Vacation — Day 6

The Missuz and I have gone on wonderfully flat walks this week. Old knees, used to the mountains, have enjoyed!

This is the man I spent most of my day with — shown here examining a sandflea.

The life of a soon-to-be eleven year old.

So, on the way to Ripley’s Aquarium, Basil was counting his money. He had $20 that his grandmother had given him. He asked, “Dad, will I have any money left after buying my ticket to the aquarium?” I said, “Yes, but you won’t have enough to pay my admission”. He said, “That’s okay”. So I played along all the way till we parked the car — at which point he unbuckled his seatbelt and said, “Bye, Dad!” When I didn’t say anything, the seven year old said, “See you later, Dad. Okay?” I said, “Okay, son, see ya”. And he was gone! Mind you, this is a HUGE place, big parking lot. I slowly got out and followed him from a distance. Eventually he looked back and saw me, saying: “Are you coming, Dad?” I said, “Is that okay?” “I guess so,” he said.

Here’s Basil touching the back of a horseshoe crab.

Here’s the flipside of the HS crab. In person it looks like a space alien composed of multiple shrimp.

Here’s the reason we came. Basil is fascinated by the Titanic. They have a whole exhibit on the ship. This pic shows the dimensions of the Titanic compared with those of the ice cube it hit.

The aquarium is really cool. An underwater tunnel. My camera’s chip filled up — which is probably just as well … otherwise I’d have been snapping pics instead of enjoying the view.

This big boy, about my size, followed Basil and I — directly above our heads — for about 5 minutes.

Ripley’s Aquarium, Myrtle Beach. Got kids? Better go! (If they let you.)