Landlocked Jacques Cousteau OR Another Turn Through the Garden

A few weeks ago was my wife's birthday, and being the incredibly mature person she is, she decided we should go to the zoo.

Which goes to show that she's awesome.

Me being, well, me, I immediately thought this would be great for a blog post. And I was right (as I often am). A little too right (it's my private curse). There were so many sundry beasts, that it had to be split in twain. So for this one, we'll start with all sorts of things that live in or near the water.

Even if the sea lions are going to be snotty about it.

Just past the sea lions who were too good for us was the entrance to the ocean building (sometimes called an aquarium). So we immediately ducked inside to catch a few rays.

Get it?

Now, I grew up going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and spent most of my life on the West coast, so I'm a little spoiled when it comes to aquariums...

...But I really liked the zoo aquarium, which had more than a suitable number of neat and weird sea creatures.

Jellyfish fall in both categories.

It even had some things I've never seen before. Like a shark petting tank.

Which was probably a whole lot more exciting
before they put in the vegetarian sharks.

The aquariums I've been to in the past often have a ray petting tank, but this is the first I'd seen with sharks. And along the back wall? The kind of large informational plaque that brings a tear of easily fascinated joy to my eye...

Not just "Imformative!"
This one is "INFORMATIVE!"

And, much like your old high school yearbook, it has a suitable amount of witty, yet dubious honors.

Somewhere a goblin shark is refusing to let his children see his yearbook.

The next logical step from sharks is, you guessed it... Penguins.

I'm all like, "What up, boids?"
They're all like, "Sup."

The penguin areas actually were on both sides of the walkway, with an underwater channel that allowed the penguins to swim between the sides. The best part? There's a thick glass window in the floor, so you can see the penguins swim back and forth.

I'd show you a picture, but A)people were kind of walking there, and B)It was dark, so the photos didn't come out.

So, um, I guess you'll have to trust me...

...Ooh, look! A walrus!

"Heellllllloooooooooo..."

Now that you're thoroughly distracted, we'll continue to outside the aquarium, where we were rather forcibly reminded that it was late August in the Midwest.

The polar bear eyed the fat kid's icy Coke
and regretted blowing that commercial audition.

So naturally, we retreated into the pointedly indoor dolphin show. And no, not the one with show tunes. (You will only get that joke if you went to Northwestern.)

The show in this tank.

I'm still not sure whether we're down on the farm or what...

I gotta be honest: This is one of my favorite shows with dolphins. I've seen the ones at SeaWorld and their ilk, and while incredibly entertaining, those are all about the entertainment. At the Indianapolis Zoo, the trainers showed us how they work with the dolphins, talked about how dolphins interact, and the tricks they use to communicate with them. Sure, the dolphins did tricks and jumps, but there was a huge educational part to it.

I know, I'm as shocked as you are.

Now, do you see that large thing in the water up there? That's actually a glass viewing area in the bottom of the tank where you can go in and see the dolphins hanging out underwater like gangs from West Side Story.

They're working on the choreography for
"When You're A Jet."

After that, we went off and saw all the rest of the animals. Which I will get to in another post. (So just hold your horses, bicycles, or whatever you ride.)

On this post, I'll finish it up with scenic images of gardens and greenhouses.

Well, greenhouse. But it's a big greenhouse.

The greenhouse had various butterflies and more tropical plants, and the outside was a wonderfully laid out garden, so let's stroll, shall we?

The entrance contained the rare Mural Plant.
It's natural habitat is downtown art districts.

Inside the greenhouse, where butterflies fluttered about...
...followed by photographers.

The best I could do for a closeup of a butterfly.
You have no idea how hard it is to capture them with their wings perfectly open.

Yup. That does, in fact, say they feed butterflies, "sugar, beer, and sports drink."
Just like frat boys!

I felt positively Victorian. Only without wearing 17 layers.

Each of the hedge curls had a statue like this of different animals.
Still not sure whether I'm charmed or creeped out.

The next section was a place to quietly contemplate deep thoughts...

...specifically: "Do you think that could hold my weight?"

And, of course, there were the fountain/sculpture hybrids signifying...
...Something. Possibly involving 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Are you calm yet? If not, read through the post again, because I'm sure it will only get better, since my writing is like a fine wine. (Too much of it may cause you to make bad decisions.)

Come back next week for lions, tigers, and bears!

And no, I won't finished that phrase.