Expert Advice Desired, looking for a cephalopod exhibit near me.

BigSister

Hatchling
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Feb 1, 2009
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Hi

I am a college student in NC. I have a 12 year old sister who is NUTS about animals, and this past 8 months, the it thing has been octopuses. (She makes these incredible miniature sculptures of them and spends hours googling pictures and info to make her sculptures realistic...)

I want to take her to see a real octopus! But I have some limiting factors. Travel is huge. She is easily car sick, and so while I know she would brave a 3-4 hour drive (one way) with stalwart determination, anything more is really pushing the limits of both her endurance and my finances. Also, while I have enjoyed the past random two hours of googling to try and find the nearest public octopus exhibit and learned a LOT (I study engineering, and thus am not naturally inclined toward this sort of info, although lord knows I won't turn it down! I can completely understand the obsession with these creatures, they are fascinating.), there is a limit on the amount of time I can expend on researching this.

I am open to any and all suggestions. My main objective is to put her darling eyes directly on the other side of the glass partition separating an octopus from leathery death. I'm located in Raleigh, NC, to give you a ball park. If anyone knows anything off the top of their head or knows better search terms than I do, I would really appreciate the help.

I intend to take her between April 10th and 13th, as well, b/c that's the next time she has a teacher work day on a long weekend.

Also, may I compliment on what seems to be a truly exceptional internet community. I'm rather impressed :smile: I had a lot of opportunity to explore before I finally found the "post new thread" button... hehe.

Sydney
sydneyanneparker "at" gmail "dot" com
aim: flakyrubberfeet
 
Dear Sydney,

First and foremost, a hearty :welcome: to tonmo! Brian Walls (White Kiboko) should probably be able to help you out, as he is from the Carolina's himself and ultimately knowledgeable (reigning world pubquiz champion :wink:). I hope you don't mind the edit to your e-mail address as posted above; we try to keep our members safe from harm :smile:

Do feel free to stick around after accomplishing your mission, cheers,

Olaf
 
:welcome: Sydney and Little Sis' ! The North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island has an octopus. I visited this aquarium last summer and it is really nice.

http://www.ncaquariums.com/ri/riindex.htm

I'm not sure how far it is from Raleigh... it looks like about 3 hours.

Has your sister tried sea bands? My 11 year-old daughter gets really car sick and these help for shorter trips (about 2 hours) then she needs prescription medication... http://www.sea-band.com/seaband.htm
 
There is also a prescription-required patch for motion sickness that you stick on behind your ear; I've had really good luck with that. You might want to ask your sister's doctor if that might work for her...
 
Thanks!!

The Roanoke Island Aquarium does have an octopus? They said they had an "octopus gallery" on wikipedia, and I wasn't sure what to make of that. I've been to zoos where they have pictures of something they don't actually have before... woot! :smile: I love the outer banks..
Motion sickness: Thanks for the suggestions. :biggrin2:

I would have to call this mission accomplished, lol. Thank you all.

And, just by the way, this is the most awesome emoticon I've ever seen. I have no idea when it would come up in regular conversation, though...

:sink:
 
yea, its not so bad. could be worse i guess. i live in greensboro but im in the chapel hill area a lot. my girlfriend goes to carolina. and yes, the weather comes out of no where sometimes. i dont get it. 60deg one day and 40deg the next. :smoke:
 
How far is Chattanooga, TN? We stopped there last year on our way to the GA aquarium and were really pleasantly surprised! They had cuttles, nautili and (2?) GOPs. The exhibits were nice, they had more cephs than the GA or Shedd (Chicago) Aquariums. It was probably the best octo exhibits I've seen as far as aqua scaping in the tanks and stuff for them to do. The rest of the aquarium is very nice, the best "petting" tank for rays- like the rays splashed us to be pet as opposed to hovering in the center looking over handled. They had 2 different buildings- fresh and salt- very nicely done. It was in a nice part of town with lots of other stuff to do.

I have a vertigo problem- it's neurological so sometimes solid ground is no different than a moving vehicle. I find the sea bands to be helpful. Also, I have a prescription for "antivert," which helps and has no side effects aside from a little sleepiness.

Good luck, Big Sis! Have fun!
 
BigSister,
I didn't think about Chattanooga! When Sedna was in Atlanta, she mentioned that they had added all the salt stuff (it has been many, many years since we were there). The drive from here is longer (about an hour and a half vs an hour I think) so you might do some checking before deciding which aquarium we visit.
 

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