Raven's Roads
Living an interesting life: the travels and musings
of motorcycling author Linda R. Moore

Apr 27, 2004

16 April: The Zoo

Filed in BX Convention 2004, Book Crossing

So, as previously noted, the zoo was round the corner. We got duly parked in a space of my spotting, and then we headed in.

Tzurriz was small-kid excited, being a big fan of zoos. She said the only reason she wasn’t running and skipping and stuff was because my foot was knackered. I told her to just go ahead, I would not like to hold anyone up. I’m not sure if she did much running and skipping, but we struck up a pace that sort of worked, I think. We laughed a lot; it was a nice place
to be, lots of kids of all ages having a grand time, lots of fine animals in above-average accommodations for a zoo.

Damn foot. It was hot and thus it began to swell. My right foot was hurting too, and I later discovered that all that stupid limping around caused my right foot to overcompensate and grow a lovely big blister.

Bears were first. I don’t really like bears, something confirmed when one of them turned around and took a dump in our direction. I took pictures for Griz (of the bears, not of the bear dumping) and then we went in search of penguins.

There was a special penguin exhibit on, and first we got to stand outside and watch the little critters bouncing. I think that is why they were one of the two animals I loved first (the other was elephants). They bounce, and they’re cute. I have pictures of a splash where they leapt into the water just as I pressed the button on my camera. ;-)

We stood in a bit of a line for a while, and then went inside. Immediately, icy cold air conditioning blasted us and the temperature dropped forty degrees. Inside it had been done up to resemble an antarctic environment and you could see the penguins swimming about underwater. That really got my attention. Those things zoom! They fly underwater…I got a
huge kick out of watching them and must have been grinning like a loon. Several different species were accommodated, and later on there were puffins too, which I’d actually never seen before. But I was there for the penguins.

It was over too soon, and of course you were spat out into a penguin gift shop, so I got a postcard. And then out we went into the eighty-degree sun again.

For me, the rest of the trip was an annoying struggle between foot fatigue (not so much pain any more) and wanting to see critters. We wandered by some prairie dogs which, to me, looked like shell peanuts with legs. They would wiggle into their little prairie dog grooves and peep at you, as if you couldn’t see them. Very funny. We also wandered past those strange
critters called flamingos, which reminded me that the first zoo I ever went to was Flamingo Park. Their knees bend backwards, apparently.

We looked at a zoo map. My brain would not function and I could not relate what was on the map to what was in front of me. Normally I do okay with maps. Jason got a picture of Tzurriz and I scratching our heads. Eventually I gave up and let him take care of it.

Jason wanted to see the apes, and I don’t like apes, so we parted company and I took a break. Actually, first I went around the reptile house, and enjoyed seeing the giant snakes and lizards, albeit rather cursorily. Then I found a place to sit outside where I overheard a lady announce in disgust “nobody in their right mind goes in there”. I smiled to myself.
Rhaeva 2 features flying serpents, and it’s nice to know how large I need to make them for that to be feasible. ;-)

I didn’t have to wait long before the ape-visitors came back, and we moved in the general direction of big cats. On the way we found a monkey house, and now I know what Stephen King meant in his book “The Stand” about the *reek*. Ugh! I like monkeys a bit better than apes, especially the little marmots, but they really aren’t my favourite. This was where Jason got the only shot of me in which I looked *exactly* as tired and sore as I felt. ;-)

Sometimes I get really frustrated with my body parts. My legs were up to a lot more walking; my feet just aren’t. But, you know, going to the gym three times a week for the last few months helped a lot. I doubt I would have been able to hold up even this well without it, so some things work out.

At last we found the big cats, which, like small cats, were mostly just lying about being idle. I saw lions, tigers, mountain lions, and a leopard. They tended to be hiding in the shade, like sensible critters do. And that was pretty much the end of the critter-watching; we went down a long ramp and Tzurriz treated us to drinks, which at that stage were much-wanted, and watched giant bumble bees defy the laws of physics and peahens wander by, expecting to be fed.

We did make a side trip into the gift shop, where I found and failed to buy a “Penguin Crossing” sign. I’m given to whim, and try to not buy on a whim, especially when there seems to be no apparent use for an item. But I was thinking about it after the convention and still regretted it, which means that there is probably a use for it I don’t know on the conscious
level, because that is how things usually work out. A kind book-crosser who lives in St. Louis helped me out and it should be arriving in a week or so. :-)