This morning I set my alarm for 7:30 AM as we wanted plenty of time to do our morning rituals including coffee, chai, walking Abby, etc. We wanted to leave at 8:30-ish as the GPS told me the Aquarium was 28 minutes away from the campground. George was on the phone and when he got off he said to me are you ready. I looked around the coach and check to see if I had my keys, phone, phone charger, purse, camera and then announced I was ready to go when George was? George put his shoes on, grabbed his wallet, oxygen and car keys, and we left for the Aquarium. We drove a couple of miles and just turned on to I-75 West when I exclaimed, "I FORGOT THE TICKETS!!!" We were lucky as the next exit was only 3 miles away, so we were able to exit and get turned around and go back, get tickets and get to the Aquarium in time for our scheduled in time which was 10 AM. Now, the Penguin Encounter was schedules for 11:00 AM, and I asked about where we would go for that, and the ticket taker pointed to a spot near the gift shop, where we were to meet. He also told us we could go in and out as many times as we wanted as long as we showed our ticket. Since we arrived at 10, we went down the escalator to the beginning and walked and viewed the different fish from Africa, then we were just going into the next exhibit, when George looked at his watch and said we needed to go to the location near the gift shop for the Penguin Encounter. Only problem is, the only way out unless it was an emergency, was at the far end of the building, so we got a warp speed version of the aquarium. After asking various staff on the way, we finally found an elevator to the lobby floor and people had already begun to gather. Whew, we made it! Soon the penguin handlers came and told us to walk between blue painted lines while walking past the open shark tank. Told everyone, not to push anyone in the shart tank. We all received hand sanitizer so we didn't contaminate the birds, and then we all marched into a enclosed glass room. The birds were hanging out in a pen, and one of the handlers went in and rounded them up into a corner. Then the rest of us filed in and sat down on benches in a U shape. Then the handler allowed the penguins to wander freely. A photographer was on hand taking photos the whole time plus we too were taking photos. We got to pet one on the back. Their feathers are quite soft. They also perched a penguin on top of a rolling mock rock, which they took photos of us with. I ended up buying one of the photos. Afterward, George and I went back down to view the rest of the aquarium. We enjoyed it! The National Aquarium in Baltimore is more vertical, so this one appeared larger, but it may be an illusion. We felt that the aquarium brochure should have mentioned the shows available, but otherwise, the tanks were pristine and the descriptions were up high so people in the back and the front could read the information. It was around 1 PM when we left the aquarium, and we went to Brothers Tavern on the Levee. Unknown to me, George bought me a wonderful stone carved turtle hatching from an egg. We dined outside overlooking the Ohio River and downtown Cincinati. We then headed back to the motorhome and enjoyed QueenBea's http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/chicken-caesar-skewers-1278
in spaghetti sauce over spaghetti. It was planned, as storms were predicted, and no grilling was required, even though the recipe calls for them to be grilled on skewers. Between storms we were able to get ice cream at the stand down the road.
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