More fun at the zoo

Tiger close up
Originally uploaded by carlyq80

I have tried a couple of times to upload photos directly into Blogger, because that's what I'm in the mood to do right now, and it won't have it.

So about 15 of my other zoo pictures are on my flickr feed ... please go and take a look... and OKAY INTERNET, I WILL GO OUTSIDE AND WALK IN THE SUNSHINE NOW..... if I must...

Arriving at the zoo (Road trip, day 3)

We went to the Pittsburgh Zoo. The funny thing is, S and the Boyfriend have each wandered past there, for reasons somewhere between "lost" and "in search of an easier commute home". But she waited for us to roll on into town before going and paying admission ... in other words, this time we went ON PURPOSE.

We barely got out of the car, and I noticed this little darling next to the brake light on her Jeep. Oy vey. I have never SEEN a bug like this before, and I did not get as close as it might seem from this photo, for fear that he might lift off, with those impossibly thin wings, and somehow carry me away and drop me over the tiger cage.

Seriously, WTF is that? (The Boyfriend said it's a locust. But still, WTF is that???)

I have easily 200 photos of zoo animals, and some of them are actually good, but for now I need to go rewrite my resume (I want to make a second version and change it from chronological order to skills, then work history, then volunteering..... just for some of the jobs that I plan to apply for, that are a little bit of a stretch from the formal job duties I've had in the past.)

It's August, and August is hanging over me saying "get a job. Get a job get a job." Booooo.

Road trip day 1

The day I threw the kids in the car and left for our road trip started out bumpy. We went straight to Dunkin' Donuts so I could begin to apply my strategy of keeping them happy via regular adminstration of junk food, and two things happened. Keep in mind I hadn't even hit the highway yet.


One child began quietly crying because we weren't going to see Mr. Carly for a week. The other child, when casually asked "Do you have any money?" admitted to bringing ALL of the recently received graduation gift money along. Um... time to go to the ATM to deposit most of THAT.


Sirius has a spy camera aimed at me, because "Turn the Car Around" started playing. Oy. It was already 8 am when I was at the ATM, an hour past my threat of "I'm throwing you in the car, ready or not, and we're leaving."

***

For the next seven hours it went something like this:

1. Drive.
2. Potty break.
3. Put a new movie in the portable DVD player. (thank you, Express, for loaning it to me).

Rinse, repeat.


We managed not to tour EVERY rest stop on the NYS thruway. But we didn't get to Erie and Quaker Steak & whatever until almost 3 pm, and that had been my target place for LUNCH, SO WE WERE GNAWING ON THE MENUS.



At Erie you turn "south" and keep going for a couple of hours, to Pittsburgh. Drive. Potty... you get the idea.

***

We got to Pittsburgh somewhere around 6pm, not bad all things considering. The Boyfriend had cooked BBQ pulled chicken for us. Delicious. We walked around the neighborhood near their apartment and enjoyed not sitting in a car.


Then we went to Oh Yeah for icecream...




Amazing. I had peaches and grahamcrackers since the peach cobbler (that day's ice cream special) was all gone. The Boyfriend had something with Baklava, and maybe orange zest? I can't remember. Everyone loved their stuff. No one had bacon.

We could hear the concert starting - the Gin Blossoms were performing a few blocks away, on Walnut Street. We walked over to check it out. I got fairly close, but not close enough to take a photo, because my kids were not enjoying being the shortest people in a dense crowd. But I heard a couple of my favorite songs and then we headed back to the apartment for some SLEEEEEEP.

two thousand

(this is my post #2000. I just noticed on the dashboard...)

I have 2000 photos already that I will need to download from my memory card on my camera. Or at least it seems like it. Can't do that until I get home, and I won't be home for a few days.

I feel like I have driven 2000 miles, but it's been more like 700 so far on our road trip. The kids and I first headed to Pittsburgh. This required driving ALLLLLLLLL the way across NY state. Which, while being HOME, and sunny for a change, and fairly straight roads and all, sort of began to suck because eventually it seemed like the drive would never end... as if perhaps we'd ended up in some sort of purgatory and we will just keep driving down a road that doesn't really end.

My plan was to stop in Erie for lunch, and never having made the drive before with three people in the car who have bladders the size of fancy shot glasses.... it seemed like a plan. We literally stopped at EVERY OTHER REST STOP. Oy.

So, Erie was where we had lunch, but at 3:30 when we were ready to gnaw on the menus.

We made it to Pitt by about 6 pm I think. The Boyfriend was absolutely wonderful to us and cooked 3 wonderful dinners while we were there. He drove us around and took us on walking tours and just generally was awesome. He even gave up his bed for a couple of nights so that we would be more comfortable. Keeper.

We managed to see the city skyline at night, and get to the zoo, and the Science museum, and a submarine outside, and as I mentioned my camera card is darn near full. We also got to see Suzy's new hospital, just the public areas we were permitted to be in, of course (since it's new employees can bring family in for tours)

Sometime next week you will start seeing all of those photos.

We are in Ohio now and an old friend of mine and his wife have taken us in for a couple of days and made us feel very much at home. We've been lounging and swimming in their pool and watching their tv which is the size of my son's mattress at home. Between that, the xbox, and the giant lovable dog here, my son doesn't want to leave. We watched Ghost Town, which was a fantastic movie, and I am not smart enough to get a link to work on my host's MacBook (it's probably stupid blogger...) but you should really netflix that movie, and make it your business to see it. HYSTERICAL. And sweet and just a great movie.

SO now it's off to Niagara Falls today. Yay. More driving. If you see someone on the highway with a giant stuffed Sully in the passenger seat, that would be me. Point me to the nearest rest stop.

PS: I also found out that after saying NOT to submit a photo of a flower, the walk leader at our site picked a flower picture in the Kelby contest. :::rolls eyes:::: I think APB's shots were better.