September 15, 2012- Turtleback Zoo- Part 1

I survived the Garden State Parkway. This is the first time that I have been on it in 7 years. Getting to the zoo wasn’t as bad as coming home; it was pretty confusing and scary then.

   We had such a good time there. My brother seemed happy esp. when we were at the otter and penguin exhibits which were our favorite. We liked the sheep a lot too; we got to pet them.

   The groundhog never came out though which was disappointing. My brother was telling a lady how he had saved a baby one that was in the middle of the street. We kept it overnight and bought it to the vets the next morning.

   Hopefully we will get to see the groundhog and a couple of the other animals that weren’t out when we go there in the spring. They are putting a new exhibit there, Sea Lions.

   The river otter wasn’t out at first so we went back there later. It was so much fun watching it swim. It was doing flips in the water and coming up to the glass. I tried getting good pictures of it in and out of the water but this was hard. I think that some came out nice.

   We both bought stuffed otters at the gift shop. I still have the 2 otters from my childhood- Seamore and Mrs. Otter. I loved playing with stuffed animals when I was a kid and totally regret getting rid of many of them in the late 1980s. They were like friends to me.

   I was feeling more joy watching that otter today than I’ve ever felt at any concert – how silly is that? They really should have a friend there for that otter; it must be pretty lonely. Other zoos have exhibits with two or more. I felt like talking to an employee there about this but was too afraid to do so.

   Part of me hates that these zoo animals can’t roam around freely in the wild, which causes me inner conflict about how I feel regarding zoos. I do enjoy seeing the animals there. I heard a young boy saying that the cougar was looking kind of sad. I was agreeing with him, thinking that maybe it is.

    Wasn’t there a” Twilight Zone” episode in which aliens held some humans in captivity like animals in a zoo on their planet?  I wonder how the animals in such places really feel.

   They had white and black wolves in addition to the gray ones. This was interesting and nice to see. I liked the big cat and farm animal exhibits also.

   Mike said that there were 8 penguins the last time that he was there. We only saw four of them. The one was swimming a lot so it was hard getting good pictures of it. I think that I got a few.

 He’s been to this zoo 4 times over the past few years. This was only my 2^nd time; the first was like 40 years ago- either 1974 or 1975. I have a few pictures of me from then. I’m on a pony in one and in another I’m petting a deer. Next year is the zoo’s 50^th anniversary.

   We only saw 4 prairie dogs. Mike saw 12 of them once. I’m just glad that they finally came out of their burrows- is that the right word? I was going to say holes.

 

Otter

Penguin

Prairie Dogs

Mrs. Otter and Seamore

Otter and Prairie Dog Souvenirs

 

Dreamtime-

January 3, 2010- An Aquarium Adventure

The aliens put me in a holodeck storyline with my Girl Scout troop; we looked about 13 or 14 years old. We were on a trip only I wasn’t entirely sure of which state we were in yet – either Florida or California. We were on a boat heading towards an island with a big aquarium on it.

   I saw dolphins and harmless sharks swimming around in the ocean. It was a lovely day; temps in the mid-70s and low humidity. I was listening to my troop mates talking. I was feeling like an outsider as I had during my real Girl Scout days. But I didn’t mind this here too much because I was excited about getting to see otters and other animals.

   Suddenly, things started getting scary for the boat was taking on water; somehow it had gotten damaged. We were semi- freaking out but when the crew informed us that we would be able to make it to the island without any problem, we calmed down. It was still 10 minutes away at that point.

    Everyone got out of the boat quickly though when we arrived there. I was a little bit slower because I was feeling a little ill- maybe seasickness. I became nervous as well when I couldn’t see any of my fellow Scouts or the 2 leaders- Mrs. M and Miss K, who also was our 4^th grade teacher.

    Although it was upsetting that none of them had waited for me, I decided to not let this spoil things and went off on my own on this adventure. It was strange that I didn’t spot any of them- how could they have gotten that far away from me in this short period of time?

   There were a lot of people at this aquarium; many of them were tour groups and those on class trips. I saw another Girl Scout troop also. Each group seemed to be wearing matching jackets or shirts. Ours had on yellow jackets like the ones that we had in reality. I was looking around for this at first and spotted girls wearing these. As I got closer to them though, I noticed that it wasn’t my troop and the jackets were just similar to ours.

      I was actually having so much fun looking at the animals, esp. the sea otters and seals. You were able to interact with some of them so I petted a baby otter and a seal pup. There were also sea lions, walruses, penguins, turtles, dolphin and more at this wonderful place.

   Most of the exhibits were indoors. There were several floors in this building. Of course, now such place exists on Earth near those 2 states or any other, at least not that I know about. It’s possible that a similar aquarium could be in our country somewhere.

    I still was slightly upset that my troop and its leaders didn’t even notice that I was missing. Wouldn’t they have asked an employee to make an announcement telling me to meet them in a certain area if they had? 

   Why should I even care, I was having a pretty good time on my own. Besides, they weren’t even real, just holograms or shape shifters- or both. I guess that a part of me was feeling lonely and wanted to share this experience with others.

   I went on the submarine ride afterwards.  I did feel a bit claustrophobic during that. We saw fish and other marine life during this 15 minute trip. This reminded me of the ride in Disney World- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; I think that’s its name.

   I saw some nice stuff in the gift shop and bought a few of the cute, small stuffed animals- an otter, seal pup and dolphin. They were beanie baby types. The weird thing about them was that on the tags were names of tennis players; a part of the proceeds were going towards their charities. A pink seal had Safina’s name and Davydenko’s was on another- I forget which kind though.

    I can’t get away from the tennis, even in an alien holodeck storyline such as this. I was laughing on the inside about that.

    I’ve always wanted to go to an aquarium. There is one in Camden but no way would I ever drive there. There is also a small one in Point Pleasant, I think. Even that seems too far for me because of the driving anxiety.  I don’t know if this kind of trip could even be in my budget anyhow. Maybe in the afterlife I will get to go to such a place.

   I wonder if I ever found my troop.  Maybe they left without me. I wish that I could’ve been in this program for longer as I do with others. I was back in my room listening to a Bon Jovi CD on my stereo as I had been before being transported into the holodeck.

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

Sea World 1976

Circus World 1976

 

 

part of my Girl Scout jacket

Turtleback Zoo 2012