We picked a Wednesday in January for our visit and were pleasantly surprised to find our Shedd Aquarium Date Day virtually empty.  This gave us the opportunity to see everything we wanted to see without the usual hustle and bustle of large crowds.  We bought our tickets online and printed them at home, so we were able to avoid the ticket line completely.  The aquarium website says the line is usually 30-60 minutes long so ordering online is a good idea.  There is no coat check, but they do have plenty of secure lockers that you can rent for $0.75 a day.

The Amazon

Once we freed ourselves from our coats, we headed off into the Amazon.  This section of the aquarium is focused on the changes that take place on the Amazon river over the course of a year.  We learned how people, animals, fish and plants adapt to a constantly changing environment where water levels fluctuate by up to 30 feet annually.  In this area we saw piranhas (which don’t actually eat people), a mean looking anaconda and a giant arapaima fish.

Great Lakes

After the Amazon, we explored the Oceans, the Great Lakes and a bunch of smaller lakes and rivers.  We saw more fish than a conveyor-belt sushi chef and learned a thing or two along the way.  Did you know that there are over 2,000 species of cichlids in the world?  Well there are, and the Shedd has many of these interesting and colorful fish.  We also learned that seahorses often live their entire lives in an area of no more than 10 square meters.  Don’t fret if you are not into learning, it is equally pleasing to just wander around and enjoy beautiful creatures in the 77 different habitats in this part of the aquarium.

Oceanarium

Our next stop was the Oceanarium.  Here we saw the famous beluga whales playing with pool floats, an adorable sea otter chilling on its back and a playful penguin that wanted to be petted like a puppy dog.  We skipped the Aquatic Presentation as we have seen it before and it just wasn’t very impressive.

Wild Reef

From the Oceanarium we headed to the Wild Reef.  This is probably the most impressive exhibit in the aquarium.  As we walked along the meandering path, we saw coral reefs, stingrays and a huge tank with several different types of shark.  The overall theme of the exhibit was everything in the sea needs to eat to survive.  It even compared a coral reef to a diner where fish eat plants, plankton and even each other in their quest for nutrition.  At the very end of the exhibit we got to see an interesting lab that showed how the aquarium grows its own coral for the reef.

Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea

Throughout the day we also got to see a special exhibit in various part of the building.  Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea, features sculptures of various sea creatures such as a 150-pound anemone, a 11-foot seahorse and a full tropical reef.  The surprise is that every one of the sculptures is made up of trash that was washed ashore on beaches.  We saw plastic bottles, flip-flops, toys and many other things – over 5 tons in all just for this exhibit.  It was a stark reminder of how much we are polluting the world’s waters.  This exhibit will be at the aquarium through September 2018 and is definitely worth the trip.

Overall, the Aquarium is a great place to spend the day learning about new things, fanaticizing about places to visit and generally having a good time.

Upon leaving the aquarium we were hungry, as usual.  After completing our normal rounds of Yelping and debate, we decided to head over to Chinatown for soup and appetizers.  We both love Chinese food and agree that we don’t get to Chinatown often enough.  We stopped at our favorite place, MingHin.

We did all of this and were still able to pick up our 13-year-old from school at 3:15.  It was a very good day.