Mystic Aquarium – Mystic, CT

www.mysticaquarium.org

Looking for a great day trip? Check out the Mystic Aquarium! Just an hour and a half from South of Boston and you’ve reached a great place to entertain all day long. The aquarium is both indoors and outdoors, this was news to me since we went on a 95 degree day, but the outdoor section is really quite beautiful.

When you first enter the gates, the first exhibit to hit you on the right is the giant beluga whale exhibit. This exhibit is really something that kids are in awe of. Such beautiful large animals swimming close by, with smiles on their face nonetheless. You can see the whales from both below the water and up above as they dart back and forth. Across the way, the kids were distracted by the touch tank where you are able to reach in and touch rays. You can even feed the rays if you choose to buy the food. As you continue to walk outside, you are treated to exhibits of seal lions, fur seals, and penguins.

We took a break to eat our packed lunches at a few picnic tables before venturing on.

By this time, we were hotter than you could possibly imagine, so headed straight inside to the main gallery. The main gallery is a beautiful building with exhibits of amazing dark lit jellyfish, school of fish, frogs, shark and more. There are a few other touch tanks inside the building to let the kids get up close and personal with the sea creatures.

We cut our visit short to make it in time for the sea lion show. The show was in a large impressive theatre with hundreds of seats. The kids were thrilled to watch the sea lions race past them, jump and spin. It’s a cute show included with admission of the aquarium.

We headed back to the main gallery to discover what we had yet to see. The kids unfortunately were so overstimulated at this point that we had to leave without heading over to the 4D theatre or Conservation Center. There was supposedly a wonderful frog exhibit and alligators over there.

Few things to note:

• Admission can be a bit pricey – look for deals at libraries, Dunkin Donuts and coupon books
• Try to avoid the cafe there – we were there on a weekday and the line was out the door with complete madness inside
• Free parking – score!
• take note its both indoors and outdoors

How to get there:

55 Coogan Blvd

Mystic, CT