fantasea

Party in the USA – our usual wake up call told me it was time to roll out of bed and as usual it was a bumpy ride... to Chicago. Our mission – to get to Chicago, find a park in town, and be out-and-about after lunch. Mission accomplished, we went for a lovely walk along the Chicago waterfront, then our first attraction was Shedd Aquarium (& the parking was $32 for the day!). Shedd looks huge from the outside and when you go through the tent tunnel up the stairs into the aquarium youcan see why it's the 2nd largest aquarium in the world. [in fact Mum & Dad have also been to the largest... which is much newer and in Atlanta] Since it was Saturday the aquarium was packed! When we finally got our tickets and were in the lobby we found there were about 5 different ways you could go. We went the way with the least people, and it took us to the giant Anaconda. We couldn’t see its head but we could see its tail and thick scaly body - enormous!

Then we went to see the Beluga whales. Did you know they are the only whales that can move their necks? The Beluga whales are white like the Antarctic where they come from, the babies are grey and become white as they grow older. There was one in particular that I liked because it would poke its head up out of the water as if it were saying hi.

Then we went into the Oceanarium where wer got front row seats to watch a show called Fantasea at 2:30 or so we thought… The show started of with a girl being 'picked' out of the audience and a seal pulling a rope saying 'pull' in order to close the curtains (he also did other tricks like waving, saluting & kissing his trainer). Then the girl hopped in a flying boat and flew to the other side of the water and onto the rock where, with the help of a lady in a full white suit, did tricks with some beluga whales. Then she raced around the water to catch the evil looking penguin man. When she did, he gave her a penguin costume and she did a waddling dance with the penguins, and that was when I got about an inch away from petting one. Then on came the red tailed hawk when suddenly the show stopped because of some technical difficulties.

The next show was at 3:30 so we went to that one instead. It started the same way except the girl was different... but had the same cloths and same mum. They also did more tricks with the whales. When the hawk came on this time it flew across the stage and another came in to do the same. Then most people's all-time favorite (but not mine) was the dolphins. Their act started when 3 umbrellas, 3 hats, 3 swings and 3 people came down from the ceiling. The three people simultaneously dropped of the swing and into the water and stayed there for what seemed like forever. They were the trainers. What a grand entrance for some grand animals. To tell you the truth I wasn’t that impressed with the dolphins but the belugas & seal lion were awesome... and a really polished show as you come to expect from Americans.

When the show was over we went to wild reef to see some big sharks, we even saw some ½ whale, ½ sharks. We stayed there until just before dark watching the frilly fish gracefully glide past. And when we finally got to the camper Deanna found out why we had to wait so long for the show to start…… We forgot to change our time back an hour when we came to Chicago!

We were quite unsure where to stay the night - the carpark said no overnight parking but there was hardly anyone there. In the end we decided to stay, the worst that can happen is that someone can knock on the door and tell you to leave...

til next time... from Amy