Delmarva Discovery Center

We stopped at the Delmarva Discovery Center in Pocomoke City on the way home to Philadelphia from Chincoteague Island. This small facility offers a variety of different exhibits to guests ranging from a small aquarium tank to a NASA play center to an exhibit on Native Americans. For two adults, this wouldn't have been worth the price, as you can easily walk through everything in 30 minutes or less. However, for our 7-year niece, she found it to be quite a fun time. They offer scavenger hunts to keep the kids busy and interactive exhibits for children to touch and feel to learn hand on. Our niece definitely had a good time there.

National Aquarium of Baltimore

Written by Matt Rosenfeld
The biggest attraction in Baltimore's Inner Harbor is the National Aquarium.  This gigantic building gives visitors the opportunity to see ocean life from all over the world.  For any sea creature lover, this is definitely a must visit!  We did feel though that the price was a little bit high for what was offered (we thought the aquariums in Camden, NJ and Boston, MA were a better value). The way the aquarium is structured makes it difficult to go from one section to another without having to do a large amount of backtracking, especially for the animal feedings and the caretaker talks.

Additionally, due of the immense popularity of the aquarium, it can get very crowded on weekends, making it difficult to move through the exhibits and see the sea life without waiting for a while.

Our recommendation, when you walk into the aquarium, your party can either go through Blue Wonders first, or, behind you is Animal Planet Australia and Dolphin Discovery. Most people go straight to Blue Wonders, leaving Animal Planet Australia and Dolphin Discovery relatively empty, and easier to navigate if Blue Wonders is crowded.

So, while we do recommend this as an attraction when visiting Baltimore's Inner Harbor, be aware of the high price and potential crowds, and definitely check out some of the other options around the country.

National Aquarium, Washington, DC

Th National Aquarium in DC, is home to the world's most recently discovered blue lobster, who is on display in the aquarium's collection.

This is a very small collection, and sometimes the line for tickets can get very backed up (we were waiting on the stairs). However, after the fact we learned that if you take the elevator down, you are let out right in front of the ticket counter.

Many of the fish and sea life in the aquarium are local and all tanks are marked with what is in them and where the marine life hail from.

New England Aquarium, Boston

Right on the Boston waterfront, not too far from where the Boston Tea Party took place, is the New England Aquarium.  This large building features many of the standard ocean life you'd expect in an aquarium.  The highlight are the penguins, which are in a large display in the middle of the building as soon as you walk in.  You can just lose track of time standing there watching these little guys, who seem to always be in constant feeding mode.

From there, you can head outside to see sea lions, who are always wandering about their pool area and have their own large crowd on a regular basis.  Inside, the building is arranged with a series of ramps going around the building to allow you to see all of the exhibits without missing any since they are arranged linearly.  In the center, there is also a gigantic tank filled with all sorts of sea life (our favorite being the giant turtle).  The really nice thing about it is you can get a view from the very top and then work your way down in a spiral to see it from many different angles.

This is definitely a great place to spend a few hours and is one of the better aquariums in the country we've been to.

Audubon Aquarium of the Americas

On a hot day, rainy day, or even a pleasant day when you just want to get out of the unrelenting New Orleans sun, the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas on the riverfront is a perfect location.

On the weekends, the destination can get packed full of families, however, but the tanks are large enough that you mostly won't notice them.

Sharks, sting rays, fishes of all shapes and sizes, sea horses and even penguins fill this Aquarium along the waterfront. The sea horse exhibit is beautifully done, tanks filled with both sea horses and magnificent fish of all colors.

There are two exhibits that the kiddos love, the otters and the penguins. Both the otters and the penguins were evacuated before Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and thusly saved.

The aquarium also has an IMAX theatre that shows educational films that you can purchase with your aquarium ticket, and regular, box office movies, as well. If the line for aquarium tickets is long, head into the IMAX ticket lobby, where you can purchase tickets into the aquarium from their air conditioned lobby with very little waiting.

ECHO Lake Aquarium

Located right on Lake Champlain in Burlington is the ECHO Lake Aquarium.  This aquarium is small on size, but for children it has plenty of entertainment value.  For each exhibit they make fun little games or activities for children to participate in.  For adults, you'll get to see various sea-life animals, but it definitely pales in comparison to some of the larger aquariums in the country.  We'd definitely recommend this place for anyone travelling with children, but if it's just adults, you'll probably find other stuff in the area you'll find more enjoyable.