AkSarBen Aquarium is connected to Schramm Park which is about 45 minutes North of Lincoln, between Lincoln and Omaha. It is under renovation until 2018. To read more about Schramm Park click here. First things first, Ak-sar-ben is Nebraska backwards. How great is that? I love it. To honor this, my husband and I referred to each other by our backwards names when we were there. Yram and Notrent (try and figure that out without making your head hurt).
Before visiting the Aquarium, we walked up to the fish hatchery and historic hatch house which is just up the road in Schramm Park. It is beautiful with a gorgeous wooden walkway. You can view and feed the fish in the hatchery or just enjoy the scenery. We spent about 20 minutes feeding fish, running on the walkway and looking at the hatch house.
Next up, was the Aquarium! This place is great. It is very engaging with an interactive classroom. We spent 30 minutes just playing in this room: looking at animal skeletons, peering into microscopes and reading about animals. We saved the fish for the end. AkSarBen has the largest exhibit of native aquatic species in Nebraska. We were tied when it came to voting for our favorite: the snapping turtle or the giant blue catfish.
Our kids were sad to leave the aquarium. All in all, this part of our trip was 1.5 hours and it was the perfect size for little kids but my husband and I learned a lot too. Overall? Two thumbs up from us! AkSarBen Aquarium has free admission and is open year-round Wednesday through Monday from 10:00 AM-4:30 PM.
