Credit: S Morales
One of my favorite places to spend a day or an afternoon at is beautiful La Jolla. Sireeta had the opportunity to go on a little family getaway to La Jolla and shares all about.
Last Friday my hubby and I both played hooky from work (with permission, *wink), and took our boys to La Jolla for the day. We stayed at the Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa, which is a beautiful hotel in itself, but their definite claim to fame is their ridiculously gorgeous landscaping. It felt like we were walking through a millionaire’s private garden. The room was equally amazing. We ordered room service and watched pay-per-view movies all night, then got up bright and early to have breakfast at a quaint little place called The Cottage. Literally a cottage turned into a dining establishment, this restaurant dished up the best breakfast (and service) on a busy Saturday morning.
Credit: S Morales
Once we’d had our fill of French toast and hot chocolate, we headed down to the star of this city by the sea, the Steven Birch Museum Aquarium-Museum, located at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. What an impressive museum! Though it’s much smaller than the Aquarium of the Pacific, Birch boasts an extraordinary number of exhibits and sea creatures on display. My monkeys love aquariums, but their interest was especially piqued while we were still in the parking lot, due to the amazing semi-sub that was stationed at the opening of the driveway.
Credit: S Morales
We registered our annual family membership and then headed inside the aquarium. The first thing the kids wanted to do was walk through the tunnel of small aquariums and look at the fish, eels, and sea anemones. Their favorite? The clown fish of course! They were also impressed by the awesome display of shark eggs in various stages of incubation. Some of the displays have a bar code in their description, and if you have a smart phone, you can scan it and be linked to a website with info about the creatures in each aquarium.
Credit: S Morales
Next, we headed into the Scripps Explorers Gallery which housed the following exhibits: “Feeling the Heat: the Climate Challenge,” and “There’s Something About Seahorses.” There really is something about seahorses! They’re so unique and downright adorable and really, is there anything more attractive than a male who carries and delivers babies? The Climate Challenger exhibit was informational and eye opening, with a huge chart that showed the levels of carbon in our atmosphere over the past 650,000 years, and the adverse affect it has on the climate and our planet as a whole. The kids also learned about recycling, and how, even as a small child, they can help reduce their carbon footprint with simple tricks such as turning off the water while brushing their teeth and making sure to turn off lights when they leave a room. I’ve been telling them to do this for years, but knowing that they are helping save the planet made it more exciting than just listening to Mom.
Credit: S Morales
The Birch Aquarium is a wonderful place to spend an afternoon with your kids. In the back of the aquarium, there’s a shark habitat, a see-saw, and a neat boat activity that teaches about the flow of water. They also do different feedings on different days, and we got to see the tide pool one and touch a star fish. The kids wore themselves out and the hubby and I enjoyed a nice quiet ride home. We will definitely return to this aquarium to check out new and exciting exhibits in the future!
If you have a Bank of America Credit or Debit Card you can get in for free the first weekend of the month through Museums on Us too.
