It was nice knowing that I’d still be able to explore aquariums when my company moved me from Tampa, Florida to Chicago, Illinois without my consent last year.
All of my family is in Florida and living down there is all I’ve ever known since I rarely traveled and never lived anywhere outside of Tampa for longer than a few days at a time.
One thing that I particularly liked about being so close to the ocean was the marine life. The Gulf Coast of Florida was full of aquariums, beaches, piers, and all sorts of drop off points where you could interact with marine life in one capacity or another. It felt like I was losing something dear to my heart moving away from this area, but I didn’t realize how similar Lake Michigan is to an ocean. While this freshwater Great Lake is devoid of saltwater and the sort of marine life that comes with it, it still interacts with wind currents in much the same way, producing surprisingly large waves that can drown people who aren’t careful enough along the coast lines. On top of the waves, there are dangerous rip currents in Lake Michigan just from the geographical shape of the body of water and how the wind interacts with the natural water flow. But if you simply want to visit a wonderful aquarium to see some of the marine life from back at home, there’s the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago that I love a lot. I can go inside with a cannabis oil pen in my pocket to use discreetly in the bathrooms during quick breaks from scheduled tours. It’s located along the shoreline of Lake Michigan within the Museum Campus with the Field Museum and the Adler Planetarium.