In the original plan, Brandon, Randy and Rick were going to go to Alcatraz, and Jacob, Betty and I were thinking of going to the Aquarium (I love zoos and aquariums and every one else tolerates them for me). We didn't pre-purchase tickets to Alcatraz or the aquarium, since we didn't know for sure what time we'd get into town, so we were kind of winging it. While we were unloading our suitcases at the hotel, a woman came up and offered us her 4 unused adult aquarium tickets. They had purchased a multi pass and were out of time to use them. (For anyone who thinks this is weird, it's really not. We did something similar in Philadelphia when we realized that the kids would cooperate long enough to see the Liberty Bell, but not tour Independence Hall. I started talking to a family in line, and when I realized that they had wanted to take the tour but hadn't gotten there early enough to get tickets, we handed our four over, since we weren't going to use them.) Anyway, we gratefully accepted them and when we headed out, split off. It didn't take the guys long to find out that all the tours for Alcatraz were sold out for the day so they called us real quick and caught us just as we were about to head into the aquarium. In the end, it only cost us two kids tickets, but going to the ticket desk afforded Jacob the opportunity to pick up a new hat, which he not only wore the rest of the day, but the entire next day and on the plane ride home.
Trying to pet the rays and baby sharks. The shark was kind of shy. I thought the aquarium was nice, but short. In our humble opinion, The Aquarium Pyramid at Moody Gardens in Galveston is better.
