There are two things that I used to do more of in times past. One is moderate to intense physical activity. The other is visit what is, in my opinion, one of the best zoos in the USA. It has a spectacular Rain Forest Exhibit that Zoo Book ranks 7th on a top 25 list.
Purely on a whim, I checked the Zoo's website on lunch Friday. I saw that Saturday was enrichment day. My mind decided, I printed the bus schedules and asked my boss if I could borrow one of the company's cameras. He said, as he always does, yes.
That evening, I downloaded a schedule of various enrichment activities, got my self a copy of a map and planned out the event. I even packed the night before. This geek was ready, bottled water, PDA, HP camera, digital audio recorder, VISA card, 4 dollars for bus fare, and 260 Meg of Flash memory... I was actually excited.
The next morning I woke early and finished with a few other items to be added to the list. I left the house at 8:30 to catch the 9:08 bus. Catching that bus would allow me to transfer and be at the Zoo when it opened. I could catch the polar bears devouring a papier-mache walrus!
About a half mile to the bus stop, my allergies kicked in and, only then, did I realize I forgot to hit my sinuses with their inhaler. I tried to convince my self other wise but I need to double back. Now my leisurely pace of one mile over 30 minutes had about 12 minutes remaining to catch the bus. I can not run, my back and knee won't take the concrete stress but off I went.
I ended up a bout two minutes long on my walk so the next bus was almost an hour off. I had already walked 1.5 miles. It was a perfect day for a walk though. The sun was out and I bet it was in the mid sixties. There was a nice breeze and it was just warm enough at my pace to break light sweat. With the breeze and intermittent shade, it made for a nice active feeling. I head in the direction of the zoo follow the route of the anticipated bus.
It was on this leg of my journey that I encountered something that reminded me of the comedian Gallagher and his "That's Really Stupid" material. As I was about to go under a rail road bridge I noticed all of this yellow caution tape had the path taped off. I crossed the street and continued to notice that somehow the utility pole had been broken off. What puzzled me is how they barricaded the area. They ran the yellow tape terminated by being tied to the bus shelter in a manner that one could still enter it. It had utility lines on the roof of the shelter was that actually safe then?
I continued to stroll until it neared the time for my bus to arrive. I stopped off in front of the now abandoned Ruggles' Ice Cream Shop that did not even warrant a photo but I did shoot a few of the Ohio Crank Division plant just to show my buddy in Michigan that there is still some life in Cleveland industry. My total on foot was now 3.8 miles. I only ended up waiting about 5 minutes for the bus but was certain to miss the polar bear enrichment.
The other issue was that the lay over to the "20Z" was not as nice on this run; almost forty minutes. I wanted to transfer to the Z so that I could use my ticket to get half off on admission but I debated waiting 40 minutes when the zoo was just over the bridge from the last stop. while on the bus, I decided to the not transfer and walk to the Zoo. I didn't think it so long a trek at the time but it added another 1.3 miles to my walking.
So by the time I had entered the Zoo, I had already walked 5.1 miles. The Cleveland Metropark Zoo is 165 acres of moderate to gentle hills in a large valley. they also have a "Zoo Walker's Map" with distances for some of the exhibits. In other words, I am only going to be adding to my total.
Here are the paths I took:
- The Northern Trek Loop - 1.75 mile - I missed the polar bear fun but got a few photos of the remnants to be shared in a future post. Part of the loop is closed due to construction but the path I took was actually longer.
- The Waterfowl Loop - .5 miles - I walked this twice through out the day and had little luck for photo ops
- Break for lunch - by now I figure I have done over 7.85 miles
- The Rain Forest - .5 miles -I wandered around here for a good while I covered all the exhibits twice and made sure to catch the Orangutans Enrichment. I also received pleasant word that one of my former co- workers was now working with these animals. I added another mile for this time but i am sure it was more.
- I decided to head back to the main zoo, take a tram up the hill and then wander down the board walk. This added another half mile.
- The Australian Adventure - .5 miles
- Back to the butterfly exhibit - .25 miles
By the time I departed the zoo, I had sore feet shin splints and felt pretty well exercised. I calculate the total at 11.1 miles. I was all for taking the bus all but the last mile home. My total for the day was 12.1 miles, watching three enrichment events, non-recorded conversation with 3 different animal handlers, some new knowledge and just over 140 photos. I have so much in terms of audio, notes and photos I am still not sure how to share it all, for now, I am going to focus on editing the photos. Watch my Flickr as I sort and upload.
PS. I spent today relaxing and creating my first Flickr Collection. 92 of the photos seemed worth uploading.
