On Sunday, my husband and I took a trip to the zoo. We’d had enough of being cooped up inside and we figured it would be a good way to kick off a spring full of walking and exercise.
It turns out that early spring is the perfect time to go to the zoo if you want to see lots of animals. Almost every animal was outdoors and feeling very playful. Some were a bit beyond playful; I couldn’t help thinking of this recent audio clip from The Onion, Abstinence-Only Education Ruined by Trip to the Zoo.
We walked briskly around and saw the majority of the exhibits. The walking part was a bit of a problem. After months and months of sitting in an office chair or on a couch for 99% of the time, it turned out I was in poor shape for hiking over acres of asphalt. My hip started hurting and I had to stop and do toe-touches a few times. This aging stuff is no fun at all.
There weren’t that many other visitors, but we kept catching up with one whiskey tango family who exemplified annoying zoo behavior. They banged on the glass to try to wake the animals, yelled at the animals (seriously, if one guy had shouted "meerkat" one more time, I was going to slug him), and spouted ill-informed speculation to their children, ignoring the correct information posted on signs all around the exhibits. I’m pretty sure I saw one guy tossing pieces of candy to a monkey. What part of "Don’t Feed the Animals" escaped you, man?
We eventually managed to evade that group and finish up our visit in peace. We wrapped things up after a couple of hours and headed out for a late lunch, hindered only by our inability to find my car in the parking lot.
We haven’t taken a walk since then, but I’m feeling optimistic that we’ll get outside more now that we’ve gotten a taste of it. Of course, it would be nice if the pollen counts would subside a little first. I don’t have enough room in my pockets for the tissues I’d need for an hour-long walk right now.
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