Zoo Trek

Nat and I don't get out nearly as much as was typical for us, now that I'm constantly exhausted and did something wack to my hip/sciatic nerve about a month ago that gives me a nice limp after I walk half a mile or so. BUT, now that we have the car, we can get to places like the East Bay hills and the Oakland Zoo without a killer bike ride. We decided to check out the zoo yesterday, after hearing good things about it from friends and a friend-of-a-friend who works there. It's okay. I've never been a big zoo fan, but can usually talk myself out of becoming overly depressed if there's a lot of hands-on education and an overt focus on conservation. Neither seemed overly represented in Oakland, but there were some cool exhibits. Nat and I both liked the insects, we got an inch away fro the underbelly of a black widow...wicked! But I liked the fruit bats the best. Bats are just so cool - like little foxes dressed in vampire costumes. These were all outside hanging under shade cloth, so we could really check them out up close. Heck, every zoo has elephants and monkeys, but it's not often you can get close enough to stoke the underbelly of a 2 foot. bat.

The zoo was a also a great place to observe baby gear and parenting tactics. The entire place was carpeted in infants and toddlers. Nat and I only saw one other childless pair. It was a little overwhelming. I've always been a child-watcher, but these days I tend to watch with a much more critical eye - both for the gadgetry and the parental psychology. I got some good research done on strollers, and also some sweet athletic tactics for scooping a toddler on the run. A spider monkey couldn't have done it better. Maybe I'll practice with Oliver. Oooo...we could make Oliver a bat for Halloween.