No, Really, I Am an American

WARNING — for those of you daunted by my longer posts, this one would absolutely be categorized as such. Just sayin’

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A very GrAl Saturday Part 1

A few weeks ago, Al (and Grant, but I suspect it was more Al’s doing with the formal part of it) sent out Evites to spend the day at the Brookfield Zoo and thereafter go back to their apartment for their official housewarming. I eagerly replied “maybe” but everyone and their brother knew I was going to go. Like I’d pass up hanging out with animals, I mean Grant and Al.

I thought we were going to the zoo at 11:30; for whatever reason, that time stuck out in my head. So I was wicked surprised when Mark sent me a text the night before telling me that he would pick me up around 7:45, as in 7:45 AM. It was then, while I was hanging out at the Settlement eating Lou Malnati’s pizza and watching the Opening Ceremony for the Olympics, that I learned we were actually meeting at Grant and Al’s at 9 AM. I guess I should actually start reading invitations…

So yeah. We were gonna be meeting much earlier than I realized. Apparently, I would have no trouble waking up in the morning ‘cuz I heard my parents get up for breakfast at 5:30 and I wanted Saturday Breakfast (sausage, eggs, and English Muffin as opposed to Sunday Breakfast which is pancakes). I mentioned to them the night before that I would want it, but my sleep-fogged brain forgot about that part or something ‘cuz I woke up anyway.

And then I was like awake, as in couldn’t even go back to sleep awake. You know how sometimes you can do that, wake up but go back to sleep anyway? Yeah, not so much with that. It was all five-by-five though ‘cuz I totally got breakfast.

I spent the next two hours or so apartment hunting. Not like two hours straight, but there was definitely time spent rifling through adverts on gumtree and looking at pictures of possible flats. I think my favorite was the one that had just one picture of the toilet. Not the whole bathroom, just the toilet. I told everyone about it when I saw them later ‘cuz I was just so amused by it.

Chris and Mark came and got me, and then we promptly stopped at Dominick’s for a vegetable tray that Grant and Al needed as well as much needed caffeine from the Starbuck’s. We picked up Rich on our way to the apartment and despite a slightly late start and a stop, we still made it to Oak Park in good time.

I was really excited to see my dolphin (see post “That’s my dolphin!”) and the zoo since I couldn’t remember the last time I’d actually been there. There had been a lot of people invited to the zoo and housewarming, but only about eighteen of us could actually make that part of the trip. Amongst the guests I hadn’t seen in forever long was Lindsay “Evans” and Dan Hert, who are married now so I guess they’re just the Herts. When I heard them arrive, I bolted downstairs to greet them; and yeah, there was definitely hugging involved.

After a few more arrivals, we split up into four different cars and set off to the zoo, which was only about fifteen minutes away from the apartment. Al apparently forgot to mention that we were supposed to follow her so that she would be able to get us free parking, but it really didn’t seem to matter to folk.

One of the main reasons we were going to the zoo was to see Al narrate the dolphin show. After she’d gotten her job promotion back in April (or possibly May) narrating was one of the new things she would get to do, so naturally, we all wanted to see this happen. The show was at 11:30 — the reason that time stuck out in my mind — so we had a little time to kill before seeing the show.

We went through The Fragile Kingdom first. Inside the building we got to see these ginormous porcupines (African Crested Porcupines) and meerkats being fed. Al knew the keeper who was feeding them so afterward, she came out and answered some questions people had about the animals (I had walked ahead and didn’t catch the Q&A thing, only the tail end of it). There were also Naked Molerats that made me think of Rufus from Kim Possible.

When we exited the building, we saw the Amur Leopard Anya who was pacing quite a bit. I was surprised at how long the tail really was; for whatever reason I always thought the tail was like any other tail. But Anya’s tail seemed almost too long for her body. She paused briefly by the viewing window to paw at it. The children nearby marveled at her while most of us thought if it weren’t for the glass, the leopard would totally eat the children. (Not really, well maybe…)

We saw the tailless tiger leap out from behind the rocks to attack a tree (I’m not really sure who won, the tiger or the tree) and play about her enclosure; and last but not least the sleeping lion Makonnen. Al was kind enough to tell us a bit about the animals when she could so it was like having our own personal tour guide. ‘Twas definitely shiny.

