On Friday a rare event occurred…Keith and I both had the day off! We decided that a trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach would be a great chance to get outside and see something new. But first up, lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. at The Pike next to the aquarium. We ate on the patio to take advantage of the great weather and sunshine. Keith loves seafood and after checking out the menu he decided on the coconut shrimp. I opted for a chicken salad.
I loved how well the restaurant’s decor tied in references from the movie Forrest Gump. The waitresses even quizzed us on some trivia from the film. We did surprising well considering we haven’t seen the movie in years.
After lunch, we made the short walk to the aquarium. We headed to the second floor first to check out the jellies exhibit. I love the way they light up the tanks so you can enjoy the color in these creatures.
One of our favorite shows is Deadliest Catch. When I saw this crab it reminded me of the show and I had to snap a quick shot.
The tropical fish exhibits had a lot clown fish like the cartoon character Nemo, but I took a liking this copperband butterflyfish. I love its yellow stripes!
We also found a small glass enclosure that had a few tiny frogs in it. This yellow one stood out the most.
The aquarium has a lorikeet feeding station. We bought a couple cups of nectar and made some new friends.
After a few hours at the aquarium, we were starting to get hungry so we decided to head south and brave the Friday night crowds at the Irvine Spectrum. It seems that we were just ahead of the dinner rush. We got seated right away at the Cheesecake Factory. We were a little underwhelmed with the pasta and chicken tacos we ordered. But we heard good things about Pinkberry so we decided to check ‘em out. I ordered an original with strawberris and banana while Keith got an original with chocolate chips and almonds. We were expecting the original flavor to taste like vanilla, but instead it tasted like lemon. It was a bit of a surprise for us. We both decided that while it was a fun treat, we might opt for Coldstone Creamery next time.
1 comment
Greta - I love the aquarium photos!!! They’re so colorful. It’s hard to choose a favorite, but I think I like the jellyfish the best. I like the contrasting colors of the orange against the blues.