Would you say the aquarium is worth a 2 1/2 hour drive for a family keen on aquariums?
I know we really enjoy it—I’m not sure how to judge it, though, since I don’t know much about aquariums in general. The neatest thing on the aquarium side of things, I think, are the glass tunnels, where you can get up close to the sand tiger sharks:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09156/975189-53.stm
I’m a day lay to this post so I don’t know if anyone’s answered your question, but the aquarium is part of the Pittsburgh Zoo, rather than a separate destination ... so it’s not that big. It’s rather nice, and it has penguins ... but it’s not the Tennessee Aquarium, the best I’ve seen yet. Not even close.