Zoo Adventures

We were finally out of excuses. It was a glorious sunny day, there were no essential detours or errands to be run, and we had all morning for adventuring. So Ruth, Grace and I dug out the bike trailer and had ourselves a morning.

By the numbers:
1 – bike I love, and a trailer
2 – years since the a/c has worked on my car – a stuffy drive over to the bottom of the bike path.
3 – Legs of the bike trip. East City to the Zoo, Zoo to Daddy’s work, Then fed and watered and back to the car.
4 – cars back on the zoo train – 4th car has a functioning speaker, so you can hear the cheesy tour patter.
5 – number of 10lb sacks of potatoes I could tow around, to replicate the combined mass of my children*.
6 – cookies in the bag that we packed (along with sandwiches, apples, juice, milk, and cereal) for our lunch with Daddy.
7 – cars that yielded the curb lane to us on the brief stretch our route that took us off the bike path. Which is to say, all of them. Drivers in this city can be very gracious about sharing the road.
8 – miles of cycling
9 – time of day we started packing gear and getting dressed. It was an hour later by the time we hit the path.
10 – Timbits

There were some kinks that will need ironing out before we try this again- including having Daddy meet us at the zoo for lunch. His coworkers are usually pretty cool about our visits, but the after lunch, tired-girl screaming was just over the top.

*Potatoes would cry less, and also not require helmets. Or diaper bags. Also, they would not drop bottles from the train, or dump containers of goldfish crackers onto the floor of the train. Tempting. But they would also not hug me, or sing little songs to help their sister feel happy. Or laugh like maniacs on the big slide. Or very sweetly thank the big boys who pushed the round-a-bout. Or squeal in delight at the animals. Or generally be so much fun to play with in the park.