swimming upstream

My children's school started summer break one week earlier than most of the surrounding schools this year.  So we decided to take advantage of what I seemingly thought would be a quiet week, going to attractions that wouldn't be busy since most of the kids were still in school.

We decided to visit the new Ripley's Aquarium, going early in the morning thinking we could have the whole place almost all to ourselves.  Little did I factor that many schools do field trips during the last two days of school (ughh!), and we found ourselves swimming upstream, so to speak.

Our day started by missing the train...we saw it leave the platform as we ascended the stairs.  Once we arrived at the aquarium, my jaw dropped as we saw bus load after bus load of school children line up to get in.  Luckily we were able to "fast pass" the crowd by purchasing our tickets online the night before.

We decided to do what we did at Disney...do the "back nine" first (I'm sure many of you golfers out there understand this).  In other words, we headed to the end of the aquarium and worked our way back towards the front entrance.  We were able to miss most of the crowds, we ate lunch ahead of the long line ups, and got to see a few interesting shows to boot.

After the lunch crowd dispersed, we were able to really enjoy the best part of the exhibit...the shark tunnel!  And we made it just in time for feeding, so we felt like we were swimming with the sharks.

Although the day may not have started as we had originally planned, it worked out after all and we learned that sometimes going against the crowd works out better at the end.  

{Disclaimer}: There are no endorsements or affiliations with any of the businesses or establishments mentioned in this post.  I just wanted to share the simply beautiful  experience my family enjoyed, and all opinions are my own.

Garlic Scallop and Bacon Pasta

Makes 4-6 servings.

Ingredients:

• 10 scallops
• 10 slices of bacon
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• ¼ cup unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. dried parsley or 1 tbsp. fresh parsley
• ¼ cup of grated parmesan cheese
• 450 g of pasta (linguine, spaghetti or fettucine work here)

Directions:

• Preheat oven at 375 degrees.
• In a cast iron skillet, wrap the scallops with bacon, and bake for approximately 20 minutes.
• Boil the pasta as directed.
• In the meantime, in a small saute pan, brown the garlic in olive oil and butter, until the garlic is softened.
• Remove from heat and stir in the parmesan and parsley.
• Add cooked scallops and bacon, and toss until scallops and bacon are coated with the garlic oil.
• Toss with cooked pasta.
• Top with more parmesan, as desired.

Enjoy!