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• Where Was I? Oh Yes, Cincinnati...

  Monday, Jun 22, 2009 12:55PM / Standard Entry

  Our adventure continued at the Cincinnati Zoo!
  

  (I'm not loading all the pics--there's 108 of them in case you're wondering. I selected a few of the best ones for your viewing pleasure... )

  
  

  But first...

  A special thanx to my parents for our Zoological Society membership which got us into yet another attraction on our vacation 1/2 price (yay for 1/2 price! ) and to the nice people who came up with the idea of putting a coffee pots in all the hotel rooms. This pleased me very much.  Although, in in constant quest to squelch all enjoyment of any manner, notice Miss Garmin preparing to make her move to destroy the coffee. 

  
  

  
  

  This zoo has a large duck pond. Along one side of the duck pond runs the railroad track. Where there's a duck pond, there's always lots of ducks--zoo ducks and otherwise (aka freeloader ducks). Here is the guy who's job it is to clear the train track of ducks every morning 

  
  

  
  

  Speaking of freeloaders, I spotted this rabbit in one of the flower beds, eating the ornamental grasses and plants. Um, excuse me nice people at the Cincinnati Zoo, would you like to borrow a pair of beagles? 

  

  Our first stop was the elephant house with it's cool door handles...that wasn't open 

  

  But, the actual elephants where outside so not a total loss. This one was in an enclosure by himself. He was standing at this door, rocking as if he was gonna retch. On the video of this, you can hear Rhett say, "you're an elephant, push the door down!"  We came to the conclusion the elephant was simply anxious cuz it was almost morning feeding time. 

  
  

  I guess it's a good thing elephants don't "happy dance" at feeding time like beagles do.
  

  
  

  Yes, they really do this... Trinity dances, Dash dances and bays.

  
  

  On one corner of the duck pond, there were two sets of Howler Monkeys. Black ones...

  

  And a pair of white ones. The zoo piped in some sort of low "whooping" noise that really whipped up the monkeys. One set would whoop and then the other. Then girl-child started making her best Howler Monkey call and got them even more wound up. They'd run along the top rail or swing along under it, whooping the whole time.

  
  

  
  

  This was a very happy rhino. He was really enjoying his bath...erm...bubble bath (look close) 

  
  

  
  

  We didn't eat here. I just thought the sign was tite (borrowing a DY word). It's 3-D!

  

  The rare Sumatran Rhino...hard to tell when he'd rolling in a mud wallow. Oh well...

  

  This is Van Gogh the Screech Owl. I'll let you guess how he got his name...

  

  Awwwww... Had to take a pic of the wallaby joey. They're happiest in a pouch!

  

  I swear, we are soooooooo thick sometimes. We kept walking past this building project near the front of the zoo. Each of us wondered, outloud, what they were gonna put in there. It was big and the construction crew was really going to town (look Critter! Tyvek!!) All our speculating, and the answer was right there in front of us. Duuuuuuuh....

  
  

  
  

  If you've seen the movie Madagascar, you know why I have to break into song now...

  
  

   i like to move it, move it (3x). ya like to move it 
  

  
  

  A guy just tossed these gators a rat. That's why they're smiling...

  

  I think this guy was hoping for the next rat. He looked pretty happy too. "I'm just a rock. Don't mind me..."

  

  I've never seen such a grumpy gorilla. He stomped around, hid in his mancave and eventually went to a door and banged on it. Oh. I see. It was close to feeding time and he was hungry. I suppose when you're a several hundred pound silverback gorilla, you can do stuff like that.

  

  Some people sleep with stuffed bear. Apparently bear sleep with logs.

  

  And parrots sleep sitting up

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  Dunno about penguins, but they sure were cute. I didn't see a sign that said what kind there were, but they stood less than a foot tall. 

  

  This thing is called an Okompi (not to be confused with an Okompa you Trekkies out there...). They look kinda like a horse, have the legs of a zebra and their nearest relative is the giraffe. If you saw it's tongue (very long and purple) you'd see the giraffe genes.

  

  I always see peacocks roaming around at zoos and the occasional peahen, but I've never see a pea chick(?). This gal had a brood of three. We saw another one earlier with four. 

  

  
  

  I'd never seen a sloth so active. He came down, smiling at everyone the whole way.

  

  The Insect House is one of the must sees at Cincinnati Zoo. That's a Goliath Beetle on the sign for anyone who cares 

  

  I won't show too many of the pics (I know some of you are squeamish). This case was full of dead leaves... Or not. All those dead leaves you see are a type of walking stick. Nifty camo, aye? 

  

  There was also a whole open room of butterflies.

