By: Kristen Clifford

My husband and I have taken our kids to the New England Aquarium, many times, but it just doesn't compare to the Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, CT.  When I found out that our library had passes to the Mystic Aquarium, I was so excited!  It's about an 1.5 hours from where we live in Bridgewater, so we loaded up the car with lots to keep the kids busy during the ride and drove to CT.

The Mystic Aquarium is set up more like a zoo, where they have most of their exhibits outside.

When we got there we went to see the Beluga whales first. Every time we've gone to this aquarium they've had numerous workers a every exhibit with microphones to explain all about the animals and answer any questions you may have. They post all the animals feeding times so you can watch them get fed as well.

The Beluga exhibit is huge and you can watch the whales from above or below.  I believe they have 5 whales in the exhibit. They really are amazing to watch.

From the whales we went inside to watch the Sea Lion show.

They put on a great show and the kids all loved it. The show is free and does not cost anything extra to see.

After the Sea Lions, we went to the Touch Tank where you can touch Sting Rays - Grace really loved this!  They have a Shark touch tank inside as well, but Grace wanted no part of that!

After that we walked around outside to where they have the Sea Lions.

Then we went over to the Penguin exhibit.

The Penguin exhibit is outside, but then you can go below and watch them swimming under water.

Outside they always have a big Marsh area which is full of tadpoles, frogs, and turtles.


After you see all the outside exhibits there is still a whole bunch of fish to see inside:

Including a big jelly fish exhibit.

And more turtles!

Grace was excited to see lots of clown fish!

They also have an area inside where you can hold Starfish and Crabs.

Of course they have Sharks as well!

They also have a great exhibit all about the Titanic.

We probably spent a good 3.5-4 hours at the aquarium. The kids all loved it. They do have a snack bar there with the basics: hamburgers, hot dogs, turkey sandwiches, yogurt, chips, etc.

I definitely think that Mystic is worth the drive. Also there is lots to do in the area, so you could easily spend the weekend there. Some of my favorite things to do in the area are Olde Mystic Village, which is just a cute little area full of shops, and Mystic Seaport, which is the nation's leading maritime museum.  A lot of Mystic Seaport Museum in outside along the water.