The National Aquarium

After enjoying the Mini Coop, the Inner Harbor, and, of course, delicious seafood, we finally made it to the main event, the National Aquarium. Home to over 16,000 animals representing over 660 different species including poison dart frogs, tree sloths, dolphins, and jelly fish, the National Aquarium in Baltimore is Maryland’s most popular tourist destination.

Below is just a brief glimpse of what the aquarium has to offer.

Sea Robins, named for their wing-like fins

Fish native to Pennsylvania and Maryland

Yellow-Headed Parrots living in the
Aquarium’s Amazon Rainforest Exhibit

A mean-looking Austrailian Freshwater Crocodile

And, of course, there are sharks.

• More on the National Aquarium
• More on Baltimore's Inner Harbor

The Inner Harbor

It takes about two and a half hours to drive from Susquehanna University to Baltimore, so we arrived at the Inner Harbor a little past noon. Our plan was to visit the National Aquarium and then grab a seafood dinner before heading back to Selinsgrove to turn in the rental car. After purchasing our aquarium tickets, though, we had to rearrange our plans.

The National Aquarium only admits a limited number of visitors at a time (with over 1.6 million visitors annually, the aquarium is Baltimore’s most popular attraction).  Our tickets gave us a 2:30 admission and a chance to walk around the Inner Harbor.

The National Aquarium, home to over 16,000 different animals.

With its brick-paved sidewalks and leafy green trees, the Inner Harbor is one of the most scenic urban places I’ve visited. We walked beside the water and took in the sights: a street musician playing the guitar and the harmonica; an artist sitting on the sidewalk painting dolphins into a seascape; an old Coast Guard cutter docked beside an old submarine, both open for tours; a unicyclist performing for a crowd; and, in the window of the American Visionary Art Museum, a pink poodle that was easily six feet tall.

Since we were getting into the aquarium late, we decided to grab a big lunch. There are a ton of places to eat in and around the Inner Harbor—Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, Capital Grill, Hard Rock Café, ESPN Zone, to name a few. We decided on Phillips Seafood Restaurant at the Harborplace shopping center.

We sat at an outside table with a view of the harbor and enjoyed delicious seafood. I had the Chesapeake crab cakes and “potatoes gratinée;” Holly got the melt-in-your-mouth salmon with cucumber and yogurt sauce; and Andrew ordered a little bit of everything—a good choice because I think everything at Phillips is probably good.

Lunch

After visiting the aquarium, we still had about 45 minutes on our hands before it was time to hit the road, so we walked over to the Barnes & Noble we’d passed on our way in. I’m a sucker for bookstores in generals, but this wasn’t just any bookstore. This was two stories of books inside a refurbished power plant. Really cool. They had shelves wrapped around the four old smoke stacks that take up the center of the store.

When we were finished looking around the book store, we headed back to the parking garage to take the Mini Coop home.

Barnes & Noble

Connect by Hertz

“It’s like a time machine,” Andrew said, peering over my shoulder to get a better look at the glowing dashboard.

Sitting behind the wheel of the BMW Mini Cooper, I couldn’t have described the car better myself.

Honestly, it took me a good five minutes to figure out how to work the keyless push-button ignition.  First you stick the fat disc-shaped key fob into the slot by the steering column, then you press down the start button and the brake pedal.  This I learned from reading the laminated "How to Start a Mini Coop" instructions tied to the gear shift.

Once we got the wheels rolling, though, the Mini Coop was a blast.  We hooked my I-Pod up to the stereo and pointed the little car toward Baltimore.  While I enjoyed the car's smooth ride and tight turning radius (at home when I drive, I'm usually behind the wheel of my dad's big, long F-250), Holly and Andrew experimented with the switch that opened the sun roof.

My friends and I got ahold of the Mini Coop through the Connnect by Hertz car rental program.  Connect by Hertz provides Susquehanna students and employees with easy access to high fuel efficiency vehicles.

Students participating in the program can go online and reserve a car days in advance or just hours before their trip, choosing between the eco-friendly Toyota Prius or the also-eco-friendly BMW Mini Cooper.  Both cars, when they're not in use, are parked between Weber Chapel and the campus center.

Hertz offers both daily and hourly rates, so the cars can really be used for anything—short errands or long road trips. It only cost us $81 to take the car to Baltimore for the day, which isn’t bad at all if you divide the cost by three or four people.  Plus the rental fee covers the cost of gas and insurance.  There’s a fueling card just above the visor that you swipe at the pump like a credit card whenever you stop to fill up.

You're not going to spend much time filling up, though.  These cars really are fuel efficient. Holly, Andrew, and I took the Mini the whole way to Baltimore, but we didn’t have to stop for gas until we got back to Selinsgrove. I spent more time enjoying the breeze coming in through the windows and the Dave Matthews Band coming in through the speakers, watching the needle on the humungous speedometer waver between 60 and 80, than I did worrying about where the next gas station is.

If you don't have a car on campus or a girlfriend who has a car on campus (like I do), the Hertz Connect Program is a really great way to explore the world that exists beyond SU's campus.

We spent the day in Baltimore hanging out at the aquarium, but really you could take the car anymore—catch a concert in Scranton,  spend a day at the hands-on science center in Harrisburg, watch a hockey game in Hershey, maybe eat some chocolate too, visit friends at another university, catch a Broadway Show in New York City, head to Philly, D.C., or wherever.  With Connect by Hertz, it's really up to you.

• Learn more about Connect by Hertz at connectbyhertz.com.