  
  

   I couldn't get many butterfly pics cuz they put most of the feeder up where people couldn't get near them or even see them. I dunno about you, but that's my biggest pet peeve about zoos--I paid to see these animals! Why have they created an environment so the animal can hide? The other is foliage related. I hate when they a) don't trim the trees/bushes around the "look in spot" so you can't see the animal or take a decent picture, and/or b) plant flowering things around the "look in spot" so, depending on the time of year, you might have to risk getting stung by something if you want to see the animal.
  

  Anyhoo...

  The insect house was quite large. They had a nice variety from all over the world. No dragonflies though  There was, however, an enormous case dedicated to Leaf-Cutter Ants. There was plastic tubing running along a wall and into another room where the ants walked to get their leaf pieces. There was a room with a variety of different aquatic insects. And there was this too:

  

  Yes, that is my hand and what I'm holding, under the watchful eye of it's keeper, is a King Scorpion. We learned, the larger the scorpion, the less dangerous the venom. These guy's venom is virtually harmless to people. Apparently, it's the little ones you gotta worry about 

  
  

  Had to get a picture of this guy. He was bound and determined to have a piece of that rope for nesting material. He held on tight and fluttered and pulled with all his birdy might. There were people everywhere and he was not going to be discouraged. Dude! Do you see the rope tied in a knot to that post? That sting ain't coming loose!

  

  
  

  I think I upset the pig when I broke into song... (from Lion King)

  If you want a hunk of fat and juicy meat!
  Eat my buddy Pumba here 'cause he is a treat!
  Come on down and dine on a tasty swine!
  All you gotta do is get in line!
  Are ya achin'?

  (yup, yup, yup)
  For some Bakin'?

  (yup, yup, yup)
  He's a big pig!
  You can be a big pig too....
  

  OY!

  
  

  
  

  At first we thought this was some sort of giraffe mating dance or something. Turned out they were both male and both just itchy--no broke back giraffe here!

  

  I can't itch you...you need to itch me!

  

  OOooooooooo...yeah, right there... 

  

  And then the girl giraffe came over and the itchy boys gave up their pursuit in favor of another... Hey beautiful, howz it goin? You're not itchy by any chance are you?

  

  
  

  These are a pair of rare White Lions. No, not albino, it's a rarely occurring color of an actual species. They don't exist in the wild anymore. These two live at the Cincinnati Zoo courtesy of Sigfried and Roy (yes, the freaky Vegas dudes) who actually own then. This pair's coats are kinda dingy. They should look more like this CLICK HERE

  

  Poor Mr, Lion. He was trying to be affectionate...

  

  Apparently Mrs. Lion wasn't in the mood.

  

  That's not funny. Don't laugh at me!!

  

  I said, don't laugh!

  
  

  
  

  And what zoo visit would be complete without a visit to the petting farm?

  
  

  Insert "horny goat" comments here...

  

  These guys made me laugh. They look so coy. Ha! Who me? Well, yes, I like feed from the feed machine. Why do you ask? Sure, I'd be willing to gobble it out of your hand. Come on over!

  

  Yes do remember to feed all the goats. But especially me!

  

  This one was smiling  As the kids were feeding goats, I was beeping goat noses. It was kind of a challenge thing. Goats are fun to mess with. These goats were so much mellower than that goats, and other animals, from the day before...

  

  If I close my eyes, they're not even here...

  

  
  

  The last thing we saw at the zoo was a polar bear. He was swimming laps around his pool. That's the side of boy-child's head. He's a red head too 

  

  Flip and swim backward...

  

  There at the bottom are girl-child and boy-child's heads. This woulda been a really nifty Christmas card picture only they both were looking blankly at me, girl-child I dare say, was borderline scowling. *sigh* Guyz! Do you know there's a polar bear swimming over your head? Try to look excited!

  
  

  
  

  Next stop, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky...
  
  

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• deer "crossing"

  Saturday, Jun 20, 2009 11:48AM / Standard Entry

  I still haven't had time to sort through all the Cincinnati Zoo pictures, but that doesn't mean the adventure can't continue... 

  
  

  
  

  Somewhere in Kentucky, we drove through a section of the Smoky Mountains.

  
  

  KENTUCKY FACTOID: The state exists in two time zones with the eastern counties on EST and the western counties on CST. Geez people! PICK ONE!

  
  

  Anyhoo, driving through part of the Smokies when we start seeing deer crossing signs. Like this:

  
  

  
  

  
  

  OK. We have these in Michigan too and know to believe them. If you live in MIchigan, it's likely either you or someone in your family has at some point in his/her life hit a deer. In my family it's my sister. Anyhoo, then we spotted one like this:

  
  

  
  

  And then we started noticing these high fences along side the highway. Oh dear God! Kentucky has cliff diving deer! 

