Cultural Event #12

Tourist in Chicago, Part II





The very day after our trip to Navy Pier, Ryan and I went to the aquarium. It was free week at all of the museums, but to see any of the cool new exhibits you had to pay extra – since we didn’t have much time, we just saw the same old exhibits that were there when I was little.
The day was absolutely gorgeous, which was great since we had to wait in line 45 minutes before even getting inside. While in line we were accosted by a woman trying to get donations and signatures for a global warming petition. We skipped the donations but talked to her for awhile and signed up (meaning they’re sure to start pestering us via email and phone calls soon enough). While we were talking to her, this retarded Indian kid (maybe 14) came up and told us, “I doubt that global warming is really caused by humans.” I asked him if he had seen An Inconvenient Truth, and he told me he had seen The Day After Tomorrow. When I say retarded, that’s not entirely true. He was some sort of savant, and was spewing all sorts of obscure facts about ice ages and disease in Africa. His keeper (probably his father) was a few people behind us in line and seemed amused that we were taking the time to talk to him.
Anyway, we finally got inside, and although I thought the aquarium would be less depressing than the zoo (which I refuse to go to), it really wasn’t. They had a Caribbean reef tank with small sharks and stingrays, and they kept swimming around and around in a circle – they clearly needed more room, it was almost as bad as watching the lions pace back and forth in their tiny pens. Even some of the jellyfish looked unhealthy and sad. I don’t mind seeing things like anemones and scallops cooped up, but anything that needs space to swim around is bound to suffer in an aquarium.
I’m totally fascinated by undersea life, I think I was a marine biologist in a past life. Maybe I need to overcome my fear of oxygen tanks and learn how to scuba dive. But I think that even though the aquariums are cruel for the bigger fish, I’ll still bring my future kid/s there, although the zoo is strictly off-limits.