Audubon Everything

There are many attractions in New Orleans bearing the name "Audubon".  There is Audubon park, zoo, aquarium, IMAX, insectarium, and golf course.  We visited every single one of these attractions except of the golf course while on vacation.  We only had one day of good weather during our whole trip (what else is new), and we spent it at the zoo.  We found the zoo to be very nice.  There were plenty of areas for kids to play located throughout the park (see the giant spider web below).  There was even a water-play area.  The animal exhibits were nice.  There was a "bayou" area that showcased different animals native to the area.  This area was particularly well done- as it should be.  There were a few animals that I had never heard of in this section- the nutria (river rat) being one of those.  I guess you learn something new everyday.  Also impressive were the rhino and south american animal exhibits.

After leaving the zoo, we went to see a film at the IMAX theater.  There were several to movies to choose from, but we saw "Hurrican on the Bayou".  We picked this film because it was about New Orleans, the wetlands, and Hurricane Katrina.  I found the movie to be very informative.  Owen fell asleep during the movie (surprise surprise).  Olivia stayed awake, payed attention, and actually learned a few things from the film.  She is also now terrified of hurricanes.  Great.  

As I stated earlier, we only had one day of nice weather.  Wednesday was cold and rainy.  We stayed in our room til mid-morning waiting for the rain to slack off.  One we caught a break in the rain, we made our way to the Audubon Aquarium.  This was a decent aquarium.  There was an interesting "rain forest" area where you could see a huge anaconda.  That was cool. It was no Georgia Aquarium, but it was not a bad way to spend a rainy morning.

  

My favorite of all the Audubon attractions was the Insectarium.  It was surprisingly cool.  There were lots of interesting exhibits featuring all sorts of bugs.  There were also a lot of interactive experiences.  One area- labeled "the underground" took visitors into a dark tunnel where you were surrounded by large, fake bugs.  This was supposed to simulate what lives in the soil under our own feet.  There were also machines that demonstrated how quickly a spider can strike (using a puff of air to simulate the bite) as well as video games that help teach what types of bugs live in which climates.  There was even a 4D theater that presented an animated bug show- which was a lot like "It's Tough to be a Bug" at Animal Kingdom.  The kids even got an opportunity to get hands on by touching a Madagascar hissing cockroach.  Yuk!  I still can't believe that thy touched that thing.

Here's another gross yet cool thing about the Insectarium- they had a cafeteria that gave samples of dishes that used bugs as ingredients.  They even had free pamphlets with recipes on them that you could take with you.  I am still considering making "chocolate chirp cookies".  Brian grabbed a crispy cajun cricket and tried to persuade Owen to eat it, but that wasn't happening.

The last room in the Insectarium was the butterfly garden.  You weren't suppose to touch the butterflies, but when one lands on you what can you do?