  
  

  That could be the only explanation--the sign, the big fences to keep the diving deer carcasses from landing in front of some unsuspecting motorist, the big red balls on the power lines to keep the deer from striking them... Oh the horror! The humanity! Why do people live in that dangerous state? Maybe that's the real reason everyone has never been more than 10 miles from home and hangs out at Wal-Mart--no deer flying at them from the nearest cliff  

  
  

  Makes perfect sense.

  
  

  So I watched to the west  and Rhett to the east  and we were fortunate not to see any of those Kentucky cliff diving deer. *whew!* 
  
  

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• I remember the night the lights went out at Wal-Mart

  Friday, Jun 19, 2009 1:45AM / Standard Entry

  So I'm skipping ahead a bit in my family vacation adventures, and I know you're all dying to see our pics of the Cincinnati Zoo, but fear not, I'll get back to it...
  

  
  

  Day 3 of Operation Family Vacation was spent in Kentucky. After leaving the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio, we pointed south, dutifully following Miss Garmin's directions (out of fear) and made our way to Cave City. We checked in to a modest hotel, had dinner, then returned to our temporary home to regroup. We realized we could use a few more supplies and asked Miss Garmin what was available nearby. She "told" us there was a Wal-Mart just up the road. Convenient! 

  
  

  We set out on our Wal-Mart adventure and were not disappointed--key word here is "adventure." We were in Kentucky and at Wal-Mart. Yeah. Insert every Wal-Mart cliche you've ever heard, or uttered, here. I watched most of them happen in real life  The place was hoppin'. Saw all these young girls, roaming in packs, dressed to the nines and strangely not pushing a cart or carrying any items. Kentucky's version of mall-rats me thinks. It was a little scary...and so were some of the people. Fortunately, we had that "Yankee vibe" about us so no one approached. Saw a woman come in dressed head to toe on red and pink pajamas. I seemed to be the only one who noticed.

  
  

  We found everything we needed (cuz Wal-Mart is cool that way) and headed for the check out. I was pleasantly surprised to find a nice self-checkout and went to work scanning stuff. Just as I put my cash in to pay, the power went out in the store. DARK(ish). A few back-up lights came on and, for some reason, the cash registers still worked, but the self-checkout was dead. It took my money!!!

  
  

  I watched a lot of people start heading for the door. I guess socializing was over  A Wal-Mart associate headed them all off to make sure no one was scamming anything. Who cares!? It took my money!!! I saw an associate with a flashlight. Surely they only issue flashlights to the people in authority. I sent Rhett after her. Bingo! She even had magical "gut the self-checkout" keys. Yay for flashlight lady! It was a wee bit disconcerting, though, when flashlight lady uttered, "I have no idea why the power is out..." Get me out of here.... With our items and cash in had, we headed toward the nearest people powered checkout lane. 

  
  

  The parking lot was another story. It was really dark. None of the big lights in the lot were working. Remember we were driving a borrowed car so finding it was a real treat. Where did we park, again? Then we remembered we had those auto lock key fobs for the car and the "set off the alarm" button. Bingo! In the car we though we were finally safe. Ha! Shows what we know. Apparently, there's some sort of law in Kentucky (first bait shops in Ohio and now this?) that requires people to toss their brain in the back of their peek-up truck and drive like blinkin' fools when it's dark. Or maybe that's all the time? There was more tire squealing than at a country fair demolition derby. Didn't hear any crunches though so I guess that's good. 

  
  

  Finally escaped Wal-Mart and made our way back along Happy Valley Rd. (the one Miss Garmin chocked on) to the safety of our hotel...where I spent another night with almost no sleep becuz the @&^%$&%^@%$$#@ other "guests" at the hotel don't care if their kids are running up and down the halls screaming all night. No, literally screaming. Some part of me was hoping they were being "silenced" by some nefarious character, but no luck. 

  
  

  In the morning, we went to enjoy our complimentary continental breakfast and found the breakfast room packed with "those guests" and their 12 (each) screamer children. Don't you people ever sleep?! You're probably the reason the lights went out at Wal-Mart too! We had to wait a while to get to the counter to make our breakfasts. Rhett wisely jumped on a table (no not literally...) as soon as the horde vacated it. I was very thankful for the coffee pot in our room at that moment. All "those people" should have been too... otherwise I mighta opened up a can of "I didn't sleep becuz of your @^*@%%#@ kids" whoop-a** on someone. 

