We saw stingrays and penguins and what's that green thing?

When you work for a newspaper, your job kind of requires you to know about everything going on in town. You tend to learn about things that are coming a little bit before everyone else. You often have to edit long calendars of events ... many that sound like fun (and plenty that sound like torture).

And if you're like me, you end up with this running list of things to see, places to visit and restaurants to try.

The Greensboro Science Center is somewhere we've been a couple times. It's never been anything that amazed me. I'm sure it's neat for kids, but it's always felt just a little bit old and outdated to me. It's got oodles of dead animals to look at, lots of scientific displays you have to read and not much that's interactive. A few years ago, it added an outdoor zoo area. It's interesting, but it's not that big. And the animals seem kind of bored in their small enclosures.
But a couple years ago, the science center announced that it was building a "Sciquarium" and would have all kinds of ocean creatures. Your normal aquarium stuff ... tropical fish, sharks, etc. But also penguins, otters and my personal favorite ... a stingray touch tank. (I could've sat for hours at the Myrtle Beach aquarium feeling the stingrays swim by and bump my hand. I guess I have a thing for Rays. Ha!)

An aquarium in town could be really cool, I thought.
 


The Sciquarium opened back in June. It has been a HUGE hit. The place broke attendance records right and left for the first month, which is why it's taken us three months to visit. I don't care to battle a crowd to see something that's going to be here forever.





I was able to score free tickets from work, and my friend Whitney and I took Sawyer.



The aquarium part was very snazzy and cool. Other than being super dark inside, they did a really nice job on the new addition. It's got a good traffic flow pattern and cool things to look at. Sawyer was eager to just run from the display to display instead of staying to actually observe the animals. And as I expected, the stingrays and the giant ocean aquarium were both of our favorite parts. I had to force myself to leave the rays when a group of school kids came in.



We did the rest of the science center afterward. It's basically the same. Basically still a bunch of static things to look at. Whitney did shell out a couple bucks so Sawyer and I could stand in the tornado tunnel and feel winds up to 80 mph. That was amusing. And so was my hair afterward.

The animals outside were mostly sleeping, but we did venture into the "bug house" for the first time, where Sawyer got to see lots of insects and spiders and pet a hedgehog.

The trip ended, as many do at this age, with a meltdown over leaving. He needed lunch and a nap; I needed to get ready for work. And he felt robbed that we didn't see the toy trains.

In the days afterward, he asked me at least three times what was that green thing that was sticking out of a rock (a moray eel), and he spent five minutes telling his dad about the otters and how they jumped up on the bubble and then they laid down and then-one-jumped-down-and-ran-over-to-the-window-and-looked-right-at-him. Ray didn't have a clue what he was talking about. I might not have if I hadn't been there to see the bubble.  


But he needn't worry about missing out. I have a feeling I'll be springing for a membership now that I can pet the stingrays anytime I want.