I've been away for a while.
I took a two-week vacation to good ol' relatively-tropical Lancaster, Pa.
That's where I grew up and is also where I keep most of my stuffed animals, sculptures, and old magazines. I always love staying in my old bedroom. There's the tiny twin bed that I haven't fit since I was ten, the old coconut-monkey bank, the lone unopened bottle of Surge, the old Dick Tracy patrol car, the endless tiny drawers full of disorganized do-dads, the lovingly crafted robot-battling mushroom-folk...
That's about as nostalgic I get.
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| [ PA Roadside ] |
The day after Valentine's Day, Amanda and I went to the Hershey Zoo (Zooamerica) and had a wonderful time. As we entered the zoo, through what was essentially a ridiculous construction zone, I paid our way and had approximately the following exchange with the girl behind the counter.
Girl: ...and here's your map of the zoo, do you have any questions?
Me: Just, um... did we park in the right place? There was a guy out there who told us where to park, but no one else is parked there...
Girl: No, you parked in the right place.
Me: So... is there... anyone else... here?
Girl: What do you mean?
Me: Like, anyone else visiting the zoo?
Girl: Well... there were three people who came in earlier this morning...
Me: Awesome.
So, we had the Hershey Zoo completely, literally, to ourselves. We walked around the entire place and didn't see a single other person until we were heading back out to the car.
There were many wonderful owls, lots of sleepy napping cats, a super-fun desert environment with road-runners and tortoises and quails. At least, I think they were quails. They appeared to be an appropriate visual inspiration for Quail-Man from "Doug." That's pretty much all the determination I required.
Also, we went through Hershey Chocolate world and found they've added animatronic singing cows throughout. That was pretty good. We bought chocolate. Double-thick Reeses cups...
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| [ Roadrunner Mischief ] |
I also took a vacational opportunity to purchase a bunch of super-awesome sweet pickles with cauliflower and a container of red-beet eggs. These things make me happy.
You know what else makes me happy?
Swords.
I came back with a bunch of those too.
Hey! It got up to 70°F in Lancaster last Thursday!
It was amazing!
You know what else is amazing?
Driving for many hours through highly-hazardous mind-bending snowstorms with about 5% visibility.
That's pretty amazing.
White-knucklingly, heart-poundingly, fate-contemplatingly amazing.
There were cars off the side of the road about every mile or so. For hours...
By "amazing," of course I mean traumatic.
Anyway...
I had a great two weeks. : )
Maybe more vacation stuff later...
