A day trip to near Connecticut

Family fun in SW Connecticut

by Michael Gannon

Editor

How would you like to get up close to a meerkat after seeing some harbor seals devour a little lunch?

Or have your children don lab coats for a hands-on, walk-through tutorial on how various types of energy create electricity?

With a drive just over an hour to Norwalk in southwestern Connecticut, biological, physical and earth sciences are fun at the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk and the Stepping Stones Museum for Children.

The aquarium — located at 10 N. Water St. just south of I-95 at Exit 15 — is the only one focused on Long Island Sound, according to Norwalk Maritime officials.

It features 75 exhibits with nearly 7,000 animals belonging to 363 species.

“Your Long Island Sound journey begins along a freshwater river and the shallow waters of the salt marsh, then moves into deeper and deeper habitats out to the open ocean,” states the website at maritimeaquarium.org.

The museum’s largest display is Pinniped Cove, the home of female harbor seals Rasal, Ariel, Leila, Polly and Tillie. Visitors can see them from three sides on two levels, including through floor-to-ceiling windows on the lower level that allow visitors to watch the seals swim and cavort underwater.

Informational displays discuss how seal populations have rebounded in New England over the years. Guests can see training demonstrations and watch the seals being fed at 11:309 a.m., 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. every day.

Other extremely popular denizens of the watershed include the North American river otters, who often will be given “enrichments” in their habitats to keep them busy.

Even the youngest guests, according to the aquarium, can safely enjoy the Shark and Ray Touch Pool where they can get a feel for a number of species.

Information for those interested in feeding the rays can be found on Norwalk Maritime’s website.

In keeping with the idea that all habitats are connected and interdependent on each other, the aquarium has multiple exhibits with more terrestrial animals.

The new two-story meerkat exhibit — twice the size of the colony’s original enclosure — replicates the animals’ native African desert habitat, offering the animals opportunities for climbing, digging and exploring.

Visitors also can take advantage of clear plastic bubbles in the display that allow them to poke their heads up through the sand and possibly come face-to-face with the tiny desert dwellers. The meerkat exhibit now is connected with “Just Add Water,” a display that traces the path from the desert to the rain forest, helping explain how the world’s oceans drive climate around the world. Separate biomes allow guests to view quail, lizards, a skunk, a porcupine and tamarin monkeys.

The Sea & Discover Zone offers handson study in marine exploration, conservation and animal care. Its three focuses are a beach zone that includes live animal presentations; an ocean zone featuring a mock coral reef; and a science lab where people can employ tweezers, magnifying glasses and microscopes to examine animals’ shells, fur, feathers and other items.

Groups looking to visit the Sea & Discovery must book the space in advance. Information is available on the website.

The aquarium is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through the end of August, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. until next July. It is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Admission is $29.95 for adults; $25.95 for seniors 65 and older; and $20.95 for children ages 3 to 12. Admission to the 4-D movie theater is $7 or $6 for aquarium members.

Purchasing tickets in advance online is no longer required but is recommended. Multiple metered public parking sites are located close to the aquarium.

Also off of Exit 15, but just to the north of I-95, is the Stepping Stones Museum for Children, located in Mathews Park at 303 West Ave. in Norwalk. “At Stepping Stones Museum for Children, play is serious,” according to the institution’s website, steppingstonesmuseum.org. Science and play come together in numerous interactive exhibits.

In Lights On!, light energy creates kaleidoscopic prisms and optical illusions. Children can employ technology from “silly mirrors” to an infrared laser harp.

Studio K, with a green screen and video feed, allows young visitors to create their own newscasts.

The Energy Lab exhibit offers hands-on exposure to multiple ways of producing energy in a laboratory setting.

The Solar Lab, as the name indicates, deals with harnessing the sun’s energy to generate electricity. The Wind Lab features a giant wind tunnel, allowing children to feel the power and potential of wind energy.

Children entering the Energy Lab will receive lab coats, and the Water Lab section is the primary reason why, according to the museum’s website. The exhibit includes waterfalls, basins, funnels and water wheels to “entice children to pump, push, turn and direct water to perform everyday activities.” The aim is to show children how water can make things move to generate electricity.

Young visitors can crawl below the surface of the earth to see where coal, oil, natural gas and uranium come from. They then can climb platforms to look at potential energy.

“Cranks, levers air tubes and blowers set objects in motion and young minds into action,” according to Stepping Stones.

Tot Town has activities for children from birth to 12 months from snuggling and reading with their parents to displays designed to draw their attention and elicit amazement.

Toddlers from 13 to 36 months can amble around a play kitchen and house, or explore an exhibit inspired by nursery rhymes.

And what children’s museum is complete without a healthy dose of dinosaurs?

Big Adventures: Dinosaurs invites children into “a wacky and whimsical time machine” that takes them back about 200 million years to the den of a mother dilophosaurus and her young. Children are invited to become “a modern-day paleontologist or time detective.” One can hunt for fossils or step back in time to look at the plants and animals from Connecticut’s far back past.

The museum is open seven days a week

Connecticut

day trip from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $16 for adults and children, $12 or seniors over 62. Admission is free for children under 12 months, museum members, active duty military personnel and their families within the same household. Adults must accompany children at all times. Strollers are permitted in all galleries with the exception of Tot Town and the Energy Lab, due to space constraints. Masks are optional and will be provided for all who request one. Parking is free. Additional information is available on the website. And while up there, just head to the east for some classic and family-friendly Connecticut dining. Get off I-95 at Exit 25 in Fairfield and head on over Super Duper Weenie at 306 Black Rock Tpke. “It’s what we call classic road food, but really done right,” said John Pellegrino, who owns the hot-dog-heavy restaurant with his brother, Lorin, and Gary Zemola. The brick-and mortar restaurant has its roots in a legendary area food truck that goes back more than 50 years, and has been chronicled in print and on television. The history, menu and directions are available online at superduperweenie.com. “We make all out own condiments. We use all fresh ingredients ... We make two chillis, a hot and a sweet. We make out own coleslaw. We use fresh kraut which we season; we make out own onion sauce, street cart onion sauce.” Even their beef-and-pork hot dogs are another Connecticut tradition, coming from Hummel Bros., which has been familyowned since 1933. For those who prefer them, there are burgers, veggie burgers, sausage, chicken sandwiches and or their “Phairfield” cheesesteaks. “And tell them when they come, they have John Pellegrino, left, Gary Zemola and Lorin to get our fresh-cut fries,” Pellegrino said. Pellegrino show off some of the house “Our potatoes, we’re getting them right out of specialties at Super Duper Weenie in Fairfield. the ground from a couple of different farms. COURTESY PHOTO They’re just great.” Q

Marisa Mangiafico, left, and Samantha Sorbello feed Polly and Rasal in the Pinneped Cove Exhibit at the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk in Connecticut COURTESY PHOTO