trip to the coast

On Saturday (July 20) we drove out to the Fort Fisher aquarium, one of three North Carolina Aquariums.

An albino alligator. She's by herself because they are rare, and in the wild they are susceptible to all kinds of bad things, including sunburn. 

 Turtles mating.

 I forget what kind of fish these were, but they had really interesting scale patterning that I think might be fun to replicate in a knitting pattern one day.

 The poisonous snake collection.

 More turtles!

 All the fish were really responding to Dan. He was wishing he was in the water with them.

There are three snakes in this photo, two big ones and one little one nestled in the other two.

The only shrimp in the whole place. 

Mr. Moray Eel coming to say hello.

 All around the aquarium they had art projects done by school classes. This goes to show you it is amazing what kids can do with cardboard.

This was the highlight of my day. In all the aquariums I have been to I have never seen an active octopus. I felt sorry for her because all the kids and stupid people were tapping on the glass and talking about how gross/ugly it is, and I said "no, she is beautiful!"

 Jelly sculpture

See even I could do this. Crocheted jellies all around our house?

 Aquatic creatures are so beautiful that they beg to have art made in their honour.

 The octopus was in a cylindrical container. I took about 50 photos of her.

Glowing jellies!

The big puffer fish. It was one of those moments when I wish I could say "hold still". 

The little fish in the middle was just somebody's lunch. 

Skeleton of a moray eel. 

Mr Camouflage.



It really was a fantastic day for us. We stopped in Jacksonville on the way to grab lunch at Jeff's Burgers and Shakes and I had the best fries in North Carolina there. Dan and I got a membership/family pass to the aquarium for $60/year, well worth the money, and now we can see zoos and aquariums and science museums all over the country for free or 50% off. After the aquarium we went to the beach, just half a mile down from the aquarium parking lot. I had never swum in the Atlantic Ocean before and it was quite a strange feeling to be in the ocean and have it be warm. We didn't go out too far in the waves because the tide was coming in and there was undertow as well as a rip current, and I am still mighty scared of big water. It was fun riding the waves though and feeling flopsy. The salt water cleansed us both and we felt great after.

We headed from Fort Fisher back up to Wilmington to go to Trader Joe's and then to Flaming Amy's Burrito Barn. I hadn't been to a Trader Joe's since I was in Arizona in 2004 and it is still pretty awesome. Impulse buy: chocolate covered espresso beans. Also maple syrup from Quebec.

I realize it has been more than a month since I last posted. Things are moving along at the night club and my job is at times really fun and other times really stressful. I'm still learning a lot but I'm working six days a week and putting in about 45 hours a week, which isn't really sustainable so I'm trying to find a way to better manage my time. I have hardly touched my knitting in months, and it has gotten so hot that I have also sort of lost interest in maintaining the yard (combined with being in full view of all our neighbors, I'm not used to this kind of scrutiny). Dan is distilling now and I have also become keenly interested in the world of spirits. There has been some weird stuff happening in my family, not bad, just weird, but events are still unfolding so I'll say more about that later. I'll just say that 23 years after having divorced my dad, it looks like my mum will finally get her settlement from that marriage so she can get on with her life.

Also I have unlocked my Twitter account.

More soon, I promise!

a weekend trip to the Atlantic Ocean!

An aquarium, a beach, and lots of great wildlife.

 Dan saw the fish swim near and the claws come out of this hermit crab, trap it, and start to feed. We watched it a good ten minutes as other people came by. One woman remarked it was a "hateful thing" and I thought what do you think animals in nature do?. Good grief. Another person wanted to alert the aquarium staff that there was a menace in this pond.

 Not sure what was going on here. Was glad I wasn't one of the religious types that might have had to explain to their children what these turtles were doing. Next to a display discussing turtle evolution, Dan heard a mother tell her children "Now remember, evolution didn't happen, God made everything."

 We checked in later with our friend Hermit the Crab and he was making quite a meal of Mr. Fish.

 Sea horses!

Horseshoe crab! I was hoping to get a look at the underbelly, because it sure looks like these guys don't have any faces. Imagine spending your whole life looking for food like a Roomba looks for dust.

 Metal marine art sculpture. We were inspired.

 Here we just couldn't help ourselves.

 I love jellyfish.

There were four or five different sharks in this tank, and of course Dan knows them all. I don't know how to tell them apart, as there were no dogfish, but I could identify a nurse shark (below).

 Green Moray eel!

Our day to the coast happened just a few days after my youngest niece sent me a second letter asking why I move around so much, how about if I just stay in one place, I should have stayed in Ucluelet and she hopes that were I live now is as cool as Ucluelet. WELL I can now confidently tell her that yes, where I live now is even cooler. The aquarium she saw when came to visit is in that tiny fishing village was no bigger than a 10x20 foot container/trailer, whereas this aquarium is an actual building with washrooms! It was a great and fun day for us and we are looking forward to seeing all of North Carolina's aquariums.