Vancouver Aquarium visit

When the kids were really young (like toddlers and preschoolers) we had memberships at the Vancouver Aquarium and Science World. They were both great places to hang out on rainy days, meet up with friends with their own kids, lots of room for kids to run around, check out animals, and learn things too. We used to go so often, in fact, that we kind of burned out. Well.... at least, I did.

But Hugo has been asking go to the Aquarium for months & we finally snuck in a trip yesterday. I probably should have tried harder to do it in May because the crowds are already picking up, but we still had a great time & renewed our membership. I'm not sure if we'll go back much during the summer but I anticipate a number of outings in the next school year.

The Vancouver Aquarium is a non profit research and conservation facility. While I have some quibbbles about their housing of large marine mammals (& that is also part of the reason we didn't renew - the deaths of the killer whales & Whitewings saga really bothered me) amd I still think the habitats should be larger, way larger (seemed to me that during past renovations they made bigger habitats and then got more animals. Um?), I do accept that this facility does offer some terrific opportunities for research, education, and conservation, and in the end, I do find that I can support a lot of what they try to achieve.

The parking though - holy $10 for all day! When I was bringing the kids out there for a fun play day several times a month, it was free. At ten bucks a pop, there's no way I could have afforded that back then.