The old saying, "It's hotter than a blister bug in a pepper patch,” perfectly describes the current weather pattern here in North Texas.
For this week’s Side Quest, we explored a couple of places where you can escape the heat, but still connect with nature. As a bonus, they're located just steps away from each other in Historic Fair Park, so you can make a day of it.
SPLISH SPLASH
Our first stop was Children's Aquarium Dallas.
Like many of the historic buildings in Fair Park, this marine museum was built for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition, a five- month-long party that celebrated Texas' 100th birthday. Back then, the building was known as the Hall of Aquatic Life. It was the first public aquarium in Texas, and for the opening of the party, organizers brought in 500 gallons of saltwater from the Gulf for the exhibits.
Since then, the aquarium has been redesigned with kids in mind, with raised floors so kids can easily view the exhibits without mom or dad having to lift them up to see.
Summer Brandon, who's the supervisor of presentations and exhibits, showed us around. She told us the "touch tanks" are the stars of the show here.
“They can actually touch the animals, interact with them and sometimes they can feed them,” she said. “They can get more hands-on, and I think for the younger kiddos, that definitely helps give them a better experience.”
FEEDING THE SEA PUPPIES
We continued our tour to the back of the aquarium, called Sting Ray Bay. The biggest tank there holds four nurse sharks, three sandbar sharks and a rescued sea turtle. Brandon said, surprisingly, everyone lives in harmony…for the most part.
"I guess the trouble-making guy is our sea turtle there. “His name is Howdy, and he's a teenager who likes to chase all his tank mates around."
Next to Howdy was the touch tank featuring over a dozen cownose rays, named as such because—you guessed it—their foreheads look like the nose of a cow. Not only can you pet and touch the rays, but you can also feed them small fish called silversides.
The rays get excited at the prospect of snacks, so expect to get splashed. Brandon remarked that the rays enjoy interaction as much as the humans.
“They're really friendly and they love people,” she said. “We call them our little sea puppies.”
And that wasn't our only fish encounter.
Near the entrance of the aquarium is a pool of red garra fish, or nibble fish. Stick your hands into the tank and the tiny fish immediately gather in droves around your fingertips and nibble away at your cuticles. Don’t worry. It doesn't hurt. In fact, it tickles.
CHEETO THE ORIGINAL
There are lots of exhibits with fresh and saltwater fish, lizards, turtles and sharks, but a crowd favorite is a cute, puffy, orange fish named Cheeto who has a great backstory.
Cheeto was caught at Lake Granbury by a local fisherman who knew immediately this wasn’t any ordinary fish. He reached out to Texas A&M for help identifying the fish. Experts there confirmed Cheeto was one of a kind.
“What they theorized happened is somebody dumped a pet cichlid into Lake Granbury,” Brandon said. “They think that cichlid then bred with a native species of cichlid and then Cheeto was born.”
Brandon added that it was lucky Cheeto was caught because he's a warm-water fish and most likely wouldn't have made it through the winter in Lake Granbury.
GOODBYE FISH, HELLO BUTTERFLIES
We said goodbye to our fishy friends at the aquarium and took the very short walk across the street to Texas Discovery Gardens.
Like the Aquarium, this nature museum was built for the 1936 Centennial Celebration, when it was known as the Hall of Horticulture. Today, it's an eclectic facility where you and the kids could easily spend an afternoon exploring nature.
There's a reptile resort, garden train winding around a mini village, a playscape, and 7 and a half acres of outdoor gardens with trails, ponds and fountains for you to check out.
And, if you need a break from the heat, head inside to the Sammons Butterfly and Insectarium. The two-story conservatory is home to hundreds of butterflies that flutter around when you visit.
Ron Natinsky, the executive director at Texas Discovery Gardens, said the butterfly house is an international undertaking.
“We fly the butterflies in from all over the world. Indonesia, Malaysia, Colombia, everywhere that exotic butterflies live.”
He added that around two dozen butterflies are added daily to the collection of about 600 that occupy the house.
Our tour of the butterfly house began on the second floor above the canopy of tropical trees and plants. As we worked our way down the ramp, we heard the unexpected sound of birds chirping. But these birds weren’t in the trees. The birds we heard were tiny bobwhite quail that make their home on the ground among the plants. They act as sort of a clean-up crew by eating the seeds, insects and bits of plants on the floor of the house.
Besides the quail, the house also has an inside/outside honeybee tree, where visitors can safely watch bees collect nectar from behind protective glass.
We found something unexpected around every corner. As Natinsky noted, the Texas Discovery Gardens has something for everyone.
“Some people call it a unicorn because we’re not just a botanical garden, and we're just a butterfly house, but collectively it's a place where people tend to have lot of fun.”
There's time for one more adventure with the kids before summer officially comes to a close. These two science and nature museums are cool options for exploring the great outdoors—indoors!
Details:
Children’s Aquarium Dallas, 1462 1st Ave, Dallas. Open daily from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Texas Discovery Gardens, 3601 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Dallas. Open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Arts coverage on NTX NOW is made possible through the generosity of TACA, fueling a vibrant arts community for Dallas.