  
  

  Breakfast took way too long becuz of "them." Rhett was not pleased. He's Dutch. The Dutch are notoriously cheap and time obsessed...and proud of it. I hear, "Come on! We're burning daylight" at least once a week, if not more often. A small, vindictive part of me has perfected the art of heel dragging without looking like that's what I'm doing. I find it very annoying getting to places before they open and having to sit around an wait. He's learned I'm an immovable force (thank you my more stubborn than a Dutchman, inner Scotsman!) when I don't want to hurry...and pestering me about it only makes me move slooooooooooower. 

  
  

  Breakfast in, travel mug (now elk juice free) filled and car packed, we were on our way to Mammoth Cave...
  
  

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• Back Up, Start at the Beginning...with Pictures!

  Thursday, Jun 18, 2009 2:56AM / Standard Entry

  Get a beverage and a snack, this is a looooooooong one...

  
  

  OK, so we've already established my family and i took a mini-vacation less than a week after I returned from Los Angeles. And I think it's already been mentioned that we left last week, Wednesday night, right after boy-child's baseball awards picnic (Note to self: Take pics of boy-child's trophies to show off ). 
  

  
  

  With a large collection of Google Maps, a road atlas and a Garmin on the window, we drove till we got to Toledo, Ohio where we decided to call it a night and look for a hotel. It was around this time we realize Miss Garmin (as she prefers to be called) is evil and wanted us to fail. 

  
  

  Evil InCARnate aka the Trip Tramp

  
  

  
  

  Besides giving you maps from place to place, with the click of a button, Miss Garmin will tell you all the the hotels, restaurants, attractions, gas stations, etc. that are in your path and how far it is to them. You select one from the list she provides and she gives you the address. If you decide that's the one you want, she gives you a big green "GO!" button. Tthen she recalculates the map and tells you how to get there. Cool! And this is where we learned about the evil. We jumped through all her hoops, clicked all the right stuff...and she decided to tell us where the exit for the hotel was just as we were driving past it! Gah! 

  
  

  Miss Garmin also gets really annoyed (you can hear it in her voice) when you don't listen to her. We heard a lot of annoyed "recalculating, recalculating,..." and "make a U-turn" when we didn't go the way she'd mapped out. I half expected there to be a, " now dammit!" on the end of her insistences that we make those U-turns. She was always most unhappy when we stopped for gas. I kept expecting little arms and legs to spout out of her and poison darts to be shot at us.  Further along on our trip, we found ourselves on "Happy Valley Rd." You should have heard her! She sounded like she was choking in on the word "happy." But enough about Miss Garmin...

  
  

  In Toledo, stayed at a nice Comfort Inn. It was around 11 PM by time we finally got checked in. It wasn't till the next day, at the next hotel, that I learned the woman at Comfort Inn never gave me back my driver's license. Three phone calls later, I was assured it was being mailed to me. As of this writing, I still haven't seen it...

  
  

  The next morning we headed toward:

  
  

  

  

  
  

  On our way, we passed the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant.

  
  

  
  

  If you saw "Wolverine," yeah, just like that one minus the mutants.

  
  

  And took the all important picture of the local bait shop. It's a law in Ohio. You're required to take at least one picture of a bait shop. No idea why. You just have to. Here's ours:

  
  

  

  
  

  My parents re-up our Zoological Society membership every year for Christmas so we got into the park 1/2 price. Yay! 

  
  

  Nice gift shop. Yes, that's where we started. Can anyone explain to me what "T-shirts Film" is? Sounds X-rated...

  
  

  
  

  
  

  "The WIlds," as the locals call it, has a drive thru part, and a walk thru part. We did the walk thru after the gift shop. You kinda had to in order to get to the restrooms and, well, my morning coffee had made it's way through so...

  
  

  Maybe this was a little excessive on their part...

  

  
  

  Never saw a soap dispenser like this so it became picture worthy...

  

  
  

  This thing was wild. Literally. It practically blew the skin clean off your hands! Thanx girl-child for demonstrating.

  
  

  
  

  This is the sign at the head of the walk thru trail... Whoa! I know some people who fit those descriptions! Especially the one about scratching.

  

  This is what I found a little scary. Notice the cage is empty and the door is open 
  

  

  Alpaca depression apparently...

  

  Or maybe it was some sort of teen alpaca angst becuz he didn't have the same hair has this guy?

  

  We're pretty sure this fox was depressed becuz he was the only carnivore at the place. "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeese! I need meeeeeeeeeeeeat!"

  

  HA! Gotcha! This Gibbons kept looking away every time I went to take his pic. Patience...

