Good Morning Baltimore!

Well ladies and gentlemen. That's right we made it back to Baltimore for a fun filled day. Our goals for the day:

1) Eat some Baltimore Crab

2) Go to the acclaimed National Aquarium

So, first we went to a little restaurant called, Mo's. It was recommended to us by one of the "locals." We were quite impressed. Big question: order the crab cake special or take on the pull-it-apart-yourself fresh crab?

So I ordered a half dozen "pull-it-apart yourself fresh crab." When they brought them to the table and plopped them in front of me with their beedy eyes looking at me, I wished I gone with Preston and Emily and ordered their crab cake.

Especially when the waitress left the table and I was left with two mallets, six crabs, twelve beedy eyes, and a lot of crab left to pull apart.

So what did I proceed to do? Exactly what you would have done. I began to pound the heck out of one of the crabs until I saw something inside that I wasn't quite sure what to do with. It certainly didn't look like the crab that I get at the grocery store.

So what did I proceed to do? Beg the waitress for help.

Our waitress rocked. She looked at me and said, "Don't you ever let me see you doing that *&%& again!" All of us burst out laughing! (Sorry for future kids that read this. Swearing is bad, no matter what Uncle Jon tells you).

She showed us how to correctly take apart a crab and how to enjoy it. And I'll be honest, it was pretty darn good. Preston got into the action and took apart three of the crabs. In fact, I think I would do it again for a Super Bowl party or something. But I need to get me some Old Bay seasoning that they use here. It's to die for.

Carl even got in on the action. Emily just watched us dissect our meals as she thoroughly enjoyed her crab cake. ;)

Next goal: National Aquarium

We got into the National Aquarium in decent time. They only let in so many people in at a time, so I think next time we go, we will order our tickets online.

There were so many neat exhibits. The aquarium itself from the outside is beautiful. The first main exhibit you see is a large pool with several types of sting ray...

zebra shark and several other types of sharks,

and their infamous sea turtle they rescued. They told us as the divers were feeding the animals that the turtle weighs nearly 500 pounds.

Carl and Emily enjoying the fish.

This was the pool with all the sting rays, sharks, and turtle.

This was another one of my favorite exhibits. I wish that we would have been able to spend more time here. It was a "rainforest" and had several animals from the Amazon rainforest including golden lion tamarin, scarlet ibis, sunbittern, yellow headed Amazon parrot, and other birds, frogs, and such. Those were just the ones I noticed. This is Carl looking at the yellow headed Amazon parrot.

Carl sitting on a vertebra of a whale. Not something you get to see everyday.

And then the dolphins. Emily and I had stalled our Baltimore Aquarium visit for weeks in hopes of seeing the dolphin show, but of course the day that we come, it is closed. However, we were able to go and watch the dolphins swim around and play with some of their trainers. That was worth it! Dolphins are amazing.

I loved the National Aquarium and I can now say that I love fresh pull-apart crab. What a great day in Baltimore!