A couple of weekends ago the fine folks at Camden's Adventure Aquarium offered some local bloggers free tickets to a few waterfront attractions. Free of charge. Gratis. Complimentary. On the house. Did I take them up on the offer? Pfft, what do you think?
All we bloggers had to do was write up our opinions - good or bad - of these Camden attractions. Here are mine. (Click on the photos to see them full size.)
First off, those who run the PR departments of anything in Camden have the double duty of not only trying to get people to visit, but to also come out and visit a site in Camden. The idea of "tourist spot" is still kind of strange when you're talking about a city that's been tagged with the "most dangerous city" badge more than a few times. So let me start off by saying that yes, it's safe to visit the Camden waterfront. It's easy to get to - by car, train, or ferry - and once you're there it's probably as safe as any tourist area. I've seen more homeless people around Baltimore's Inner Harbor and creeper folks hanging outside the Phillie's ballpark. Plus, Camden could really use your help. Come out and support the good people who are trying to reverse Camden's decline.
Okay, first up for us (Me, the missus, the eight-year-old, and the four-year-old) was the Adventure Aquarium. We've actually been members here for about a year, so we were very familiar with this one. Not too long ago the aquarium doubled up its space and added a lot of cool new things. Number one on that list, especially for the youngest, are the hippos. Get there when the place opens so you can see them for the short time they're out of the pool (breakfast time). Inside the pool, these things are amazing - two tons of graceful movement. And they know how to play the crowd. Other non-fish members include the penguins and the seals.
For the fish, the sharks are the big draw, and the aquarium knows it. They've added a shark tunnel - a long glass hallway that runs right through the shark tank. If you've got some extra cash, you can "swim" with the sharks, but from what I could tell you'd get closer to them at the Jersey shore. What's between the hippos and the sharks looks like the cast of Finding Nemo - plenty of colorful and funny-looking underwater dwellers that my kids never seem to tire of seeing.
The aquarium also has a "4D" theater with seats that do all kind of weird things (and not a good weird - so get your minds out of the gutter). Right now it's showing a SpongeBob short that's supposedly safe for four-year-olds but isn't by a long shot. Try answering this question all weekend long: "why did the saw come out of the screen like that?" We got eight free tickets with our membership, but the usual price of $5 a person - for a twelve minute short - is kind of steep.
After the aquarium we hit the Battleship New Jersey, supposedly the most decorated battleship ever (though I've heard that other ships also make this claim). It was built on the Philly side of the Delaware with the help of a lot of guys from South Jersey. Veterans from around here fought hard to make sure the ship retired in the Delaware, and many of those same vets now volunteer on the ship. There are three levels of tours, and we choose the shortest - the self-guided tour, which they estimated would clock in around 90 minutes.
I'm about as pacifistic as they come, but I was still pretty impressed with the enormity of the ship. And yet, everything inside it is tiny. It's amazing just how many people they crammed into one of these things. I'm not sure how soon I would return - I was pretty satisfied that I had seen everything I would want to on our short tour - but it's a cool thing to see at least once, and the kids really seemed to like it. Just know that it's a lot of steep stairs (glorified ladders, really) and some ducking and weaving to get around everything - but that was part of the fun.
The last attraction was Campbell's Field to see the minor league Riversharks. We did this on Day Two, and the missus decided to stay home this time. This is another place that we visit a few times a year, but we never get sick of it. It's a beautiful little ballpark with the Ben Franklin Bridge as its focal point.
Everything's pretty cheap (especially compared to major league prices), just don't expect major league-caliber ballplayers - we're talking AA minor, at best (the Riversharks are in an independent league, so there is no A, AA, or AAA ranking for the team). And if your kids aren't that into baseball, there's a playground for them (a little overpriced at 3 bucks a kid, though). Come out to have some relaxing quality time with the family and you won't be disappointed.
So there you have it. Three Camden tourist spots worthy of my endorsement (I would also recommend seeing a concert at the Tweeter Center, but they didn't give me free tickets to one of those). You could easily do all three in one day (and even take the ferry over to Philly for a while) and still not go too far into debt.
My thanks to the Adventure Aquarium for the free tickets and the chance to talk up a city that could use some good press for once. Any time you want to give me more free tickets, I'm willing to make a return visit (hint, hint - Springsteen's coming to Camden this summer - hint, hint).