Fire, Ice is on the way!

This is big, big, big! 
After a year of planning, months of work, and many weeks of construction we are ready to unveil our new exhibit, Fire, Ice and The Rise of Life.
In fact, we're on schedule for our soft open Memorial Day weekend (i.e. in 2 days).

This is how the exhibit space on the second floor of Great Lakes Aquarium looks right now.

A lot of plywood walls and temporary doors concealing the magic that's being created behind them.

Underneath the exhibit floors, in our animal holding area, many treasures await their big reveal.  We've received so many packages, most in sloshy boxes, that it feels like Christmas around here.

Among them are these South American lungfish.

As the name suggests these fellas have lungs and can breathe air, which, if you know anything about fish, is like, "what??"

Then there are these guys who I just can't get enough of.

They're called chambered nautilus and are sometimes referred to as living fossils.  They haven't  evolved much in approximately 500 million years.  Imagine that.  They've looked pretty much the same since before dinosaurs roamed the Earth.  Crazy.

This new friend arrived in a very large and heavy box last week.  He's our 30+ pound snapping turtle (32 lbs to be precise).

Check out those claws!

And then there's this:

I'm not going to tell you more about this ferocious looking guy.  But he's arriving tomorrow and I can't wait for you to see him.

This is an adventure through time (hundreds of millions of years, actually) told with a focus on the water and the evolution of the Great Lakes basin.  
And while it won't be 100% complete until the grand opening in June, we're taking down the barriers tomorrow allowing Memorial weekend visitors a first look at Fire, Ice and the Rise of Life.
There will be plenty to see!