April 11, 2015 — Boston’s New England Aquarium opened in 1969. That was a year before I was born and three years before my family moved to New Hampshire. I can’t really say when I first visited because it has just always been there as a place to go and look at ocean life.
Growing up, I remember begging my parents to make the drive into the city. It seemed like a very long drive. Now that I’m a grown up, I realize it’s only about 45 minutes, an easy, straight shot down the highway.
Once I had my own kids, the aquarium became a frequent haunt for me and my friends with kids. It’s fantastically located right on the water in the heart of Boston, so on a nice day you can grab food from a street vendor, sit on a bench and eat by the ocean.
The center of the aquarium is a gigantic fish tank. It starts at the ground floor and goes all the way to the top of the building. You follow a twisting pathway alongside it and eventually can look down into the tank from above. It’s kind of spooky and kind of cool all at once.