Jewells of Thought

For a couple of weeks a rumor had been weaving through our family of going to the Zoo. Then very abruptly the rumor mill was closed down. It was absolutely not happening. Then all of a sudden this past Friday it was revived, but still I had no specifics as to anything really pertaining to this rumored day trip.

Finally Saturday morning things were clarified. I think. Saturday was already a busy and emotionally exhausting day of saying Goodbye to family. It’s still a somber thought for me to remember my Grandparents saying that half of Dugger was related to Grandpa’s side and the other half to Grandma’s family. It still rings true to this day.

So we ate with Aunt Helen and our cousins at the American Legion of Dugger. It has been a long time since we have been to a Fish Fry in this building it brought back some memories. Lots of memories including the fact that Grandma Mary, or Jeannette was her real name, loved to play Bingo up here. I have heard stories about her enjoying this beloved game. Grandma also enjoyed it in the Nursing Home those last few years. Grandpa was a member of this location he would wear his Legion hat and pay his condolences with each Veteran who died. It also reminded me of Uncle Tom and how long he had also been gone. There were a lot of memories going through my mind that night.

I needed a good rest that evening for the next day.

Sunday was supposed to be in the hot 90’s, yet we didn’t think of a pop up thunderstorm potentially hitting us. We just knew we needed to be prepared for the heat. It was a busy day when our two cars finally arrived at the Zoo parking lot. None of this looked familiar to me, even though I have been told we have been here as a family when we were younger.

When I saw these fun frogs I couldn’t get to my phone quick enough to get a photo of one of them. They are simply too cute. This third photo is a portion of our group and there were 10 of us altogether. These flowers are just amazingly big. Reminding me for some funny reason of Elephant ears. Don’t ask me why, that’s just what came to mind when I saw them.

Here are some fun selfies!

My expressions are all over the place, aren’t they! I had fun I was ready for all the walking I even remembered to find a hat to wear for the day. The dolphins didn’t exactly show any telepathy with me, but I did get some of them in the photos with me for some really fun selfies.

The girls got to touch a couple of stingrays. A white one and a gray colored one. They had fun with that while I had fun stepping on the window showing the cute little Penguins showing through. I also had some fun taking the photo of the water; it’s positively mesmerizing.

Still it was a hot day.

Until… that is we got through the Lions, Ostrich’s and Elephants trail. Once we were out of there the sky became noticeably darker. We were maybe 100 feet to 150 feet away from the Gift Store and the exit when the rain struck us. At first we stood under a tree while a bunch of people went past us onward to somewhere around the exit.

Here we are nearly 20 degrees cooler from the 90 degrees we started at when we first entered the Zoo. We were already partially soaked. Can you tell that I feel like an ice-cube and my teeth were chattering in these wet clothes. Dad of course, wouldn’t admit he was cold if in fact he was… yet we weren’t through the worst as of yet.

Under this canopy we got a break from the rain, but the wind was fiercely cold. In the photo under me there is a walkway halfway in the photo where we saw one of the Gorillas walking through earlier or maybe he was swinging.

Getting into the car was like slogging around in a creek. Our shoes were full of water and it was everywhere. Finally when we found the car, we realized no one was in the other car yet. It took a while to get the car going and figure out how to get back on the interstate. It was just really hard to get warmed up I had a pillow, but it was just difficult.

In order to get back on the interstate we had to get into the heart of Indy and down around the Marriott Hotel and go by Lucas Stadium. All of a sudden this weird thing was right beside us. We thought we had somehow been launched into space. We were all waterlogged maybe aliens had finally found us. What do you think! What an intriguing end to our day at the Zoo!