We moved on to the Bear Grotto next since Jason or Paul or one of the other people in their group wanted to see the bears. The brown bear was pretty cool and seemed quite content to just swim in his (her?) little pool. I thought it was fantastic that it could do a backstroke. We also got to see the polar bears; the one of ‘em was kinda chillin’ out on the side of the pool, but the other was playing with toys in the water. Al said that because of their fur they sometimes get algae or something in it and that’s why it has a greenish tint at times.

Joe and Cristina had joined us as we were looking at the bears (they ended up having to meet us at the zoo). They were just in time, too, ‘cuz it was time to head back towards the Seven Seas (we passed it on our way to the Bear Grotto) for the dolphin show.

Al was awesome enough to get us tickets to the show. She introduced us to one of her co-workers…whose name I completely forgot…but this co-worker was apparently the one to help Al learn the dolphin show. (It’s also possible I made that up in my head.) I don’t think there were enough tickets so a few people had to go in a different way, so they went with Al and co-worker.

When we reconvened inside, Al directed us to an area that was essentially center house left (there were like north and south terms…but I couldn’t remember if we were on the north or south end). She told us to stick around after the show so she could take us on a tour of the backstage area where she works. I thought that was fantastic ‘cuz then we could smell the dead yellow jacket smell, I mean, see where she does magic stuff like learn dolphin language (I refer you once again to “so long and thanks for all the fish”). She said that any time it sounded like she was just rambling, that meant she got the sign for “the dolphins don’t feel like doing the behavior they’re supposed to so fill-in time”. I thought that was awesome. She then took her leave of us so that she could change into her uniform.

I was sitting next to Dan and Lindsay so I told them about my dolphin Kaylee and how I thought it would be a good idea to take her home. Lindsay was okay with it, but Dan was like “And just where do you think you’re gonna keep the dolphin?”

Much like when I explained this brilliant plan to VoW, I told him about my plans for the basement.

Yeah, he didn’t buy it.

The place was filling up quite a bit; we decided it was a darn good thing we got there when we did. We saw Al come from the backstage area and run up to the booth so we knew the show was probably gonna start soon. The dolphins had been just swimming around their pool for the most part, not really doing a whole lot. Well, except for these two off near us who decided it would be fun to spit at one of the keeper people and this other one who had a devil of a time getting a hold of one of the water toys.

Finally, Al started up her introduction. There was music, there was clapping, there was, er, were (sorry, I was trying to do a thing) dolphins (Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins to be exact). I cheered when Kaylee was introduced, you know, ‘cuz she’s my dolphin.

The whole show was really cool. The dolphins seemed more or less agreeable and did all of the behaviors, or so it seemed to me. I’d never seen the show before, so I wouldn’t have noticed if anything was amiss anyway. I can’t help but be amused that the dolphins are incredibly intelligent mammals, but they’ll do backflips for fish. (Or is the proper term a breach?) They sure can jump high.

During the show, I couldn’t help but flashback to our Speech Team days. It was kinda like Al was giving an SOS or a Dec, possibly an Oratory, but my memory of Oratory involved being bored whereas the other two events were more entertaining.

Yeah. Al’s definitely cool like that. I daresay it’s starting to border how we all “hate” Stephie Park, which is technically a compliment. So go Al!

I have to admit, I was kinda bummed when the show was over. I was really enjoying watching the dolphins and I didn’t even notice that time had elapsed.

The audience took some time to filter out, but once everyone had gone (or mostly gone) Al was returned to us. The first thing she asked was, “Who noticed what part I screwed up?” Only Brad and I think Rich noticed, everyone else was kinda like “You screwed up?”

I can’t remember exactly what behavior it was that was mis-introduced or whatever, but apparently the signal for it is nearly the same as another; the only difference is whether it’s palm up or palm down.

Now it was time for the backstage tour. I was pretty excited about that. Al split us off into two groups, one would go with co-worker and other co-worker Jess (it was really easy for me to remember her name), and the other would go with Al. Initially, Toni was split off from the people she knew so we more or less kidnapped her into our gang. (Yeah, we have shirts.) We were lucky enough to get Al as our guide.

The first place Al took us through was the dolphins’ kitchen, where they keep all the dolphins’ fish. We had to step onto this weird spongey thing before and after entering the kitchen. I couldn’t help but notice it smelled a lot like a sushi place to start out with.

Al explained about the board and all the numbers next to each dolphin’s name; on the days when they do four shows, the dolphins get a specific amount of fish versus the days when they do three. The eldest, Tapeko, gets about 26 pounds everyday regardless of shows, but the others might vary a bit more like Baby Allison, who is the youngest dolphin. She showed us the refrigerator where they keep all the different fish and buckets and the color codedness of it all.