  

  And a very handsome camel he was 

  

  
  

  They didn't allow you to bring your own food for the animals into the park becuz they don't want people feeding the animals anything bad for them.  The food sold there was reasonably priced, though, and the first big cup of animal chow was free. 

  
  

  
  

  There's a reason why this sign was so big and so detailed...

  
  

  
  

  Meet the welcoming party...

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  "Hey look guy! Newbies!"

  "

  
  

  Is it just me or do those two elk look like they're planning something?

  
  

  

  
  

  Hi! I'm your greeter elk! Role down your window and allow me to demonstrate how things work here!"

  

  Holy....!

  

  Yes, that's me, being attacked by a cow elk. She was biting the cup, trying to wrestle it away from me. I was holding on as tight as I could. I eventually had her whole head in the car. She got elk juice all over me and everything else. 

  
  

  Including on my coffee cup! Nooooooooooooo!

  
  

  
  

  After the elk, llama and deer attack, I was kind glad to see the buffalo where way over there. What do you mean we're going over there?

  

  
  

  Oh. They're not so big. What do you mean "little one?"

  
  

  
  

  Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang... They're even bigger up close!

  

  
  

  "'Scuse me sir. I need to inspect your carrots."

  

  
  

  "Uh... hi..."

  
  

  "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze?"

  
  

  
  

  Understanding now why the sign was so explicit and all that stuff about fingers looking like carrots. No, no one lost a finger or got bit. 

  

  
  

  This is all the buffalo juice left behind on the car. Eww...

  

  
  

  For this trip, we borrowed my parent's HHR cuz it gets a lot better gas milage than either of ours and is a lot newer. It also has some really nice features. One feature we had loads of fun with was the power windows. On the dashboard, below the radio are four buttons for the four power windows and a fifth button to "lock out" the back seat occupants so they didn't have any control over their window destiny. Yeah, we were bad.   We locked the kids out and waited for something large to approach their window. Next thing they knew, the window was coming down and a llama or elk or something was demanding treats from them. Hahahaha! Yes of course I know that's mean. I'm not raising no sissies!  Actually, most of the time we never allowed the animal to actually get in. It was just kinda fun to watch boy-child freak out. 

  
  

  Girl-child had her own approach. She dropped pieces of carrot along the outside of her window glass. We made  fun of the deer that ate it--called 'em "window-lickers" 

  
  

  
  

  This is a Bongo. Looks angry doesn't he? He was behind a fence away from the other animals. Apparently being taught a lesson about playing well with others.

  

  
  

  Not sure what this guy's story is. Looks a little freaked out to me.

  "Hey! Did you hear that? What was that? I'm know I heard something!"

  
  

  
  

  And just when I thought the buffalo were big, we entered the area where the Watusi (African Cattle) roamed. They set up a road block!

  

  Then they came over to the car to discuss terms.

  

  Roll down the window, roll down the window, roll down the window... *bonk*  *bonk*  *bonk* 

  
  

  I was really glad they couldn't get their heads in the window. Notice how Rhett is holding on to the feed cup with both hands?

  

  
  

  This guy never moved other than to turn his head a couple times. He's a Scottish Highlander. Apparently he's too cool (or lazy) to get up and beg from the cars. If you saw the movie, "Rob Roy," these were the kind of cattle in that movie. Boy-child said they reminded him of the Bantha things the Sand People road in Star Wars.

  
  

  
  

  I've always like giraffes

  

  but watching this guy made me glad I wasn't one. Awful lot of trouble just to pick up a piece of carrot!

  
  

  
  

  This is Mah the white deer. We know this is her name becuz the little one kept calling to her and using that name. The wee one was quite skittish around the car and Mah couldn't convince him(?) to come any closer. Kinda makes sense. Little one was probably hungry too, but had no interest in what was coming from the cars--he was only a few days old 

  
  

  

  
  

  "Hey guys! Over here!"

  

  
  

  "Helloooooooooo? Is any feeder person in there?" 
  

  

  
  

  Hey look! A unicorn!!

  

  *peek!*

  
  

  
  

  Every good animal story always ends with Zebra. This one happens to be a rare white one.

  
  

  
  
  
  

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• VERY Cool...

  Saturday, Oct 4, 2008 3:38AM / Standard Entry

  Stumbled across this today and had to share it:
  
  

  
  
  Too see it bigger... http://ursispaltenstein.ch/blog/images/uploads_img/famous_people.jpg
  
  

  Hopefully, it will open up into it's larger size and you can look at it up close.  Hundreds of famous people--artists, world leaders from every era, actors, athletes, great thinkers, philosophers (not to be confused with "stand up philosophers) and on and on...
  
  Does anyone know who the guy is at the red table who's flung back in his chair?
  
  
  

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