‘Adventure Aquarium’ Articles at Sweetnicks

Now if you happen to find yourself at the Adventure Aquarium and need a bite to eat, you’re in the perfect area to check out The Pop Shop. Located just four miles away in the cute downtown of Collingswood, it’s a little throwback joint that has received some national acclaim by being featured on Food Network’s Throwdown with Bobby Flay. If you’re not familiar with the show, the chosen restaurant dishes up the dish that they are most known for, and Flay then competes, using all of his chef prowess (and two helpers) in a throwdown, to see whose end product really is the best. When The Pop Shop competed, it was with their grilled cheese (they offer 31 varieties of it!).

But beyond the brush with fame, The Pop Shop was popular in its own right. Soda fountains, decorating reminiscent of the 1950s, and breakfast served all day, it’s a cute spot with a fun, cheery vibe. They have won numerous “best of” awards for their pancakes and their grilled cheese. On street parking and an easy-to-find location, we were lucky enough to snag a booth with no waiting. Although we had to ask for them, they have soda jerk hats and crayons to keep the kids busy while waiting for food.

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With the kids off from school this week, I used the last bit of my vacation time to plan a few different activities. Today, as a surprise to them, we set off to visit Adventure Aquarium, otherwise known as New Jersey’s State Aquarium. Given the kids’ unabashed love for all things animal, and the fact that we had never been before, I knew they’d be happy with the choice.

The only drawback to visiting this particular aquarium is that it’s about two hours away. These are those special moments when I sorely miss having another driver in the car with me.

And I don’t mean the backseat kind.

The Aquarium is very easy to find, and super close to CocoKey. I had originally wanted to add the aquarium to our weekend when we were down that way back in October, but since we also went to the Philadelphia Zoo, there was a limit to how much I could feasibly squeeze into an overnight.

There is a dedicated parking lot for this aquarium, and it’s $10 (cash and credit cards accepted as payment when you exit). There are some other lots nearby, but I’m not sure if they are designated for other uses. And, to be quite honest, Camden is not necessarily a town where you want to be wandering around unnecessarily.

You can buy tickets online, and I would suggest it. It saves you waiting in line (outside) to buy your tickets. By having them in hand, you can head straight inside, get your tickets scanned, and get started right away.

The aquarium is divided into four different zones (A, B, C, and D), which, in theory, is good. Especially if you start with Zone A. We somehow started with Zone D, which conveniently leads you to the gift shop, restaurant, and exit once you’re finished with it, so we had to do a bit of backtracking.

Because we have sort of been making the rounds of aquariums and zoos this year, we tend to look for what sets this one apart from the others we have seen.

The Adventure Aquarium had two hippopotamuses, which was really cool. They were surrounded by tons of little fish pecking at them, and one of the other aquarium guests said that the fish were cleaning the hippos by eating off the outer layer of skin and dirt.

Ick.

But equally fascinating to watch.

But mostly ick.

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Review: The Pop Shop {Collingswood, New Jersey}

Visit: Adventure Aquarium {Camden, New Jersey}