I am happily exhausted. My legs feel like rubber and I know if I allowed myself at 6:30 PM, I would fall fast asleep right now. We went to the Long Beach Aquarium and opted for a 45 minute behind the scenes tour. I got the BEST selfie ever during this tour. It started out being introduced to some young rays that had been removed from the display as they were just a little too stressed to deal with the ogling by the public. They were very happy to have a small group of visitors and showed off for us like puppies. That led to the best selfie ever.
We also had the best luck of timing when the one of only two sea turtles in residence at the Aquarium decided to come up for air, while we were in the Tropical Reef portion of the back stage tour. He usually sits down at the bottom for 3 to 5 hours before coming up for air.
This lead to seeing baby Jellies and a host of other sea critters too small, sick or new to the aquarium and needing some special attention before they are ready to be on display. We fed the Lorikeets too! 
And there was the otters, cannot forget the sea otters. 
There were other selfies and photo bombs too:
And we saw there the Aquarium personnel have created a garden of Milkweed for Monarchs to breed. We saw them before they become the butterflies:
And we cannot forget the puffins, Jellies on display and the Sea Dragons.
There was so much more we saw, but didn’t want this post to be just pictures. I am glad we took the time to do this. So much fun and I am so thankful my cousin/sister who despite her back pain was a trooper for me. Took breaks to sit, and used elevators instead of stairs a lot to make sure I didn’t exhaust myself too much.
After we tired ourselves out at the Aquarium, we walked over to The Auld Dubliner for some good Irish Pub fare to fill our empty stomachs. I missed not having a good Whiskey or Ale with my Shepherds Pie Boxty, but it still tasted good.
I am sure I will sleep like a log tonight.
And I have exhausted my cousin…
Life is taking time to experience the wonders of our world (and naps!)
What an amazing day!!