Guest Author: Oma The week has flown by, and suddenly we are winding things up on the last day.  Since the forecast was for the 90’s in the afternoon we decided to go back to the zoo in the morning and see the Living Desert side of the facility.  

Steven wound himself up for the day by running before the rest of us had awoken and had breakfast.  He claims that it “gives him energy and pumps him up for the rest of the day.”  Eyeroll.  Not all human beings have the same metabolism or reticular activating systems.  That said, he arrived back from his run sweaty and extremely cheerful.  Having lived with a few grumpy people in my life, I have to admit that this is a desirable, and enviable, trait.

We arrived at the zoo early and were able to catch the end of the giraffe chat.  Two giraffes were showing off for the chatting keeper by bobbing and weaving around.  The spectacular awe of giraffes never gets old and it was an inspiring way to begin the zoo excursion.

I decided that I wanted to see the San Andreas Fault exhibit which was a bit of a hike away so with the blessing of the slow-moving trio I spun off and headed for that.  Well.  Not until I arrived at said exhibit was it mentioned that the San Andreas loop was permanently closed due to rock slides and other geologic dyspeptic movements.   Choking down disappointment at not being able to add to my natural disaster anxiety disorder, I headed on to see the eagle loop exhibit.  Not sure if it was naptime or the animals were nocturnal but the badger, bobcat, mountain lion, and caracal were all sleeping.  The peccary exhibit included babies called piglets, although the info board stated that the peccary is not a pig. What??  Then why do they call the babies piglets??

 By this time the slow-moving toddler herd was arriving at my destination and from there we moved en masse through the rest of the Living Desert.  I found out that while I was suffering San Andreas Fault disappointment, the trio had feasted on soft serve ice cream.  Crushed, I continued on, putting on a happy, if hungry face.  Grandmothers must tread lightly in life. 

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Oddly enough, the Living Desert has in its midst a carousel.  A non sequitur.  Nevertheless, we detoured so Vera could ride this relic of circuses past when animals were abused and displayed shamelessly.  Actually a carousel is one of the better memories of circuses because no animals were harmed in its construction and it is a delight to little children.  Lib and Vera rode a camel while Steven snapped countless pictures.  It was a good way to end the zoo excursion.

Except, that while Steven was distracted by navigating through a teaming mass of school children, Vera decided to chuck her hat and it was not noticed until exiting the zoo.  Mother and father took off running on the missing hat quest – I have to say it was rather amusing to watch the frantic seeking which lasted a good ten minutes.  The hat was found, but not before the parents returned breathless and sweating like pigs.  Ahh. Karma, for smugly feasting on soft serve without me.

For lunch we stopped at a little diner that served grass fed hamburgers and delicious homemade rolls and fries.  By this time the heat had begun to roll in, so we returned to the AirBnB and took naps.  Well, three of us did.  Steven, with his extraordinary joie de vivre swam, read, and reveled in his electronic world.  He also, I might add, packed up an incredible amount of unpacked luggage in anticipation of an early departure and chaotic morning.  Kudos to him. 

It has been a fun week.  I am always awe-struck by the geology and climate of these new places that we visit and thankful to be included in the adventure.

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