Sharks, Rays, Fish, Reptiles, and Marine Invertebrates at #SharkReefAquarium

During our Vegas trip, one of the many activities we did was visiting the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay. It is a public aquarium located at and owned by the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. It's amazing how huge the main tank is. Can you believe that it contains 1,300,000 US gallons ? That's a lot of water!

Shark Reef Aquarium is one of the largest in North America which displays numerous different species of sharks, rays, fish, reptiles, and marine invertebrates. 

The rock fish always fascinates me.  They are beautiful.

The shark tunnel is a great feature.  Most of us doesn't really go diving and see shark so seeing those huge shark  is exciting.  You can watch the video I have posted at the end of this post.

Of all the display, the jelly fish are my least  favorite.  Although they are pretty to look at, they brings back  "burning" memories to me.  Growing up in a coastal area, jelly fish are our constant fear when swimming in the ocean.  They burn your skin and it hurts.

Octopus also bring back memory but I like it.  As a kid, I experienced  catching them.  My Mom taught me how.  They are delicious when cooked properly. 

Butterflies #HawksnestStatePark

Road trip is not always about  the beautiful place or the new location that you are about to see and discover.  When you visit a state park like the Hawks Nest State Park, you will see a lot of  beauties in their natural habitat including birds and all other kinds of critters.  

I saw  a lot of beautiful butterflies  when we went to that park.  It is something that I enjoy immensely.  Butterfly bushes  really  pulls the butterfly around during summer when they are in bloom.  That's one reason why I have butterfly bushes in my garden.  

I believe this particular butter is a swallowtail butterfly.  According to butterfliesathome.com:

Swallowtail or Papilionidae is a family  of large butterflies that  includes more than 600 species worldwide.  Most  of these large, brightly colored butterflies,  feature tails at the back of their  wings. These tail-like appendages resemble the tails of swallow family of birds, hence their name. Several species of Swallowtails are predominantly black, and share similar yellow, blue and orange markings.