On New Year’s Day as the family tradition it is, we watched the Rose Parade. We were sipping coffee and hot chocolate enjoying the parade and along came one of the most beautiful floats of the year – The Rain Bird Corporation’s “Entertaining Expedition!”
This float won the Sweepstakes Award for most beautiful entry and it truly was. The float displayed an African safari in an effort to raise awareness of the central role that water plays in sustaining the Earth’s diverse environments and their inhabitants. There were zebras, giraffes, gazelles, monkeys, a cheetah and elephants frolicking at the water’s edge beneath flowering acacia trees. As a houseful of animal lovers, each one of us commented on their favorites, which brought up discussion of our last trip to the zoo.
One of my daughter’s friends, who had spent the night, commented she had never been to the zoo. She is eighteen years old. I was horrified! The zoo (pick one, any zoo will do) is one of my favorite places to be. I told her that we needed to remedy this situation immediately. She was leaving to go back to college in the east within the week. So, we planned a trip to our local zoo.
The weather forecast for Monday was dreary. Cloudy and 60 degrees, but that didn’t stop us. I loaded up our twelve-passenger van with a combination of my children, grandchildren and two college-age friends of my daughter and off we went.
It was the perfect day for the zoo! I don’t know what the temperature actually was, but the only time we got chilled was when we sat down for lunch. All the walking and excitement kept us warm. There were relatively few people there; I guess everyone was already back at school after winter break. It felt like we had the place to ourselves. The animals were fairly active and we had a wonderful time.
Our friend, Em, had a lot of fun. Hopefully, she will return to the zoo (any zoo will do) soon and enjoy the animals, fresh air, exercise and botanicals. I feel my job is done and I had an incredible day, too!
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