Audubon Aquarium of the Americas and Audubon Insectarium in New Orleans, Louisiana

The Audubon Nature Institute has a variety of parks in New Orleans, Louisiana for tourists and locals to visit.

Whether you want to take your family on a trip to the Audubon Zoo, Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, Audubon Insectarium, experience the Entergy IMAX Theatre or perhaps have the ultimate Audubon experience and enjoy all of the above - you are sure to have a great time.

While in New Orleans, I went to the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas and the Audubon Insectarium.

The aquarium has more than 7,000 fish and other marine life including a large collection of jellyfish, sharks, seahorses, and local Louisiana wildlife.

When you fist enter the aquarium, you walk through a large tank with various sea life swimming all around you. It is a magical tunnel that the children were mesmerized by. Next, you follow the path that takes you up to the Amazon Rainforest. The most interesting wildlife here was the albino alligator. The rest of the aquarium had sections for different types of wildlife such as sea otters, penguins, seahorses, jellyfish, frogs, etc.

The big shark tank and jellyfish tanks were my favorite exhibits in the aquarium. I wish the jellyfish tanks were larger, but they were still magnificent to watch. The penguins and sea otters really should have had a larger section too.

Overall, the aquarium had an excellent assortment of fish and wildlife. The crowds were very large, but I did visit in the middle of the day on a weekend at the end of summer.

The interactive insectarium is just a little further away from the aquarium on Canal Street. The museum has a large variety of insects, a café where you can actually eat insects for lunch, stroll through a Japanese butterfly garden and experience an award winning animated insect film at the immersion theater.

The kids that were there were all really excited about bugs and went from one exhibit to the next in an excited rush to get it all in.

Personally, I am not a big insect lover. I don't know many who are. However, this was a truly unique experience with insects I'll never forget. The film was interactive and really was just as good as one I'd see at theme parks like Sea World or Busch Gardens.

My favorite part of the insectarium was the Japanese butterfly garden - it was unbelievable! Even if you don't like bugs, this makes the trip to the museum worth it!

While much of the French Quarter isn't very kid friendly, I found that the Audubon Aquarium and Insectarium were perfect attractions for children and their parents. All of the kids I saw while I was there looked like they were having a fantastic time and making memories that they will always remember.

http://auduboninstitute.org/index.html