Welcome to Zoo Trip, the story of the century. It's filled with action, adventure, intrigue, romance, plot twists, drool, and book recommendations!

Well, not really. But the drool and book recommendation are totally in there.

Anyway, it all started a few days ago, when my aunt and I were discussing what to do with the last few days of my vacation here in Michigan before I head on back to Florida. At a recent family reunion, my little six-year-old cousin, Jacob, suggested that, since he and his mom, my other aunt, Michelle, were already planning on going to the zoo, that my aunt Rose and I should come along. Aunt Rose agreed.

So, today was that day. We headed off to the Detroit Zoo, after buying a couple of disposable CAMERAS, yes, I am not leaving home without a camera again!

When we arrived, it took awhile for Michelle, Jacob and Sydney (3 years old, Jacob's sister, my other cousin) to arrive because of nasty traffic. Thank you, Mapquest. When we arrived, Jacob was bouncing. Yes, bouncing, about 2.5 feet per bounce, because he gets hyper very often, and I am his favorite cousin, since I am so nice and a good person. ;-) He ran up to me and hugged me, and didn't want to let go for about five minutes. I carried him some of the way. Only then did I realize how heavy a six-year-old can be.

It was 90 degrees today. Heat index of about 100. Very hot, humid, and not a good day for walking about. Jacob & Sydney were fine, since Jacob played in every fountain in sight, and he has the metabolism of a cheetah, and Sydney was in her stroller.

So... after about, oh, three HOURS of walking nonstop and seeing animal exhibits that weren't very exciting to someone who is fifteen, and aunt Rose taking pictures of the kids and I posing in front of every blessed statue in the whole place, using her whole camera film in the process by the way, and some of mine, I became just a LITTLE irritable and exhausted. The heat had a grip on my body, and it was not letting go. I began losing focus on the world around me, sounds drifted in and out a bit, I was pretty out of it. You see, I hadn't had anything to eat all day, and I skipped breakfast, and woke up early. I set myself up for disaster, pretty much. I was hot, hot, hot, and it felt like I could drop at any minute. Of course, I couldn't tell anyone else about it, since I am such a tough guy. Well, not really, but I didn't tell them. I actually didn't think I was doing so bad, until I was walking through the Arctic exhibit (which, incidentally, was no less hot than the rest of the zoo), and I suddenly realized that I had been drooling, and it was dripping onto my shirt a bit. I quickly wiped it off and looked around to make sure nobody else noticed I was a drooling zombie. Everything was cool, my cover hadn't been blown.

Thankfully, we stopped for lunch shortly after that. Guess what? I was a little hungry. I had some onion rings, a cheeseburger, four miniature slices of pizza, and a Coke. I know, wow. Everything was good except for the pizza. Yeugh. Imagine biting into a terribly fluffy marshmallow with cheese, pepperoni, and too little sauce, all of which you could barely taste. --Now I shall recommend a good book-- Anyway, as I was talking to Michelle during lunch, I informed her that I read the book she bought me after looking up online. It is a good, GOOD book, even if it's a bit below my reading level. (I was reading at college-level since 3rd grade. I'm not bragging, but I guess that's just how it is.) It's called Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment, by Dave Patterson. I recommend it. It's a nice sci-fi book, and I read it in two days. I'm looking for the sequel. It's actually going to become a movie, I believe. Back to the story...

So, about "Ow, my stomach" minutes later, we were all happy and full of food. We went and saw some more exhibits, which were pretty neat, actually. Saw a huge wall made of constantly-frozen ice which I made a handprint in by putting my hand on the wall for about five minutes. The feeling has almost come back into my right hand since.

I was, sadly, only entertained for a few minutes. There was this thing, though, that looked like the only entertaining thing in the whole zoo. Some virtual adventure ride thing. Basically, you go into a virtual submarine-room-thing, and get banged around in the little capsule as you get attacked by a giant squid, which [Spoilers, not like anyone cares about a movie that's five minutes long and only available in the Detroit Zoo] gets subsequently eaten by a big whale with sharp teeth. I had to talk Jacob into going in there for a long time. *Please, don't think I am an evil person,* I didn't know it was gonna have any scary parts, but the poor kid was shaking as he was walking out. I felt really bad, but he was back to his normal, constantly-happy self within a couple minutes.

Then came the gift shop, the thing I had been dreading for awhile. See, I *hate* making people spend money on me if I can help it, but I didn't bring my wallet. Michelle and Rose were prodding me to buy something, but the truth was, I couldn't find anything worth picking up, and I didn't want to spend their money to get something just to say I got something. So, I didn't. Yay me. Jacob wanted a 25-dollar wooden bongo drum, which Rose offered to pay for, but she didn't know Michelle had already told him he couldn't have it, so eventually Michelle found out, and made him put it back, after some stern parenting. I felt kind of bad for him, since at that age, having something you really want taken away from you is pretty bad, but honestly, how in the bloody HECK does that kid go from crying his eyes out to bouncing around the store in, I'm not kidding, less than a minute? That's crazy.

We left as the park closed, on a little annoying mini train ride which you could beat in a race by briskly walking.

After a sorrowful goodbye in the parking garage, during which Jacob hugged me for a long time again, and I couldn't tell if he was crying as he got into the car or just really tired & sweaty, but I felt for him. He looks up to me. Awwww. Anyway, Sydney yelled out "goobyeee!!" from their truck about a million times as they drove off, and it made me laugh. Sydney is going to be a cool kid. I won't see them again for at least a year or two, but rest assured Jacob'll be happy to have me back when I do.

~Memorable Quotes from the Trip~

"WOOO, A COMB!!" -Sydney, upon spotting a dirty comb left on the sidewalk.

"I have an imaginary pet, and I rescued him. From a crack house." -Jacob

"Get off the fence. Off. Off the fence, get off the FENCE! Gah! *catch* See, I saved your life. Ha." -Me, to Jacob, about fifty times throughout the trip

"Yay for lil' plastic souvenir cups!" -Me

"Hey, who turned out the lights?" -Jacob, riding the mini train, upon entering a tunnel


Well... That's all, folks. I am all finished with my story. Today was a long day, and my legs still hurt. Time to sit back and watch Aeon Flux, one more time. Ooh, and there's pizza, too.

-zK