After we left the kitchen area, we went down into the office area and she showed us where her office used to be before she was in the dead yellow jacket office. We had to hide out there for a spell whilst the trainers and keepers did their magic thing, and then we passed through the other kitchen. I think it was in the kitchen that we started to see the windows. When Al first started working in that building, she said that when she’d go into the kitchen the dolphins would come up to the window to investigate the new person.

I couldn’t tell you anything magic about the kitchen ‘cuz it seemed to me we kinda breezed through there to the keeper section of the place. I’d like to tell you I paid attention here, but I really didn’t ‘cuz the window wasn’t curtained off and I could see dolphins. They came around a few times and it seemed like they were getting closer each time ‘cuz they realized there were new people or something. Therefore, I totally missed what the room was used for; it’s possible that it was the “new behaviors” room where the trainers write down that kind of stuff on the board…but again, I could be making that up.

In the next room, we got to meet some of the trainers. Jett (it seems like he ought to have two t’s) was over by himself on one side of the pool and playing with one of the trainers through the window. I think he wanted the ball but he couldn’t get to it ‘cuz of the glass.

We could see the other side of the viewing area from where we were, as in the public underwater viewing area. Now that the windows were more uncovered, we could really see just how much smaller Baby Allison is in comparison to the rest of the pod.

People were asking the trainers more questions about the dolphins, like if they max out in growth and stuffs like that. I was once again distracted by the fact that there were dolphins swimming by. At one point as we were leaving, Grant managed to get Baby Allison’s attention. He moved his hand around the window and she would follow it like a cat. It was AWESOME. I was only mildly disappointed to not get a better look at Kaylee, but from what I understand about her, she kinda does her own thing.

We took to the toy room thereafter. There were these crates full of different toys for the dolphins to play with. Some days they might like playing with balls, some days they might want to surf (it seems Kaylee is something of a surfer girl).

That was pretty much the end of the awesome tour. We went back into the main arena thing to meet up with the rest of the group. It was decided that we would all get some food since it was right about lunch time; while Al went to change out of her uniform, some of the others went on ahead while VoW, Toni, Grant, and I waited for Al to come back.

We decided to eat at the Safari Grill, which was right outside of the Seven Seas. It was quite a crowded place and everyone ended up splitting up, although, those of us who felt like hanging around and waiting for Al managed to find Paul and Co. The weather had been alternating between sunny and drizzling for the better part of the morning; it happened to be the drizzling when we initially went outside to join the others, but it cleared up quite a bit after we finished eating.

It was to the wolves hereafter. I believe Brad put in that request. We passed through the Pachyderm House on our way.

We tried to see the Hippopotamus, but it was all kinds of submerged and Al said it could be down there for quite a while. We got to see the elephants, too. Al said that they were both females even though one of them has tusks and the other one doesn’t. I couldn’t help but smile a little when I overheard some parents telling their kids that you can tell which one was the boy because of its tusks. On our way in to see the rhino, we saw another hippo (I think) chilling out in the mud. It was a smaller one, but it was there.

The rhino looked kinda sad, not pathetic, more like sad. Like it was having a bad day or something. Maybe someone took its cookies away or something. You know, like that kind of sad.

When we came upon a display of the elephant’s skull, I remembered this documentary I’d seen on the History Channel about the Ancient Greeks and how their myths came to life for them because of fossils. I was pretty excited about it ‘cuz I actually remembered something academic so naturally, I decided to share. I felt pretty stupid afterward, but that’s only ‘cuz I’m a big freak and feel pretty dumb around Masters (yeah, that’s right, I said “Masters”). I felt a little better when Rich came by and asked if I was talking about the Greeks. Later, I felt stupid again when I saw that at the time I was talking about the nasal cavity being the eye hole of the Cyclops, I’d actually been talking about it when I was facing the wrong way. Still, it’s a pretty cool idea to think that fossils contributed to validating the myths to the Ancient Greeks.

After spending some time with the Pachyderms, we kinda had to hightail it to the wolves at the Wolf Woods ‘cuz Brad had to drive to Indiana. Brad had said that just about every time he’d been to the zoo, the wolves were no where to be seen. We were lucky on this trip ‘cuz we were able to spot all three. They weren’t overly active, they were all three kind of lazing about, but it was still cool to see ‘em. I’ve always liked wolves. (I wonder if that’s why I’m rooting for House Stark.) When I was a kid, I wanted an Alaskan Malamute for a dog ‘cuz it looked like a wolf.

