Who says landlocked cities can’t have an ocean? The Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium’s Sobela Ocean Aquarium brings families face to face with sharks, sea turtles, stingrays and thousands of reef fish — right in the middle of the map.
The aquarium journey flows from shallow mangroves to the open ocean: watch divers feed the animals, press your nose to the glass in the shark tunnel atmosphere of the main oceanarium, and meet penguins waddling through their chilly home nearby.
Because it’s under the same roof as the zoo, families can pair giraffes in the morning with sharks after lunch — a combination no coastal city can beat for pure kid joy.
The middle of America has an ocean now. Kansas City families are swimming in it (figuratively — the sharks prefer it that way).
