Swimming Pretty in Denver

I visited the Downtown Aquarium, Downtown Denver that is.

Years ago I visited the aquarium and was not very impressed. This time around I was pretty pleased so either they've changed things or I'm just more easily entertained these days.

Let's do this one Sara style:

Biggest Mistake:
We accidentally started the tour backwards. We thought we were rather clever (at least I did) going in reverse but I wouldn't recommend it, there is a reason it's set up the way it is and it all has to do with building suspense. We saw the romantic ending between human and stingray before any of the back story. Follow the path for a proper story build-up.

Biggest Silly Girl Moment:
The Stingrays are there to touch. Definitely shrieked like a little silly girl the first time I got a finger on one, they are pretty slimy, you've been warned. Also some of them like to splash, you've been warned, again.

Biggest Surprise:
A really large amount of good sized sharks. They would swim right next to the glass for a very up-close look at some serious teeth, yikes!

Biggest Tip:
The Aquarium closes at 9 PM, we went a little after 7:30 on a weeknight. This was plenty of time to see the whole thing and aside from one or two other groups we had the whole thing to ourselves.

Biggest Bummer:
The Aquarium boasts awesome Tigers. I have not yet seen any evidence besides an empty space. Perhaps they go to bed early or were quarantined for the Swine Flu.

Biggest (cool) Amusement Park-like Feature:
I was rather entertained by the simulation of flash floods in the desert, especially because it caught us off guard (lesson learned).

Biggest (lame) Amusement Park-like Feature:
The animatronic Orangutan, although the sign saying "Don't Feed" made me giggle a bit.

Biggest reason I'd go back:
There is a restaurant on the first floor of the building that smelled like it had some very tasty food.

I think the place is overall worth a visit, especially if you're trying to impress your date.