The Shot: Liberty

I've always had a fascination with aquariums.  For me, they are some of the greatest examples of making tourism educational. When I find myself in a coastal city, this is the second thing I look for (the first being public beach access, of course).  

Over the past few years, I've spent a fair amount of time in the Upstate of South Carolina, visiting friends and family.  However, 2008 provided a chance to travel to the opposite end of I-26 for two days in Charleston.  At the end of my too-brief trip, I spent a morning at the South Carolina Aquarium.  Situated on Charleston Harbor between the Port of Charleston and the departure point for tours of Fort Sumter, the Aquarium is home to over 6,000 plants and animals.  The exhibits are arranged to take you on a journey from the Upstate's mountain steams down to the rivers of the piedmont and finally into the coastal plain's eddies.  


The atrium of the Aquarium grants access to the exhibit halls and to the classroom facilities.  When I was there, the atrium was also home to a rescued bald eagle.  No longer able to fly, she had been rehabilitated and would now be part of the Aquarium's educational programs.  Each winter, bald eagles descend upon the Quad Cities, nesting along the Mississippi River and its locks and dams.  Because of this, I'd seen these eagles before, but never one that was merely feet away from me.

Standing there, I thought of Ben Franklin and his fabled advocacy for the wild turkey as a symbol for America.  The bald eagle is a formidable raptor.  Her talons and beak were still every bit the predator's tools that they were when she lived and hunted in the wild.  Her enclosure included a small waterfall and pool in which she splashed and played, as if she knew that she was somewhere that she would be taken care of and could finally relax in her surroundings.  This combination of the forceful and the beautiful seemed a living embodiment of the contradiction that is our country.  Founders, thank you.


The Aquarium sponsored a contest to name her; the winning entry was Liberty: