Family Travel Friday
Destination: Aquarium
Book: Swimmy by Leo Lionni (1963)
By Jennifer Close
The mystery of the ocean never ceases to amaze children and adults alike. There is lots of information about the ocean, but there is still so much exploring to be done. I have been fascinated with the ocean, its inhabitants and geography, since I was a little girl. My children are just as fascinated with the ocean as I am. We make regular visits to the beach where we almost always spy crabs, fish, and jellyfish. If the sun is bright and high in the sky, we wander down the pier so that we can walk over the ocean while watching the water to spy the occasional stingray or turtle.
The Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, New Orleans
Visiting an aquarium is a good way to get an up close look at sharks, turtles, fish, seahorses and more without having to get your dive certification!We have visited aquariums in Baltimore, Virginia Beach, Atlanta, and Myrtle Beach just to name a few.
by Leo Lionni. The book is beautifully illustrated and is a Caldecott Honor winner. One of the morals of the story is to work together, which always an important skill to reinforce with children!
RipleysAquarium Myrtle Beach
Aquarium underwater picture with wax resist technique
Jennifer Close, of Two Kids and a Map, is a regular Contributor to A Traveler’s Library, bringing us cultural inspirations for travel. As a policy of A Traveler’s Library, we tell you about affiliate links. The links to books included here make it possible for you to go directly to Amazon if you wish to buy a book. They are affiliate links, and if you buy anything through the affiliate links in this post, you will be supporting A Traveler’s Library. Thank you.
As much as I love New Orleans, I’ve never been to the aquarium there, so am glad to have Jennifer’s introduction. I did love the one in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Where is your favorite aquarium?
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About the Author:
Jennifer and her family travel near and far to find adventure around every corner. She blogs about her travels at Two Kids and a Map and shares her adventures in Pensacola at Pensacola with Kids.
Jennifer Close – who has written 17 posts on A Traveler's Library.
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Tags: aquariums, children's book, family travel, Myrtle Beach, New Orleans, travel with children
I’m just catching up on my reading and found this post. My favorite aquarium? Easy! I just visited Atlanta and it has to be the Georgia Aquarium. It’s huge and I’ve seen animals there that I have never seen anywhere else: whale sharks. Amazing!!
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Sabrina would like you to read..Biggest Aquarium in the World: The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta
[...] month, I shared our love for aquariums and the one book that we read before every aquarium [...]
I’m heading to my favorite, Monterey Bay Aquarium, tomorrow. There is now a shark in the Open Sea exhibit and I want to see how the baby otter is doing. Its foster mother was a joy to watch – better than some human mothers.
We who live in the San Francisco Bay Area are lucky. We have three great aquariums nearby: Tops is the Monterey Bay Aquarium (http://www.montereybayaquarium.org), but the smaller, but closer to home ones at the California Academy of Sciences (http://www.calacademy.org/) in Golden Gate Park, and the Aquarium of the Bay (http://www.aquariumofthebay.com/) at Pier 39, are very popular with local and out-of-town families.
Dick Jordan would like you to read..This Weekend: Me, On The Radio With Rick Steves
Dick and Norma: I went to Monterey Bay Aquarium many decades ago. Need to get up there and check it out again. Say hi to the Otters, Norma. I LOVE watching otters. I’d love to spend time at the Academy of Sciences, including their aquarium. I was in the academy when researching my book, but it was packing up to move at the time. The new building looked awesome.
By the way, Dick, your post wound up in spam filter because you used more than one link in your message. Just a warning to everyone. If you have relevant links like Dick did in this post, best e-mail me and tell me you want to use them, so I’ll be watching for your note.
The aquarium in New Orleans is a fine place to visit, I agree.
I’ve not been to Marineland near St. Augustine in years and I think it has changed into a focus on dolphin shows now, but it had an aquarium section too when I was a kid, always liked that.
Kerry Dexter would like you to read..music and finding time
I know that Susan Lanier-Graham visited St. Augustine recently. Wonder if she went to the aquarium? I’ll have to check with her.
Jennifer: I mentioned the Chattanooga Aquarium above, but of course being a Westerner, I think that San Diego Sea World is pretty neat and the Scripps Institute near La Jolla has amazing jellyfish. And of course when I’m in Chicago, there’s the Shedd Aquarium where I always feel slightly strange dining on fish at their nice restaurant with a view of Lake Michigan. But I do it anyway.
Aquariums are fascinating. The jellyfish are my favorite. That’s such a good idea to read “Swimmy” before you go.
Cathy Sweeney would like you to read..Round Rainbow
My daughter could sit in front of the jellyfish all day long!
Jen ( would like you to read..Navarre Sand Sculpting Festival – Before and After Photos
we LOVE aquariums. maybe because we are mermaids. i don’t know. but i love them – the seattle one is one of my favorites! and you know – any book by lionni is loved.
wandering educators would like you to read..Grand Trunk: Goods for Travel (not trips)
That is so true…we have a whole collection of Lionni books! When I taught 9th grade, I used to read A Color of His Own and have my kids write about how they were going to make their own mark as a freshman in a new school! The kids used to laugh when I started reading the picture book to a bunch of 14 year olds but I always had their total attention!
Jen ( would like you to read..Navarre Sand Sculpting Festival – Before and After Photos