Have you ever been scuba diving before?  It is different from snokeling pschologically.  If you are not comfortable feeling closed in, in tight spaces and really zen with that, I wouldn't recommend it.  Here in the USA, you take a formal scuba class for a reason.  Anyway,  I had the oppurtunity to check that one off my bucketlist years ago before kids.  We were in Mexico with my parents and went to do a day trip and go scuba diving... well, I remember doing my zen breathing to keep my chill.  I think with higher anxiety now though, it would be much hard to do.  With snorkeling, if you suddenly get feeling buried and claustrophobic with all the stuff on your face and mouth etc, you just lean up and take it off.  When you suddenly realized you are under a LOT of water or fret over something going wrong, it can be stressful.  But it was SUCH a cool experience to be down amung the fish and so close to the ocean floor.  We saw turtles and all kinds of color fish.  

I always love the bright and color exhibits put together at aqauriums to really highlight that brillant hues.

Denver Aquarium has this amazing indoor jungle to go and explore and get a glimpse of their tiger.

The fun and the chaos. 

After our stroll through the aquarium, we had a nice lunch at the Aquarium Resturant.  You got to eat among the fishes with aquariums that line the wall of the resturant. And up above were all the fun fish light fixtures that were fun to look at.

What a fun color setting for a wedding reception!

Is it funny I look at these wood bowls and think more about them as a newborn photography prop? I have one similar.  Complete with the crack on the side.

Then there were the longhouses constructed by the Native Americans.





Some examples of a dance circle where the natives would come together from surrounding areas in celebration, victories and religious rituals.



We spent so much time exploring the island we were rushed getting back to the indoor adventure museum part so that was very rushed before they closed.  We could have spent 30 minutes more in there at least.


I love looking at old maps!  The artistry is beautiful to me.


More fun dress up and hands on play.





After the museum, we walked in the quaint little town of Mateo across the bridge and went for dinner. A happy family day well spent.



Maybe one day I will do pictures with a pair of love birds in this little area of Mateo.


For dinner, we went to Ortegez Southwestern Grill. This was a second time here we had previous gone on another trip with some of our college friends. It was delicious.