zoo | Temporary Sanity ...

Today we met Brian,

Annie, and Kelly

at Dillons KC BBQ Wildlife World Zoo where we had a nice lunch next to the flamingos. There were no flamingo choices on the menu. I didn’t see any other zoo animals either. I looked twice.

Brother Jack, joined us at the venue making the group complete.

For those of you unfamiliar with the family associations of all these people I’ll enlighten you. Jack is Brian’s grandfather and my (I think) grandnephew, Annie’s grandfather in-law, and Kelly’s great grandfather. I think that’s it. Anyway, it was interesting to have a meal at the zoo where they can grow their own menu items.

That’s not true, of course. I just added that so Diane will talk to me about it.

After lunch we drove back to Jack’s house in Surprise where we visited with Pat and Carolyn, cousins you met yesterday, in the driveway, in the sun. The sun was nice and warm. The mornings here are really cold – 38 degrees or so. Thankfully, once the sun comes up it warms quickly as long as the wind doesn’t blow much. It is my experience, that the wind doesn’t have to blow very hard to make it cold.

We spent a good amount of time visiting outside before moving into the house where we went to work on the puzzle Jack was working on. Kelly took Max on several long walks around the neighborhood and I know for sure he had a great time. He loves his walks.

I think it took about an hour for the six of us to finish the puzzle. It would have been eight, but Pat and Carolyn went home before we started. We had a good time getting it done. There was only one piece missing.

Jack provided dessert in the form of lemon Oreos. Those are really, really good.

Just before it started to get dark, we excused ourselves and headed back to Luke AFB. We would have stayed longer, but Diane doesn’t like to drive after dark, and I’m not allowed to drive her car unless I’m alone. It’s a rule.

Visiting with the family is always awesome and we treasure the time spent with all of them.

Once back on base, I immediately took Max for another walk because he was pretty insistent about making his rounds. He’s really serious about maintaining a routine.

Now I lay me down to sleep…..

A few days we went to the MWR office on the 32nd Street Naval Base and purchased two tickets for the zoo. Having gone to the zoo many times in the past when we lived here, it was a huge shock to me when the bill wound up costing $120. Amazing. But it included a bus tour of the entire zoo, and a trip on the aerial tram, whether or not you want to do those things.

This is us going over the Bay Bridge on our way to the zoo. The fog has become the morning event lately.

Our memories involved a slow walk around the zoo with the kids, looking at all the displays on the way. It was a lot of fun. A quick look at the zillions of people who were wandering all over the place. Really! Zillions of them! This prompted us to take the bus tour right away and see what was changed. Turns out the hills are steeper and the canyons deeper so walking anywhere in the zoo was not optimal for us old folks.

Amy was our driver and tour guide, full of information about anything you might want to know about the displays. It was very informative and validated our choice to ride vs. walk.

But we wanted to see the panda bears before going home and the bus ride ended where it started – at the top of the hill. We know Max would want to know about the panda bears because he’s seen them on the news, so there was no way we could NOT go back down that hill. That was going to require a lot of walking, mostly downhill. Fortunately, one end of the tram was near the panda exhibit, so we had a way to get back to the entrance without walking all the way back up. Knowing Diane’s knees wouldn’t last for that trip down, I parked her on the edge of a planter and went to get her a wheelchair. Fortunately, I remembered where I left her and was able to get her situated for the ride.

Going down was pretty easy except for a couple spots where it got very steep. There was danger of my feet slipping but I was wearing a grippy pair of sneakers so that didn’t happen. I was concerned that if I slipped, she was pretty much on her own, at the mercy of whoever got in her way. In my defense, I asked her specifically if she could stop it by herself if necessary and she said yes. That gave me a little relief, but it was still a concern. All the way down. We made it just fine, by the way. In all, I walked just under 4 miles today. Diane had a nice ride and was very grateful for my help. I was totally honored to be able to help her without mishap. That’s my job and I take it seriously.

Here’s the best photo I got of one of the pandas. The other options for photos were through a glass barrier that mainly showed the reflection of whoever was taking the photo and all the people around them. But I’ll put them in anyway.

Diane got nuzzled by a leopard.

On the tram.

On the way out.

On the way home we stopped at a small theater in downtown Coronado to pick up tickets for a play we’ll be seeing at a matinée on next Sunday afternoon. Diane saw it advertised and thought it would be fun. I’m sure it will be and I’ll be sure to recap it for you. Or, at least, to let you know how much we enjoyed it. I hope they have popcorn.

This is Max poised on the stairs to pounce as soon as someone opens the screen door.

Now it’s getting late, and Max is asking for another walk before it gets dark. He’s bored and a bit depressed due to lack of activity, so we have to fix that.