A post in which I head for Columbia

I woke up this morning feeling muzzy and kind of drug out. I'm not used to all those tannins in my system. I didn't really feel hung over, but I didn't feel like my usual self. I got up though, and started getting ready to go, futzing around the house, packing, etc. Robert called. He's back from Florida. Apparently the trip didn't go so well, but he was seeing the silver lining. We caught up for a bit. By the time I finished up everything and left it was about 11:30, which was later than I had planned on getting started, but since I didn't wake up until 9, it wasn't bad.

I got to Lisa's house around 2. Mom had spent the night there, since Lisa and Carl had left the night before. That was a change in plans. They were coming back tonight, another change, but that meant that Mom and I could spend more time together, stay at her place, and go to the flea market in the morning.

We greeted, then got ready to go into Columbia for lunch and a trip to the zoo. That plan was considerably delayed though, by extensive road work we ran into when we got to town. We ended up sitting in the car for an hour trying to get to an Italian place, but when we got there they were closed. Ava was amazingly patient through all this, considering she really hates the car seat. We ate Mexican instead - I can always eat Mexican.

After a huge lunch we went on to the zoo. Mom had some free passes, which was good since we didn't get there until about 4:30. I was surprised at how the Columbia Zoo has gone downhill. The animals were fed and all, but several exhibits were closed, and the place was obviously in need of some maintenance. The penguin exhibit in particular was looking run down. Previously one of the star attractions of the zoo, the glass today was murky and in need of cleaning. The water was clean, but the whole bird house smelled, and there were many exhibits in the bird house that were closed. The howler monkey island in the middle of the zoo had been closed. The snow leopard was gone. The gorilla encounter was new since I was there last, and was impressive, but there were three males and no females in the exhibit. They had a pecking order established apparently, but I was surprised. Mom had never been there before, and it is a nice zoo, but it was not in the same state that it used to be kept. The zoo closes at 6pm, and of course the animals know the schedule. Many of them were just waiting at the exit doors to the exhibits, waiting to be let in and fed. The elephants just stood at the door, and the sea lions were already off exhibit. Many of the exhibits apparently close at 4pm, inexplicably. But Ava was really too young for the zoo, and was as interested in the other babies as she was in the animals anyway. We did get to see feeding time in the aviary, and that was pretty cool, but we couldn't go in as that was closed for the day. I went in and saw the much-ballyhoo'd koala exhibit, which was pristine and well-kept, but the koalas had already gone to sleep.

After the zoo, we went by Mom's place for a bit of a rest, then went on to meet Maureen and Dee for dinner. We met them at about 7, but we had eaten lunch so late we really weren't hungry. We just had salads and visited with them. Dee has a Smartcar, which was pretty cool. He claims 51mpg on the highway. I sat in it though, and my head was right against the sun roof. It was surprisingly room inside except for that though. It was a cute little thing, and was surprisingly affordable. He seemed well-pleased with it, which was the important thing.

After supper we headed back to Lisa's house to wait for them to get home. We visited, and Ava played. She had worn all three of us out, as good as she was. She has to be watched every second, and I'm just not used to that. We watched a bit of telly. By the time Lisa got home, it was about 9:30 or so. I visited with her for a bit, and of course saw Kevin and Inga, who go with them everywhere. After they left we loaded up Cole and headed back to Mom's. By the time we got back there, we were a wee bit peckish, so we had some toasted bagels and chatted until bedtime. Tomorrow is the flea market! Yay!