Our World Has Decreased in Size

Yesterday on Memorial Day, my family and I ventured off to Baltimore for a fun day filled with sea creatures--the Baltimore Aquarium and some crabs chow down:

The sole purpose of the trip was mainly for MD crabs, can't get enough of that Old Bay seasoning! However, I was secretly more excited for the aquarium! Now, I'm not sure what it is with me and aquariums but I find them absolutely fascinating, but this may be b/c of the association I have with them. Also, I'm not sure what type of person that makes me (i.e., jerk) for also finding joy in eating seafood, but that's besides the point.

The last time I was at this particular aquarium was on my 5th grade field trip, the more recent was at the Sydney Aquarium (which I have to admit is pretty fantastic):

But I have to admit that the Baltimore Aquarium was by far one of the best field trips I had taken in my younger years--hands down. It was so great that I still recall some vivid memories of the aquarium itself. In particular, the escalator ride down to the rainforest exhibit with those illuminated photos of the rainforest above your head as you ride down is still fresh in my mind. Here is my sister and her fiance riding that escalator:

So you can see that my anticipation to recapture these fond memories were pretty high. Even the long line and wait to enter in the aquarium didn't deter me from my beloved aquarium.

They say age makes us a little wiser but with it, it makes us a little more jaded. Since when did we transition from the world is ginormous to 'what a small world'? Wide-eyed with wonder about the enormity of such things has gradually turned into miniscule things we don't even give a second glance at. Sometimes I wish my view of this world is still stuck in my 5th grade sight--magnified and larger than scaled, full of marvel. Personally, I find it appealing that this world is BIG, it exudes some kind of mystery that there is much more to discover out there and that is simply thrilling. Although the aquarium wasn't as glorious as it once was from my childhood memory and we were able to go through it within 2hrs time, the current Australia exhibit was rather disappointing, and the hoards of kids banging and climbing on the glass exhibits, I still found myself enjoying it the entire time. I suppose some memories can't be broken/jaded--and this aquarium will always be magnified in my eyes.