Dallas World Aquarium

We had a busy morning at the Dallas World Aquarium today. This is probably one of my favorite places to visit. The name is deceptive...it's not really a typical aquarium. It's more like a zoo enclosed in a really tall building in the middle of downtown Dallas. The whole premise is that you're in the middle of the rainforest, so when you enter, you are at canopy level. The path winds down, down, down through the different levels of the rainforest while you encounter all sorts of animals on all sides of you...in the walls in glass enclosures, in the open-air rainforest that goes all the way down, above you as the birds fly by, and even below you as you cross over water. It's really a neat experience.

Then, at some point, you end your rainforest journey at the floor level, and you are seamlessley transported to a typical aquarium setting, with tanks full of fish, coral, crabs, etc. Then you're outside with the penguins. Then you're walking through Mayan ruins, with display cages/enclosures with bats, snakes, spiders, turtles, jaguars, birds, flamingos, just to name a few. The path winds you back around to the exit. It's actually really confusing to find your way out unless you follow the entire path to the top or bottom. I know there are exits along the way, but I can never seem to find them!

The first time I went, I expected large tanks with fish and typical aquarium critters. But honestly, this is a zoo! Check out what we saw: