And as I mentioned couple days ago, I visited Baltimore with my niece and nephew recently and while there, we also toured the aquarium.

The 2 million gallon aquarium is home to over 600 species of fish, rays, sharks, and other marine life, including birds, penguins, amphibians and reptiles.

The aquarium is split into several major sections and levels. Some of the more interesting include:

• Atlantic Coral Reef -  This area is most children’s favorite stop, as they get to visit with their pals, Nemo, Marlin and Dory. Adults can marvel at the more than 500 colorful salt-water fish. Check out the strong-jawed triggerfish, the cute hovering cowfish and the psychedelic Mandarin fish.  Walk inside the ring tank and watch larger fish swim by, seemingly with somewhere important to go.
• The quarter million gallon Open Ocean tank is home to larger sharks, that lets visitors walk inside the circular tank, giving you the feeling you are in the water, as you come face to face with infamous man-eaters.
• Wings in the Water – stingrays, skates, turtles and small sharks can be viewed from above or below water level.  Try to catch the periodic feeding by scuba divers. And look for the rescue turtle, missing one of its front flippers.
• Maryland: Mountains to the Sea, covers the Chesapeake Bay region from tidal marshes to the fishing and crabbing industry.
• Amazon River Forest – See some of the worlds largest river fish of the Amazon.
• Surviving through Adaptations – Shows people how fish adapt to survive form built in fishing lures, electric eels and fish that create their own light.
• Animal Planet Australia: Wild Extremes – Take a tour of the land down under and the great barrier reef.
• North Atlantic to Pacific – Watch puffins play on a simulated Atlantic sea cliff, and check out the undersea kelp forest and Pacific reef.
• South American Upland Tropical Rain Forest – Poisonous frogs,
  man-eating piranhas, sloths, birds and monkeys all play in the rainforest.

And don’t miss the entertaining Atlantic bottlenose dolphins show, and if you want to remain dry, avoid the “splash zone” (the first few rows). 

The National Aquarium
501 East Pratt Street at the Inner Harbor
Baltimore, MD 21202

Dates and Times - Friday, March 23rd – 4:30 p.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Tickets - Adults – $21.95, Seniors – $20.95, kids 3-11 – $12.95, add $2.00 – $7.00 for including the dolphin show, the 4-D Immersion Theater or both. Timed tickets can be purchased online, avoiding any ticket counter lines, or sell outs of sp

Parking – Paid garage/lot parking is available in the area, for around $14.00.

Images – from personal collection – ©2008, Jon Rochetti 

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Post from: The DC Traveler

But in the past few years, aerial flying has gone mainstream. Some credit the child in all of us, who secretly wants to leave our responsibilities behind and run off to the circus. While others credit an episode of the HBO show, Sex and the City.  In it, Carrie, the show’s main character and relationship advice columnist , played by Sarah Jessica Parker, is sent on assignment to write a story about taking a flying trapeze class.

Regardless of your reasoning, near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, you can take a 2-hour intro trapeze class at the Trapeze School of New York – Baltimore (TSNY).

After some basic instructions, including hanging from your hands and knees, grab tight and take your first swing off the 23-foot platform. If you get the “swing” of it, you might get a chance to do a release and catch move.  That is if you have the nerve to let go.  But with a safety lines and a net below, you can see if a life in the circus is all that’s it’s cracked up to be.

The first trapeze artist and the inventor of the trapeze, Jules Léotard, was just 18 year old in 1859, when he attached cables over his parents’s pool and attached a swinging bar to the cables.  He perfected his act and quickly became the toast of European circus performers.

The classic trapeze artist’s uniform, the leotard, is named after him.

After your trapeze class, will you hopefully be soaring like this student…

The 2-hour introductory class is limited to ten participants and open to first-time students as well as intermediate flyers.

Trapeze School of New York – Baltimore
300 Key Highway
Baltimore, MD 21230 

Dates and Times – Classes are offered on most weekends and some weekdays, but class schedules vary, so check their calendar.  Reservations can be booked online in advance to reserve your spot.  Minimum age is 6.

Cost – $45.00 – $55.00 per class (depending on day/time), plus a one-time $20 registration fee. Additional 5%-20% discounts are available for multiple class purchases.

Recommended Attire – Tights, yoga pants or snug sweat pants.

Parking – Metered street and paid lot/garage parking is available in the area.

Images – circus artists, photo – public domain

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Post from: The DC Traveler

Nicknamed the “Triathlon of the Art World“, and put on by the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, the race requires contestants to create a human-powered work of art machines that can travel on land, through mud, and over the water of the Inner Harbor. 

Sculptures must be human-powered, ground and amphibious capable, and custom built, just for the race.

Each Vehicle/watercraft/artwork must be constructed out of mostly used bicycle parts, but creators can use their imagination from there.  You’ll see everything from simple designs with just one Kinetinaut at the wheel, to overly-engineered and complex, multi-pilot sophisticated 35 foot long sculptures competing. 

Last year, 32 teams competed in the eight-hour East Coast Championship race. The race is a series of short competitions that covers 15 miles, mostly on pavement, but also includes a trip into the waters of the Inner Harbor and through a bit of mud and sand.  The race includes a loop around Federal Hill Park, around ride in the Inner Harbor, and a Patterson Park obstacle course. 

Prizes are awarded for several categories, including the Worst Honorable Mention, for the worst example of theoretical “engineering”, the Golden Dinosaur Award for the first sculpture to break down or to record the most memorable breakdown, the Golden Flipper for the most interesting water entry, and the highly-prized Mediocre Award for the person or team that finished the race exactly in the middle of the pack.

There are currently 8 annual races in the U.S., with one more in Western Australia.  The “world” championship is held about 250 miles north of San Francisco, and is a 3-day, 41-mile race over Memorial Day weekend.  

The rules are a bit bizarre, including items such as each sculpture must carry one psychologically comforting item form home, pilots are allowed only 8% of their body/clothes to get wet while traveling over (through or under) the water, the Mom’s High Anxiety Rule and the Gilligan’s Drift Rule.

Here’s a good resource on how to build one if you want to compete in next year’s Kinetic Sculpture race.

Attire for the competing teams and spectators is, well, silly (as in Halloween meets Rocky Horror meets Renaissance Festival on acid), so plan to dress up and have some fun.

Kinetic Sculpture Race X
Baltimore Inner Harbor, at the American Visionary Art Museum
800 Key Highway
Baltimore, MD 21230 (map it)
410-244-1900

Dates and Times – Saturday, May 3, 2008, first race at 9:30 a.m. with the first competitors crossing the finish line around 3:00 p.m., and the event ending around 5:00.

Admission – FREE

Parking – Finding meter street parking near the Inner Harbor on weekends can be tough.  Paid garage parking is available in the area.

Images – Flickr – Moby Dick, island, Extreme Makeover, #14,  whaler,  plane, Acme in the water

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Post from: The DC Traveler

A second competing and potentially less controversial exhibit, BODY WORLDS 2, now on display at the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore, has publicly stated that all bodies used in its display are from people who, while still alive, willed their bodies for plastination.

The BODY WORLDS 2 exhibit includes close to 200 authentic human specimens, both full bodies (about 25 specimens), as well as individual organs, body parts and slices of the human body, which illustrate how the human skeletal system and organs fit together.  Several specimens also show the damage to the body from diseases such as cancer or the impact of smoking on the lungs. 

BODY WORLDS 2 is a graphic exhibit and is not for the easily disturbed and may be considered offensive to others. Viewer discretion, especially regarding children, is advised.

Body Worlds 2
Maryland Science Center
601 Light Street, at the Inner Harbor
Baltimore, MD 21230 – about 1 hour from DC (map it)

Dates and Times – Daily 9:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Fri. 9-5, Sat. 9-6, , Sun. 9-5, through September 1, 2008. 

Tickets – Prices include admission to the Maryland Science Center as well as to Body Worlds 2.  Adults – $24.00, Children 3-18 – $18.00, Seniors 62+ and adult students with ID – $23.00.  Tickets are available online at Ticketmaster.

Parking – Paid garage/lot parking is available in the area, for around $10.00

Images – Flickr – The Kicker, The Dancer

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Post from: The DC Traveler