After dropping mama off at work we headed for South Attleboro, a quick breakfast at Tim Horton’s and then off to the train stop. This was the first time on a real train for the kids even if it was only an MBTA commuter train it was still a fun time for them. They spent some time watching the world go by, I read a few stories to them and they had a nice conversation with the conductor in which they learned how fast the train traveled, how a coin dispenser worked and he learned how a mystery ride worked. Next stop South Station in Boston, a few subway trains later and we were at our destination.

The New England Aquarium has been around since 1969 nearly as long as I have, it is one of the first modern aquariums open to the public. As a child this was where many of our mystery rides ended. As I recall now my parents always made it a point to pull us out of school for these mystery rides, note when I first started this thought process I mentioned I planned this one during my children’s spring break, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Upon arriving at the Aquarium I noticed there was a large white event type tent set up directly outside the ticket booths and there was a line snaking out the door and back along the sidewalk. Apparently I was not the only one who had this brilliant idea. To the great credit of the Aquarium’s staff the line moved very quickly and roughly half way through the winding maze to the ticket booths they had a refreshment stand set up where they were providing cookies and hot chocolate which was very welcome as the mercury never made it to 30 that morning.

After about an hour in line we had tickets in hand and made our way into the Aquarium. We stowed our gear in a locker, ate some lunch and off we went in search of the special exhibit, Amazing Jellies. This was a truly wonderful exhibit, the majority of jellies on display were the beautiful Moon Jellies. Each of the tanks were lit from below or above with colored lights turning the jellies glowing shades of blue, red, green and purple. One tank even had a control that let you change the color of the lights being shone into the tank. My daughter was especially fond of the pink. Some of the other jellies on display were Sea Nettles and Lagoon Jellies. There were lots of hands on things for the kids to do and plenty of information on why jellyfish are becoming more prevalent in our oceans and how we have created an environment in our oceans which is allowing them to proliferate and the effect they are having on oceans around the world.

After 30 minutes or so of jellyfish we moved out into the main portion of the Aquarium the crowd was thick. Families of all shapes and sizes were jockeying for the perfect viewing position in front tanks containing fishes of all shapes and sizes. Standing in front of a tank containing a rather large anaconda while having my foot trod upon by a rather portly youngster who carried with him the faint smell of peanut butter, my thoughts hearkened back to one of my favorite scenes in Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone. We managed to get to the top of the Giant Ocean Tank where we watched one of the handlers feed Yertle the Green Sea Turtle, Romaine lettuce and Brussels sprouts. The kids were having a great time and there was so much more to see. Unfortunately due to time constraints we were only able to see that small portion of the Aquarium before we had to be at the IMAX theater for Dolphins and Whales 3D: Tribes of the Ocean. There is something incredibly awe inspiring in having a 50 ton whale swimming straight at you. The cinematography was amazing and the only thing that kept me from thinking I was actually in the water with these beautiful animals was the fact that I was dry. Several of the shots were done with the cameraman swimming along the length of the whales and you were given an opportunity to look into the eye of a whale. I can only begin to imagine what this must have felt like in real life.

I would have liked to have gone back into the Aquarium to let the kids get the full aquarium experience but train schedules and the fact that every family in New England had the same idea we did that day forced me to cut our trip short. Even though we only got to see about 20% of the Aquarium we had a great time and are looking forward to a return trip. Next time I think I’ll take a page out of mom and dad’s book and let the kids play hooky for their next mystery ride.

The lineup was stellar, Blue Highway, Seldom Scene, Alicia Nugent, Steep Canyon Rangers, and James King to name a few. I’m a huge fan of all the above mentioned artists but the highlight of the weekend for me was a band out of Nashville called The SteelDrivers. The program description in no way shape or form conveyed just how amazing this band was. When they took the stage my first thought was ok another Nashville band. Then the music started, Mike Henderson the mandolin picker layed down several blistering licks, Richard Bailey the banjo picker just seemed to have music flowing from his fingers, Tammy Rogers fiddle playing was haunting at times and searing precisely when it needed to be, Mike Fleming kept the whole thing together and tight with his stand up bass playing and then there was Chris Stapleton on guitar and lead vocals. “sand paper to silk” is the label I’ve heard used to describe Chris’ voice, that does not do it justice. Emotion pulled from deep down in his soul somewhere, hauntingly beautiful on Sticks That Made Thunder and raw and visceral on Midnight Train to Memphis and Peacemaker. Add to that incredible harmonizing by the rest of the band and I would have been happy to listen to The SteelDrivers play all night long, fortunately for me I was able to snag the last of the self titled CDs they had for sale at their merchandise table. So now I get to listen to them whenever I want and to be sure I’ll be making plans to catch them at the Podunk Bluegrass Music Festival in Hartford CT and The Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in Oak Hill, NY.