Project: LOOP

Admit it, if you’re a Chicago resident, you’re always a little hesitant to do the tourist stuff. That’s the feeling I had when I recently visited the John G. Shedd Aquarium but thankfully my interest in aquatic life prevailed over my elitist attitude. I hadn’t been there in years and was really curious if it was still a well-kept and relevant instution. What I found was some pretty interesting fish, some sub-par “4D” Shows and an abundance of enlightening amusement.I went with a group of people who were all looking forward to it being a “discount day” (On discount days, general admission is free, and admission to both the Oceanarium and Wild Reef is available for an additional fee), however, we were misinformed and had to pay the regular $27.50 admission for adults, but most of us got a discount for being Chicago residents that knocked it down to around $20. Okay, so now this thing better be worth it. We walked in to the Carribean Reef tank directly in front of the entrance and enjoyed some views of Green Sea Turtles, Cownose Rays, and Green Moray Eels, to name a few. Good stuff, but it’s not quite worth the 20 bucks yet, let’s keep going.

What’s next you ask? Well, the Waters of the World exhibit OF COURSE! There’s all kinds of crazy stuff in this multitude of hallways. For me, what really stuck out were the insanely large crabs, the logic-defying seahorses, and the always mystifying jellyfish. Here’s a picture of a crab that’s going to give me nightmares for the rest of my life:

Moving on, we arrive at one of the flagship areas of the Shedd Aquarium: The Oceanarium. This is, of course, where the dolphin show takes place. This particular day’s show was all about debunking the myths and legends of Dolphins and telling us the cold hard facts. I really liked this because there’s been a lot of trash talking about dolphins lately and quite frankely, I’m sick of it.

It was time for the Spongebob Squarepants “4-D” Show. I’m not really a SpongeBob fan myself, but I was very curious as to what takes the show into the 4th Dimension. Apparently, the most logical step after 3-D glasses is little hoses on the seat in front of you that occasionaly spray water and air at you combined with a little switch on your seat that occasionally and annoyingly jabs into your back to “surprise” you. Needless to say, I wasn’t impressed, but I was willing to press on and see some more marine life.

Some other highlights of that day’s journey included the Wild Reef exhibit which had many interesting species, including sharks and rays, and a large array of coral life. The Lizards and Komodo King display was also pretty impressive and it just got renewed through Summer 2008. The Penguins, as always, put on a good show and weren’t afraid to be goofy for their visitors. On the minus side of things: the chairs in the cafeteria are capable of making some of the most annyoning screeching sounds the human ear will ever experience. The group I was with attempted to sit down in the cafeteria, enjoy a bite to eat and converse about what we had seen so far, but rather discovered that every chair in that echo filled room screeches like an amplified version of dragging your nails on a chalkboard. Get on it Shedd, we need a change here. Other than that and the dissappointing 4-D show, the day held many incredible exhibits and observations well worth the price of admission. Visitor, resident, it doesn’t matter, just go check out those crazy fish, mammals, reptiles and all of the other kingdoms at the Shedd. Here’s a rundown of discount days (from http://www.sheddaquarium.org) if you’re interested as well as some more photos from my adventure.

The discount day schedule for 2007 is: