Growing up by the beach, I’ve always had a natural affinity for aquatic animals. I lived in Manhattan Beach during most of my childhood and the Huntington Beach area during high school. After college, my husband and I settled in San Diego. I’ve moved slowly down the coast in a straight trajectory. At this point, I can’t really go any further south or I’ll be in Mexico!
As a child, I enjoyed excursions to the tidepools and visits to Marineland. My interests haven’t changed. I still love exploring the rocky shores and hunting for sea creatures. And I’m always up for a trip to Sea World. The moving walkways that tunnel through the shark tank and meander alongside the penguin colony are always a big hit with the kids.
I purchased a Family membership at the Birch Aquarium, which is located on a bluff overlooking the ocean in La Jolla. The aquarium is the public exploration center for the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. My membership allows me to take one adult and four of my grandchildren to the aquarium for free each visit. It also grants me a few guest passes. It’s relatively small but the perfect excursion for young children.
My grandkids always enjoy the antics of the cute little blue penguins and the strange-looking weedy sea dragons. They also favor the various jellyfish exhibits, the giant fish enclosure in the middle of the aquarium, and the shark tank (of course). One of the highlights is inevitably touching the sea anemone and starfish in the man-made tidepools.
Last Christmas, my husband gifted me a behind-the-scenes tour of the seahorses. It was awesome. Scripps operates a conservation breeding program and the babies were off exhibit in the back until they grew stronger. Seeing the little ones and core operations was a rare opportunity. The tour was a memorable experience, one I won’t soon forget.
