The New York City Aquarium
FRIDAY, JULY 17TH 2009
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This is the worst aquarium I've ever visited. The New York Aquarium smells like child vomit - not unlike a Chuck E Cheese - and hosts a sparse collection of aquatic animals. The environments are uninteresting and seem to offer very little in the way of animal enrichment. Fridays are free after 3pm, but it is hardly worth the long subway ride, the horrendous "lines" - in quotes because it more like a shoving marathon with parents pushing strollers into strangers' calves with the hopes of plowing through the crowd to get into the aquarium first - the screaming children or the depressing exhibits.

Halibut Point State Park
SUNDAY, JULY 5TH 2009
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Before our trip back to NYC we spent a day at Halibut Point State Park, which is currently my favourite beach due to the concentration of beautiful, massive rocks on the shore. Scenic trails through underbrush and tall grass lead you to the coast, and you feel like an explorer charting new territory.

The location is actually a former granite quarry, hence all the sweet rocks. I poked around tide pools filled with snail shells and seaweed, and then (illegally) climbed that gigantic rock pile in the distance.