Monday, April 06, 2009

...The Divergence (Part Deaux)


This morning we woke knowing that the weather was probably going to be really lame, rainy, and generally yuck in Jacksonville. But as we were at the hospital a little longer than expected, we were watching the weather on our phones and noticed that it might be clearing....I got an idea! What if we took Emerson to the JAX Zoo? Now guys, we can pretend...but really, how often are you truly thinking ahead of your wife? I looked at Tammy and said, "why don't we take Emerson to the Z-O-O? (Yes, we are now spelling some things that are key words to her). Tammy, calmly says, "I thought about that earlier...now I'm sure she did, but man I thought I might have just come up with the idea of the day!!!" Anyway, no hard feelings here.
So after I finally got tired of waiting on the Pharmacy, we left the hospital and headed out for our adventure!

A quick aside: We wanted to eat a cheaper lunch than eating in the zoo, so we went to Taco bell on the way. While ordering, I heard a lady actually say I don't want none of 'dem JALAPENOS! And yes, she said "JAL-A-PEEN-OS!" I had to restrain the laughter and remember that I'm not in New Mexico anymore.

The Z-O-O:
We got to see Lions, Leopards, and Bears....and Giraffes (I know what you thought was coming...and no there weren't any Tigers...Oh My!) I'll just cut straight to the good stuff. Emerson loved every part of it, the Aviary, the Leopards, the Snakes, the Bathrooms...etc, etc...but the best above all was the Silverback Gorilla! We got a great opportunity to sit and watch one of the great Silverbacks from 18 inches away (with thick glass between us). Emerson got a front row seat to just sit and say "hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. After nearly 10 minutes of sitting right there watching, Tammy and I decided it was time to move on. As we got to another vantage point I noticed that he was moving back even closer to the glass, so I ran with Emerson down a ramp, and tried to work her in as close as I could get. The picture you see above is the picture that I got with my phone. If you look close you can see Emerson's reflection in the glass with the gorilla sitting right there facing us. It was awesome!!! All day after that, on the way home, and talking to Mimi and Papaw tonight, the first thing she said was I saw a "Big Monkey!" I hope that's one of those moments that she remembers for a long time!

Let me be honest...despite my last post with all it's sappiness, I'm just not much of a Zoo guy. It actually bothers me a little seeing animals like the Black Bear that roams a territory of 25-100 miles, he is now the Master over 20 x 40 yds. That actually makes me sad for the Bear. In situations where it's a rescue or a recovery system that's one thing, but "captured" animals there to be watched for our pleasure...surely that's not what they were designed for.

Alright, maybe now I can get back to the "list" of things next time!

Have a great night!
Big Monkey...Out!

2 comments:

Jay 12:46 PM  

Sarah Jane loves Monkeys too (even the little ones at Chehaw) --- we can watch them for a ridiculous amount of time. Those little guys are friendly.

We took Sarah Jane to the Montgomery Zoo a few weekends ago with some friends from home. While we were in the reptile habitat, there was a snake that struck at us twice. TWICE. I have never been so thankfun for glass, ever.

:) I am happy that you are blogging, keep it up. (this from the girl that hasn't updated in a week... haha)

Matt Matthews 4:40 PM  

It's been therapeutic and I've actually enjoyed the time I've ahd to reflect and think about things.