So the two big things, other than the dolphin show, that people wanted to see had been seen. From hereon out, we just kinda went through the rest of the zoo at leisure. We decided to just kind of see what we’d missed on our way to the wolves, which included penguins at The Living Coast.

The exhibit made me think of Finding Nemo and the two animated penguin movies I saw with Fight Club this past winter. I kinda passed up all the fish in favor of seeing the penguins. They were pretty chill. They reminded me of when my own birds slept.

When there are people about, I have this habit of breezing through exhibits. It wasn’t too crowded (no, that would be a little later), but it was crowded enough for me to want to be out of there. So that’s just what I did.

Folk were taking their time with stuffs, which was five-by-five with all of us. It gave those of us inclined to sitting a chance to do so. We also chatted a bit and discussed things like who was going to ride back in which car now that we were a car short. It was also discovered that there would be food at the apartment for dinner — again, it seems I should have actually read the Evite instead of just replying “maybe”.

Once we were reconvened, we went to the Perching Bird House exhibit. Now this made me happy ‘cuz it was birds!! It made me think about getting birds again. I’d only ever seen hummingbirds in pictures, so it was cool to see ‘em close up. And even though I can see Scarlet Macaws at a pet store, it was still nice to see ‘em in a more “natural” environment. Apparently, when the two on exhibit came to the zoo, they were mis-sexed and the boy parrot got the girl’s name and vice versa. I thought that was pretty funny, kind of like how I named my green parakeet “Rocky” even though “he” laid eggs later in life.

I was happy we got a chance to see Cookie the Cockatoo. We tried to get him to play along with us, but I think he was tired.

Once we departed from our fine feathered friends, we were to the mon– primates next.

First, we stopped to watch the baboons in their enclosure at Baboon Island (strangely, there was no link for this). It was all five-by-five to see ‘em, and we would have moved on if one of the keepers hadn’t come by to give a little information about the baboons and throw what looked like orange peels at them for snack time. I’d like to say I was rapt with interest…but to be perfectly honest, I was starting to get a little tired (I had been up since half five remember). So while the keeper talked, I just sat down on a nearby bench.

We were to Tropic World to observe our cousins at play. Again, I’d like to say that I was super interested in watching them…but this time, the place was crazy crowded, and we all know how well I deal with lots of people I don’t know in close quarters. Therefore, I kinda breezed through the enclosures without really giving the primates much of my attention. In fact, when I got to the gorilla enclosure, I was more interested in reading the book that no one else seemed to be paying attention to; the book was kind of a Brookfield history of all their gorillas. In fact, I remember hearing about the gorilla who saved the little boy when it happened — I just didn’t know it had happened at Brookfield!

Since I’d breezed through, I was one of the first people to be out. I kinda wished I had stayed to see the gorilla fight, but seeing as how it was really crowded, it probably would have been super crowded watching the fight. Instead, I hung out at a picnic bench.

We were all starting to lose steam, I think, but despite fatigue, we marched on. We went to Habitat Africa - the Savannah! and saw the cool African Wild Dog, who was pacing about when Toni and I walked up to the enclosure. When the others caught up with us, he was out of sight; we entered the building only to discover that the guy was chillin’ out right up near the glass. I totally wanted to go play with him. Al said that they were brilliant hunters and tap-out tired dogs for fresh ones when they go running on their hunts. I thought that was cool.

Since the Habitat Africa stuff was close together, it seemed more efficient to walk over to The Forest! and see the Okapi, an animal I had never heard of nor seen before.

After marveling at the “new” animal, we swung up and around to watch the giraffes for a spell where Al told us fun facts about the giraffe tongue.

Last but not least, we went into the Australia House, passing the zebras and the camels as we did so. We got to meet the longest living Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat as well as some kangaroos. I couldn’t help but laugh and think of my Aussie friends coming to the zoo, looking at all the animals in their enclosures and just laughing ‘cuz it would be like us going to see squirrels in one of their zoos or something.

I was super glad to have avoided seeing any spiders.

That was pretty much the end of our misadventure at the zoo. Joe and Cristina stuck around to see more stuff since they met up with us later than we’d arrived and bought the fancy tickets that got them in to see sharks and flutterbyes, er, butterflies.

Now, it was time to party!