sat and watched the penguins dive into the water and perform great feats of daring.  We also noticed the poor penguin on the far left that was molting, so he couldn't go into the water.  Easy to photograph on land with their slow and awkward waddle, we found it impossible to picture them in their graceful dives under water.  But we could sit and watch them for hours through the glass walls of their tank.

Another favorite section was the "Ocean Explorer."  Those neon salt-water fish were beautiful, but the bright colors just can't be photographed successfully with our old camera.  Staring at the odd-shaped coral and the curious sea horses remind us that we have a very creative God with a sense of humor.  As we stood in front of the jellyfish tank, a teenager stopped to mutter in amazement that it was hard to believe that some people don't like nature.  We had to agree with him.

We visited the "Discover Utah" section which featured more common plants and fish, so we traveled through it more quickly.  I think Mother would have really enjoyed our last stop in Moab, since she insisted on a picture by these beautiful (fake) red rocks at the beginning of the display.

But it took a lot of time to get through discovering Utah when we reached the home of the river otters.  They were sliding up and down the rocks and doing somersaults in the water with amazing agility.  One finally slowed down enough to photograph while floating on his back eating a snack.

But the very easiest way to take a picture was in their den area where several were laying on their backs napping.  Denisa's Mother is actually standing inside the viewing bubble next to their den getting a bird's eye view of their nap.

When we got hungry, there was a small restaurant with tasty sandwiches and salads.  In that area was also a display of a huge shark jaw with its rows of sharp teeth.  I thought it was interesting that this display was sponsored by a local Salt Lake City dentist.

  When our legs needed a rest, there was a comfortable auditorium where 4D movies are shown continually.  Most are cartoons staring turtles and fish.  But we went to the Galapagos Island documentary movie instead.  No pictures of us in our 3D glasses this time.  The 4th D was the air and water that sprayed out of spigots on cue, or the vibrations in our chairs.

The last section for us included the huge shark tanks.  You can walk beside the tank, or walk through a tunnel with the sharks circling hungrily around you.

After our very interesting tour of the aquarium, we headed home to a very hot motor home.  Every afternoon the power in the campground is used up when all the air-conditioners are switched on.  Being downstream from all those energy-hungry RV's means that there isn't enough amps left for our air-conditioners.  So Denisa had to start up the generator to cool things off.  Mountain Shadows Campground will never get our recommendation if you have to pay for a 50 amp site plus use your diesel to run the AC.  

While the RV cooled off, Denisa finished making a peach dessert, since we were expecting company tonight.  Her cousin, Craig and his friend Annette took us out for Chinese food.  Then we were back at the motor home to reminisce more about childhood stories and relatives we have in common.  It was a great evening!

We were up very early the next morning to make the trip to the airport for Mother's flight home.  We were so glad that she decided to come visit us, and Mark is sad to miss it completely.  But we proved that two gray-haired women can explore a city on their own and have a great time!