Hanging out at the Zoo Part 2

I left off yesterday at the dolphin show, which was just about to begin!

Pretty soon the show started and it was quite exciting! Several trainers came out and there was a flurry of activities with the dolphins!

Soon the dolphins were jumping high out of the water. I had to draw an arrow to show this dolphin just "punching" a red ball hanging from the ceiling. He kind of gets lost in the scenery!

This dolphin came right up on the deck to greet the trainer.

Another air-defying jump!

One of the trainers, named Beth, got into the water and swam and did tricks with each dolphin.

Here she is holding on to one of the dolphin's fins and being pulled all over the pool. Doesn't she look happy? (Actually ALL the trainers had smiles on their faces!)

I was a little jealous. There was a small part of me that wished I was her. But then I had a "Cher-snap-out-of-it" moment when I realized that:

1. I'd have to wear a wetsuit, and
2. I'd have to actually LEARN how to swim.

Oh. Forget about it. *shake my head a little*

Back to the show.

The show lasted about 25-30 minutes. It was the BEST part of the day at the zoo. I was able to rest my weary body. Although it was very warm in there and I was sweating like a fat lady. Wait. I AM a fat lady. There were two Muslim ladies sitting in front of me. Both had on long pants, LONG SLEEVED SWEATERS, then one had on a sleeveless top over the sweater and her long scarf covering all her hair. The other woman had on a long sleeved top covering the sweater and a long scarf covering all her hair.

I was hot just looking at them.

And I don't mean like in the "switching sides" kind of way.

I did not see one bead of sweat on them.

They DID use the zoo maps as fans.

But still.

I was wearing capri jeans and a short sleeve top, socks and gym shoes and I was on fire.

Of course, these women were half the woman I was. Maybe that helped. I don't know. But when they were fanning themselves I thought it would be too presumptuous of me to stick my head between them so I could feel some of the air, wouldn't you agree?

Well, it didn't matter because the problem was solved soon enough. The show was coming to an end when all of a sudden a dolphin came to a stop right in front of our section, lifted his tail, and smack! We were deluged with salt water! I was totally unprepared for that! In fact, my mouth was open so I got a big gulp of it! My eyes burned, not only from the salt water, but also from my mascara running (yeah, picture Tammy Faye Baker), my camera was wet, and I reeked of fish.

It's true that we were warned that it was possible that the first 6 rows could get wet - they were known as the "splash zone seats", but since the show was just about over I thought we were safe.

Guess again.

My camera was okay, thankfully.

We continued on to below deck to see the dolphins underwater.

The seals were enjoyable to watch and they came right up to the window.

We went to the petting zoo, which turned out to be another disappointment. I remember there being more animals for the kids to pet. On our visit there were only baby goats available.

Lily lives with two rambunctious dogs and three cats, so she is NOT afraid of animals. Here she is brushing a big goat.

We saw some cows, baby chicks, reindeer and birds of prey, but nothing else that kids could pet. It WAS called the petting zoo, though. It was weird, like an off day. It wasn't too crowded, even though it was June. The Chicago Public Schools weren't out yet, so maybe that's why it wasn't too crowded. But still.

It was cute to see this worker try to shepherd this gaggle of geese to where they were supposed to go.

We hopped on the tram and rode it completely around the zoo. It felt good when we stopped in the shade. And looking at these two fountains in the pond cooled me off a little, too.

Lily is so used to me carrying my camera around and taking pictures of her that now when she does something she'll say, "Grandma, picture?" In this instance, she is pretending to be asleep!

I say a few words to her and I get this! (Hard for her to keep her eyes shut!)

We passed this beautiful display of flowers shaped like a butterfly.

Before long, Lily is really sleeping and DaDa carries her to the car.

A fun time was had by all.

Lily's little nap lasted till we put her in her car seat. Then she talked all the way to our house....about an hour and a half drive! At one point Papa said, "Lily, let's sleep!" And he closed his eyes and pretended to snore.

Lily looked at me and said, "Gamma, sleep!" Then she leaned her head to the side and made snoring noises!

I laughed so hard that I almost wet myself.

She laughed and said, "Gamma, picture?"

Westward Ho! (And that's not Jim talking to ME)

The temperatures have been dipping pretty low at night - in the low 40's last night. And that can only mean one thing....it's time to pull up stakes. Tomorrow, October 1st, we start heading West.

Although we only plan on driving around 300 miles a day, it's somewhat of a grueling trip because:

a) the truck isn't THAT comfortable (the back of my seat doesn't recline at all);

b) only going 55 mph makes for about a 6 hour drive at least, not counting potty breaks or eating;

c) if we unhook the truck, it's a lot of setting up and taking down day after day. We like it better when we stay at any one place for two or more days. You can imagine how spoiled we are when we stay for 3-5 MONTHS in one location!

Here's our tentative plans:

Thursday night - Montgomery, Missouri
Friday night - Lyndon, Kansas
Saturday night - Liberal, Kansas
Sunday night - Santa Rosa, New Mexico
Monday night - Albuquerque, New Mexico

Our main purpose of going to Albuquerque is the hot air balloon fiesta, which runs from October 3rd through October 11th. We will arrive on October 5th and depart on the 11th. We have been to the town of Albuquerque a few times, but never for the festival. I am excited to see all the balloons (up to 600 are launching this year), and hope to get some fantastic pictures. I also hope to meet up with fellow blogger Stephen Baird at Nikon Sniper who just happens to be going to the balloon fiesta on some of the same days as me. What a co-ink-y-dink! I'm hoping he'll give me some great photo tips since he is a fantastic photographer.

Here are photos from the 2008 launch. These were taken from the Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Fiesta website.


Photo courtesy of Ray Watt

Photo courtesy of Cindy Petrehn


Tonight we are going to my daughter's house, for one last fill of our granddaughter, Lily. What a sweetie pie. I know I will cry when I leave her. I will miss her terribly. She has such a great smile and she laughs at anything. She is so easy to please.






I still have a few things to blog about that we saw/did while in central IL that I'll have to throw in somewhere along the way here. I hope to be posting while on the road. Internet can be sporadic - I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Take care and stay tuned for Jim and Pat's Great Adventure!