Post-Vacation Roundup

Hello There!

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.

[ 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...

[ 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...